BA, Graphic Design + Printmaking, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio
MFA, Printmaking from Clemson University, South Carolina
Maggie Denk-Leigh is a Professor and Division Chair for Visual Arts and Craft+Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio. Beginning at CIA in 1999 in the Printmaking program, she has taught courses in lithography, etching, screenprint, relief and digital media, and oversees a letterpress studio for a book arts course. Denk-Leigh is a founding board member of the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory & Educational Foundation, a hand papermaking and book arts center in Cleveland, Ohio. She served in the leadership capacity as the Board President from 2008 - 2024 leading the organization through emerging to establishment in the national and international field. As a practicing artist, Denk-Leigh explores anthropological associations through printed and sculptural works.
Denk-Leigh is the founding faculty member for CIA's Creativity Works Internship Program supporting students in the Visual Arts and Craft+Design to project manage studio based projects with community partners with grant support, a program she continues to work with students as an academic project leader. (2014-present). Previously, she taught within the Professional Practices curriculum 2006 - 2015, and the Foundation program for Design and Material Color approaches.
Work:
Areas of Specialization & Technical Knowledge: Printmaking; Lithography, Intaglio, Relief, Screenprint, Letterpress, Digital Print applications, Hand-papermaking and Book Arts. Experience with Epilog Laser and Digital Print output
Exhibitions: Denk-Leigh’s work has been exhibited locally at the Artist Archive of the Western Reserve and the Shaker Historical Museum in Ohio; nationally at the Museum of Natural History and Culture in Knoxville, Tennessee, Freedman Gallery at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, and several dozen locations associated with the ongoing EVAC Project supporting US Veterans. Her participation in Xi’An 4th International Printmaking Workshop Exhibition, established a relationship with the faculty and students at the Xi’An Academy of Fine Art, and culminated with an exhibition at the Lab Centre Exhibition Hall in Shaanxi Province, China, with more than two dozen international artists and printmakers.
Awards and Recognition:
- Art Acquisition Prize for Healing Arts Fund, Summa Health, Akron, Ohio 2025
- Joseph M. Motto Chair award recipient, CIA 2021-2024
- Viktor Schreckengost award recipient, Excellence in Teaching, CIA 2019
