Melissa Cody

Melissa Cody (born 1983) is a Navajo textile artist, from No Water Mesa, Arizona, United States. Her Germantown Revival style weavings are known for their bold colors and intricate three dimensional patterns.

Her tapestries have been described as "[…] deeply personal, beautifully crafted, powerfully expressive works of art that speak to her culture and generation." Cody is a fourth generation textile artist who began weaving at the age of 5. She grew up watching her mother Lola Cody, her grandmother Martha Gorman Schultz and other family members work at the loom and was encouraged to challenge and explore her own capabilities on the loom. According to the curators Besaw et al., Cody created this work to honor her father, as he struggles with Parkinson's disease. With dimensions of 40 x 30 in. Cody uses intensely colored wool that creates rainbow like patterns. Like the Germantown Revival style of weaving, Cody is said to create an "illusion of movement". Future Tradition: Melissa Cody, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas (2017)

Group exhibitions

Warp and Weft: Technologies within Textiles, The Shepherd, Detroit, Michigan (2025) Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection, BAMPFA (2024) Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (2020) Threads of Rain, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California (2019) NDN NOW, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (2019) Heritage, Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, California (2019) Nine 4 Ninety: Artists for a New Understanding, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona (2019) Self, Made, Exploratorium, San Francisco, California (2019) Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (2019) Interwoven, MASS Gallery, Austin, Texas (2019) Casa Tomada, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2018) Footprints Forward: Navajo Contemporary Artists Post-1868, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock, Arizona (2018) Edgewater Reflections, University of New Mexico Ingham Chapman Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico (2018) Connective Tissue: New Approaches To Fiber In Contemporary Native Art, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2017) Navajo Weaving: Tradition and Trade, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas (2014) Messengers 2012, Rainmaker Gallery, Bristol, England (2012) A Turning Point: Navajo Weaving In The Late 20th Century, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (2010) Family Ties: Youth Navajo Weavers, Heard Museum West, Phoenix, Arizona (2007)

Collections Cody's work is included in: Minneapolis Institute of Art Stark Museum of Art Best of Show Award, Autry National Center (2014) 2nd Place (Textiles), Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Heard Museum (2013) Judge's Choice Award, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Heard Museum (2011) Conrad House Award, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Heard Museum (2010) Judge's Choice Award, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Heard Museum (2010) 1st Place (Textiles), Student Division, Santa Fe Indian Market (1998) 2nd Place (Fiber arts), Heard Museum Guild Native American Student Arts and Crafts Show, Heard Museum (1997) 2nd; 3rd Place (Textiles), Student Division, Santa Fe Indian Market (1996) 1st Place (Textiles),Youth Division, Santa Fe Indian Market (1995) 1st Place; Bob Davis Memorial Award (Textiles), Youth Division, Santa Fe Indian Market (1994) 1st; 3rd Place (Textiles), Santa Fe Indian Market (1993) 1st Ribbon (Textiles), Santa Fe Indian Market (1992)