Jessina Lynn Leonard
b. 1992, USA
currently based in Providence, RI, USA
also @ Saint Agnes Studio
Education
MFA with Distinction, Photography, Rhode Island School of Design, 2020
MA, Religious Studies, Duke University, 2015
BA, Studio Art, Wheaton College, 2014
Awards & Residencies
Laimun Residency, Sardinia, Italy, October 2023
HewnOaks Artist Residency with Amber Byrne Mahoney, Lovell, ME, July 2023
Fulbright Study/Research Award, Bauhaus Universität, Weimar, Germany, 2021–2022
Artist Residency, SOMOS Art House, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Finalist, Critical Mass Top 200, 2021
Artist Relief Fund, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, 2021
Librarian’s Choice Award + Purchase Prize, 6th Baker and Whitehill Artist Book Contest, Fleet Library, 2020
Henry Wolf Award for Photographic Excellence, Rhode Island School of Design, 2019
Artist Residency, Studio for Art, Faith, & History, Orvieto, Italy, July 2019
Artist Residency, Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, FL, June 2019
Harvey Fellowship, Mustard Seed Foundation, 2019
Graduate Assistantship, Rhode Island School of Design, 2018-2020
Graduate Fellowship, Rhode Island School of Design, 2018-2020
Houck and K.B. Medford Scholarship in Photography, Penland School of Crafts, 2018
Selected Exhibitions
Solo Exhibition: First Sweet Truth, SOMOS Art House, Berlin, Germany, 2022
Solo Exhibition: First Sweet Truth, Kloster Helfta, Eisleben, Germany, 2022
By Eye: Women & Photobooks, RISD Fleet Library, Providence, RI, 2022
RISD Faculty Exhibition, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, 2021
Made Ground, Swale House, Governor’s Island, NY, 2021
Fade/Fail/Flow, Oranbeg Press, Online, 2021
Embracing Stillness, Humble Arts Foundation, Online, 2021
Solo Exhibition: AXIS, Resident Gallery, AS220, Providence, RI, 2021
RISD Grad Show, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, 2020
When I See Its Left Ear I Think He Had Heard Me, ClampArt, New York, NY, 2020
Shifting Sights, A. R. E. A. Gallery, Boston, MA, 2020
6th Baker and Whitehill Artist Book Contest, Fleet Library, Providence, RI, 2020
Another Final Frontier, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 2019
Graduate Photography Biennial, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI, 2019
Envisioning Space, ISB Gallery, Providence, RI, 2019
________scapes, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, 2019
Survived Arrival, Red Eye Gallery, Providence, RI, 2018
Solo Exhibition: The Weight We Leave Behind, Horse & Buggy Press, Durham, NC 2017
Unfolding, Monastery San Paulo, Orvieto, Italy, 2015
Solo Exhibition: After This Our Exile, Hansen Galleries, Wheaton, IL, 2014
Torture Survivor Stories, Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2013
LoveTown, 1st Place Exhibit Winner, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, 2013
Grafted, Burning Bush Gallery, Wheaton, IL, 2013
Teaching
Adjunct, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA, 2023
Adjunct, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 2022
Visiting Faculty, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2019 – 2023
Adjunct, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, 2021
Adjunct, Endicott College, Beverly, MA, 2020 – 2021
Curation
The Transformation of Silence, Dirt Palace, Providence, RI, 2020
I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI, 2019
Ekphrasis: Eight Artists Respond to Images from the History of Photography, Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill, NC, 2018
Relative Distance: Keliy Anderson-Staley & Susan Worsham, Kontek Systems, Durham, NC, 2016
Bibliography
“Three RISD Alumni Prepare for Fulbright Fellowships,” by Simone Solondz, Rhode Island School of Design, August 16th, 2021
Visiting Artist Lecture, County College of Morris, Randolph, NJ, November 2020
Goldenrod Editions Issue 01, Goldenrod Editions, November 2020
RISD Grad Show Publication, Rhode Island School of Design, August 2020
Panelist: Keeper of the Hearth, Fleet Library, Providence, RI, March 12, 2020
A New Nothing, In Conversation with Keavy Handley-Byrne, December 2, 2019 –present
Vanessa Winship’s “Sweet Nothings,” How We See: Photobooks by Women, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, March 9, 2019
“‘I Measure God By Everything I Am Not:’ An Interview with Aaron Canipe,” The Other Journal, January 19, 2018
“Horse and Buggy Press is Moving,” by Brian Howe, IndyWeek, January 18, 2017
“Fiat,” The Curator, September 22, 2016