LEIGH WISHNER

WEBSITE: patternplayusa.com
IG: @patternplayusa
TIKTOK: @patternplayusa
FACEBOOK: Pattern-Play-USA
EMAIL: leigh.wishner@gmail.com

BIO

Hi, I'm Leigh...a freelance design historian specializing in modern textiles, fashions, and interiors. With over twenty years’ experience in the museum field, my approach to education has always been informed by a holistic passion for decorative arts, design, and material culture. As an experienced design educator fluent in both academic and museum environments, I work to interpret museum objects, collections, and exhibition experiences for all audiences, making accessibility a priority.

My skills bridge virtual, classroom, and in-gallery teaching spaces. In my role as a social media content curator for a major museum, I have honed my abilities to identify popular trends and marry them with collection artifacts to produce engaging educational material. I have also used institutional social media platforms to promote diversity and inclusion. Creative collaborations, project/team management, public programming, curriculum development, research, interpretation, and bringing people together in mutually supportive endeavors are my strengths.

Most recently, I've joined Hollyhock House as a Projects Curator. In 2023, I contributed to “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes” (2023, Yale University Press/Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), the first major publication devoted to this pioneering, 20th-century American weaver.

I am currently working on a book devoted to 20th-century American textile design.