Cassandra MacLeod

macleodstudio@gmail.com

 

The process of searching for something unexpected has deeply influenced MacLeod’s approach to art-making.  Over the course of several decades, MacLeod has developed a multi-disciplinary practice spanning photography, painting, bookmaking, ceramics, and installation. Her work is characterized by a layered, exploratory approach that dissolves the boundaries between mediums. She is driven by the prospect of finding meaningful connections in the liminal place between matter and spirit.

MacLeod grew up in Gerritsen Beach, a small peninsula neighborhood in Brooklyn bordered by creeks, inlets, and bays. Her early experiences exploring the local waterways—particularly areas such as Dead Horse Bay, where eroded shorelines reveal historical debris—shaped her sense of discovery and fascination with the physical traces of the past.

She received a BFA from Brown University, pursuing an interdisciplinary course of study that included bookmaking and installation art. During this period, she also took photography courses at the Rhode Island School of Design, which sparked an enduring interest in the medium. After graduating, she continued her artistic training at the Art Students League of New York and the National Academy of Design, where she studied painting.

In 2016 she established a communal studio complex in Red Hook, Brooklyn, designed to support and strengthen a shared creative community. The space includes multiple artist studios, a ceramic studio, an etching press, a tool shop, and an exhibition space, all structured to encourage collaboration, resource-sharing, and cross-disciplinary experimentation.

 

EDUCATION

1994–1995      Art Students League

1993                National Academy of Design

1989                Brown University, BFA

SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS 

2015    Exhibition with Peter Regli, Galleria02, Guyamas, Mexico

2013    Cassandra MacLeod, KARMA, New York, NY

2011    dngszjkdufiy bgxfjkglijkhtr kydjkhgdghjkd, with Urs Fischer, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

New York, NY

2006    Deathphemera, Monster Gallery Brooklyn, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024    Garden, Justine Kurland Studio, Brooklyn, NY

2023    Play, Commerce Street Studios, Brooklyn, NY

2019    Included in: Sarah Crowner: Clay Bodies: Moving Through Ceramics, KMAC Contemporary Art Museum, Louisville, KY

2014    Group Exhibition, Fitzroy Gallery, New York, NY

2010    Group Exhibition Curated by Clarissa Darlymple, Mark Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, CA

2009    The Open, Organized by Dodie Kazanjian, Deitch Studios, Long Island City, NY

2007    Included in: TR Ericsson, As if life isn’t hard enough they have to tear out your flowers, Heidi Cho Gallery, New York, NY

PUBLICATIONS

2021    Photography Mina Stone: Lemon, Love, and Olive Oil, Harper Wave, New York, NY

2020–2021   Zine Green, Pinky Bow, Wanted, Blacky, limited addition artist’s books

2015    Drawings: Mina Stone: Cooking for Artists, Kiito-San, New York, NY

2014    Photography: Urs Fischer: The Making of Yes, Kiito-San, New York, NY

2013    Fourth Act: Reunion (1944–1954), Karma, New York, NY 

2011    Three-volume exhibition catalogue: dngszjkdufiy bgxfjkglijkhtr kydjkhgdghjkd, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, NY

2012    Lickedy Split, limited edition artist book

2009    Erratic Little Heart, limited edition artist book

2007    Co-editor and designer: Fractured Figure (Vol. 1), Deste Foundation

COLLECTIONS

Cecily Brown, Peter Brant, Jeffrey Deitch, Daikis Joannou, Elham and Tony Salamé,

Sarah Crowner, Stavros Niarchos