Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Faculty mentor: Julie Leonard, MFA, professor, University of Iowa Center for the Book, School of Library and Information Sciences, Graduate College
Degree program and anticipated graduation date: Master of Arts in Library and Information Science and Graduate Certificate at the Center for the Book, Spring 2026

Melanie Landsittel is an artist, writer, and researcher. She creates artworks using historical cookbooks, drawings, tapestries, and manuscripts, exploring the value of everyday labors, such as baking, weaving, or printing recipes, and their histories. Landsittel curated a Fall 2024 installation at the Stanley Museum of Art, Without Work There is no Kolach, which utilized objects in the museum’s collection and the Szathmary Culinary Collection in the UI Libraries. She hopes to enrich lives by illuminating the connections between the items people consume, the labor of their makings, and the materials and histories from which they originate.

Landsittel hopes to work as a lecturer or librarian after graduation. Eventually, she would like to have an art studio and farm where she can maintain a focus on practice-based research while facilitating classes and residencies in traditional crafts.

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