Bio and Resume
Leeza Doreian is an Oakland-based painter who engages intimacy and embodied visual thinking to recast what may otherwise be overlooked into optical alternative worlds. With a focus on systems and webs of connection, her work addresses time, ecology, neurodiversity, and material presence. A fundamental concern is the way we, as humans, perceive, understand, and engage with each other and the world around us. Leeza received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has appeared in group and solo exhibitions in numerous galleries and museums, including: Artist Space, MoMA PS1, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence College, Root Division, Round Weather Gallery, Berkeley Arts Center, The Lab, Fine Arts Gallery at San Francisco State, and the Palo Alto Art Center. She serves as a Teaching Artist at Creativity Explored in San Francisco. In 2016 she co-founded the art cooperative Mending Collective.
EDUCATION
The University of Texas at Austin, MASTER OF FINE ARTS
Ohio State University, BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS
SELECTED GROUP & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Nov 2022 Leeza Doreian and Liz Harvey: Material Conditional, Round Weather Gallery, Oakland, CA.
Sept 2019 Free Fall: Free for All, Free Oakland Up, Oakland, CA.
Feb 2008 Leeza Doreian and Ian Duncan, Manhattan WCO Center, New York City, New York.
Feb 2007 Tourists and Residents: Emerging Artist Series, Barbara Walters Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Aug 1998 Syllables of Plush, Women and Their Work, Austin Texas.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
• Crip’d Ecologies: Unfurling Expanded Environments , Root Division, San Francisco, CA Feb 2024
• Today is the Greatest, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA Nov 2023
• EARTH, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA, June 2023
• AMEND, Rock Paper Scissors Collective, Oakland, CA March 2023
• Really Now, Round Weather Gallery, Oakland, CANov 2021
• Uplift/Heavy Lift, Berkeley Art Center California, June 2021
• Walking California, Incline Gallery, San Francisco, California, October 2018
• Visible Mending: The Sensuality of Frugality and Conservation, A Mending Collective Action
San Francisco School of Needlework & Design, April 2017
• Back to the Garden, Root Division, San Francisco, California, April 2017
• Mending Circle: Make Do and Mend, Community Care-in, A Mending Collective Action, Southern
Exposure San Francisco, California, April 2017
• Trading Places, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California, November 2016
• Not Your Run of the Mill, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, California, October 2016
• The Black&White Project, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, August 2016
• On View: New Works from Kala, Kala, Berkeley, California, July 2016
• Botanic, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California, June 2015
• Friends with Karma, Pro Arts, Oakland, California, Feb 2015
• Scrap Art, Reclaimed Room, San Francisco, California, July 2014
• Scrap Art, Public Glass, San Francisco, California, July 2014
• Kalafornia: State of the Art, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, April 2013
• Introductions 2012, Root Division, San Francisco, California, Sept 2012
• Cumulous, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, California, Aug 2012
• Time, The Lab, San Francisco, California, Sept 2011
• Wicked Little Critter, Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, July 2011
• Out Of Order: Geometric Systems in Contemporary Bay Area Art, SFSU Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Sept 2010
• Crater Bay Area: Developers: Ligorano/Reese, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California, June 2008
• Manhattan WCO Center Expo: Group Exhibition, New York City, New York, Oct 2007
• Crater NY, Developers: Ligorano/Reese, Location One, New York City, New York, Sept 2007
• Pink Show: Group Exhibition, Arena One at the Santa Monica Airport, California, Sept 2007
• Here and Elsewhere: Group Exhibition, Erie State Collage, Erie, Pennsylvania, Sept 2006
• Please Touch: Group Exhibition, GASP, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2006
• When Artists Say We: Group Exhibition, Artist Space, New York, New York, March 2006
• Tits&Art IV: Group Exhibition, GV/AS, Brooklyn, New York, Sept 2004
• After Matisse/Picasso: Group Exhibition, PS1, Queens, New York, Feb 2003
• Recession 2003 $99 Show: Group Exhibition, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, New York, Jan 2003
• American cheese: Group Exhibition, Dam Stuhtrager Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, Nov 2002
• Artnewyork: Group Exhibition, Lunstraumf auf Zeit, Linz, Austria, Sept 2002
• Small Packages: Group Exhibition, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, Oct 2001
• Emerging Artists: Four-Person Exhibition, Middle Tennessee State University, Knoxville, Tennessee, Sept 2001
• 4: Four-Person Exhibition, Rome Arts, Brooklyn, New York, May 2001
• Gardens of Pleasure, Curator: Lisa Tamiris Becker, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Michigan, June 2000
RESIDENCIES
2019 Free Oakland UP Artists Residency, Oakland, California
2019 Chalk Hill Artist Residency, Healdsburg, California
2018 Peripheral Visions Curatorial Residency with Mending Collective
Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, California
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2021 Curator, Revolutionary Petunias, Right Window, San Francisco, California
2018 Curator, Mind Place
, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2018 Co-curator, Common Grounds, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, CA
2015 Co-curator, Dance Party!
, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2012 Co-curator, Out of Order,
Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2010 Curatorial Concept Credit, Out Of Order: Geometric Systems in Contemporary Bay Area Art
SFSU Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco
AWARDS : : DISTINCTIONS
2023 2024 SECA Award Nominee, Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2018 Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, California
2017 2017 Founding member of Mending Collective
2016 2017 SECA Award Nominee, Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2014 New American Paintings, Volume 109, juried by Janet Bishop
2013 Presentation, BAASICS.3 The Deep End, ODC Theater, San Francisco, California
2007 Artist Lecture, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
1999 Gladys Service Award, Heckscher Museum of Art, New York
1997 Studio Arts Merit Award, University of Texas at Austin
1996 Graduate Continuing Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin
1996 College of Fine Arts Travel Fellowship, Italy
1996 Studio Arts Merit Award, University of Texas at Austin
1995 College of Fine Arts Travel Fellowship, Mexico City
1994 Emily Maverick Miller and Emily Wells Endowed Scholarship
PUBLIC LECTURES
2017 Artist Lecture, CAA, Oakland, Textile Department, class lecture —Darn It
2016 Artist Lecture, CAA, San Francisco, Continuing Education, class lecture —Beginning Painting
2013 Presentation, BAASICS.3 The Deep End ODC Theater, San Francisco, California 2012 2010Artist Lecture, SF State, San Francisco, Painting Department, class lecture —systems
2007 Artist Lecture, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New
PROFESSIONAL TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2010- VISUAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR, Creativity Explored
• Combining a love and knowledge of art to interact as a teacher with Adult Artists who have developmental
2002 - 2003
SUPERVISOR OF MODEL SHOP, Architecture Department, Parsons
• Oversaw the upkeep and ordering of parts for woodworking tools and machines.
1999 - 2003
MODEL SHOP INSTRUCTOR, Architecture Department, Parsons
• Instructed architecture students in use of wood shop machinery and simple construction techniques.
• Assisted students in the construction of architectural models and furniture.
1997 - 199
FACULTY LECTURER, The University of Texas at Austin
• Developed and Taught Two-Dimensional Design and Beginning Drawing Courses
1996 - 1996 ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR, The University of Texas at Austin
• Developed and Taught Two-Dimensional Design
1994 - 1997
TEACHING ASSISTANT, The University of Texas at Austin
•Teaching Assistant for Figure Painting, Figure Drawing, Beginning Drawing and Beginning Painting Courses