The Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award – Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez

AUGUST 7 – OCTOBER 19, 2025

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The Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award –
Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez: an open window inside my heart where you should be 

Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez (American, born 1988), the inaugural recipient of the biennial Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award, will unveil her unique, Speed-commissioned installation work in the original 1927 building’s Gallery 1—a fitting venue for the launch of the Leight Award and its critical support for younger artists who work with glass.

Reflecting on her Leight Glass Art Award commission, Ahmadizadeh writes, “born to immigrant parents and raised in the United States, I was largely separated from my family and culture in both Iran and Puerto Rico. As an adult, I have sought to undo the programming of assimilation to reconnect with family abroad and learn about our cultural traditions. When in public spaces, I collect ‘found’ Persian carpet designs, taking pictures of the ground when a Persian rug is in the room as a reminder that my culture is all around me. My newly commissioned installation for the Speed Art Museum integrates these designs as well as imagery that appears in my grandfather’s house. I think of the installation as a portal to a place where I have never been but now feel deeply connected to. By recreating traditional and sometimes ancient motifs and forms in glass, I can open a window that allows me to spend time with my ancestors.” 

The Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Award was established in 2022 through a generous endowment gift of Jenna, Jonathan, and Peter Leight in memory of their parents, long-time supporters and board members of the Speed who donated their internationally recognized collections of contemporary glass and ceramics and 20th-century design to the Museum. Building on the Leights’ collecting and educational legacy, the award aims to celebrate emerging and mid-career artistic talent; to continue to grow the Speed’s collection with a diverse range of national and international artists; and to foster community engagement and education through artist-led programming.

Ahmadizadeh has been awarded artist residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, MASS MoCA, Blue Mountain Center, and the Corning Museum of Glass, among others. Her work was recently included in the Museum of Craft and Design (San Francisco, CA) exhibition, Neon as Soulcraft, curated by Kelsey Issel and Meryl Pataky of She Bends, an organization dedicated to pushing the medium of neon beyond the confines of commercial signage and into the realm of fine art. Additionally, Ahmadizadeh’s work has been shown at dozens of galleries and museums in the United States and abroad, including Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, S12, Heller Gallery, Traver Gallery, and the Tacoma Museum of Glass. Her sculptures are included in New Glass Review #33, #38, and #42, annual journals published by the Corning Museum of Glass documenting innovative artworks in glass.

A passionate educator as well as an artist, Ahmadizadeh previously served as director of The Bead Project at UrbanGlass, a program geared towards diversifying glass and supporting femmes as they learn how to work with the material. She has been an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, from which she received her BFA, for the past several years. She holds an MFA in Craft/Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Programming

The Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award – Artist Talk
Speaker and Awardee: Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez

August 7, 5:30 pm
Join us for an intimate artist talk with Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez, the inaugural recipient of the Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award, as she discusses her newly commissioned installation for the Speed Art Museum. Learn more and register

Speed Reading Book Club
August 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Join us for Speed Reading Book Club, a book discussion inspired by both special exhibitions and artworks in the Speed’s permanent collection! Book: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi