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A headshot of a woman with her dark hair pulled into a bun on her head. She wears geometric earrings and a denim jacket adorned with enable pins on the pocket. She has a tattoo of a spider on her neck, its web visible over her shirt.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artists

Melissa Cody

She // Her // Hers

Textile Artist

Long Beach, California

“The pandemic has been difficult for all of us, from the universal experience of prolonged isolation to the all-too-common loss of loved ones. Episodes like these can also serve as reminders of the importance of building community and cultural continuity. I feel more urgency than ever to use my work to hand down skills and traditions and to create connections between generations in my community.”

Born in 1983 in No Water Mesa, Arizona, Melissa S. Cody is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. In 2007, Cody received a bachelor’s degree in studio arts and museum studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe.

A fourth-generation Navajo weaver, she approaches weaving as an ever-evolving craft tradition and art form. Her intricate tapestries are often associated with the Germantown Revival, a style named after the government wool supplied to the Navajo during the time of the Long Walk. The vivid dyes and new economic pressures prompted enterprising Navajo weavers to adapt, creating bold, new, commercially viable textiles that could sustain them. Her work carries that balance of tradition, history, and contemporaneity forward. Working on a traditional Navajo loom, Cody recombines traditional patterns into sophisticated geometric overlays and haptic color schemes, often integrating disparate visuals from contemporary life.

Cody’s work has been featured at many museums and galleries, including the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, Texas (2014), the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (2017–18), the Ingham Chapman Gallery at University of New Mexico (2018), the Navajo Nation Museum (2018), and SITE Santa Fe (2018–19), among many others.

Donor -This award was generously supported by the Windgate Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 07.12.2024

Craft
A vertical wall hanging covered in clashing geometric patterns. Thick black lines, resembling architectural blueprints, as well as more traditional designs, are superimposed atop a bright spectrum of colors and patterns beneath.

Dopamine Regression, 2010. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes, dimensions 70 × 48 inches.

Photo courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.

A vertical wall hanging covered in horizontal fields of clashing geometric patterns in bright, warm colors with highlights of cerulean and green. The patterns are inspired by traditional textiles and computer-generated shapes.

Melissa Cody. World Traveler, 2014. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes, dimensions 90 × 48 inches. Collection of Stark Museum of Art, Orange Texas.

Photo courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.

A long vertical wall hanging covered in clashing geometric patterns. The warm-colored, diamond-shaped pattern of the background is sporadically interrupted with pixelated shapes; like a computer generated glitch in the otherwise traditional textile.

Melissa Cody. Walking Off No Water Mesa, 2021. Wool warp, weft, selvedge cords, and aniline dyes, dimensions 127 × 38 inches. Collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

Photo courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.