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"Self Proclaimed Most Sensitive Illustrator of the 21st Century"

Kaeli McLeod

 

Illustration / Visual Development

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Howdy! My name is Kaeli and I’m an artist based California with a BFA in illustration from California College of the Arts! 

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I strive to invite my audience into playful, vivid worlds that are at once emotionally resonant and visually imaginative, often through motifs of queerness, nostalgia, girlhood, and California iconography. 

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My approach to art is distinctly process-oriented and methodologically playful. I blend digital tools with analog techniques, screen printing, zine-making, riso-graph, scanned textures, and hand-crafted print media, to build rich, tactile worlds. This intersection of precision (from digital editing) and unpredictability (from analog methods) mirrors the layered experience of identity itself:  perfectly imperfect! 

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I have been featured in over 60 visual art installations since 2022, curated six exhibitions working with over 500 artists, and  have been published in/illustrated for Society of Illustrators, California Academy of the Sciences, SF YMCA, Stern Grove Festival, Queer Cultural Center, Public Works, and more.

Partners + Clients

California Academy of Sciences
CCA Center For Art and Public Life (CAPL)
CCA Radio 
City Studio 
Creative Citizens in Action
Drag & Democracy 
Girls on Deck
Jack London Improvement District
Love Lives in SF
Oakland Low Down
Planned Parenthood
PREFund
Potrero Kids
Public Works
Queer Cultural Center
SF Children & Nature
SF YMCA
Stern Grove Festival

Awards

McLeod, Kaeli. (2025). Good Morning Santa Monica!  Society of Illustrators, Student Scholarship Competition. 

McLeod, Kaeli. (2025). Map of Los Angeles. Society of Illustrators, Student Scholarship Competition. 

McLeod, Kaeli (2022). First Year Portfolio Review . California College of the Arts, All College Honors Nominee. 

McLeod, Kaeli (2021-2025).  California College of the Arts, Creative Scholarship Award.

Contact

email - mcleodkaeli@gmail.com
linkedin - Kaeli McLeod
IG - @mrsandmann

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CV/Published

2026

 

  • "Best in Show" / Illustration / Crisis Club Gallery

  • "Love Lives in SF: Emerging Artist Showcase /  Illustration / Hotel Emblem

  • "Love Lives in SF: Emerging Artist Showcase / Risograph Illustration / Orphan Gallery, Moongazer Collective

  • "Women's 10x10" / Illustration / Faultline Gallery

  • “Fire Horse ” / Risograph Illustration /Riso Pop

  • "Women, Femme, and Them" / Illustration / Ape SF

  • "For The Love of the Bay" Risograph Illustration / KnK Contemporary

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2025

 

  • "Pancakes & Booze Art Show" / Illustration / Public Works

  • "ARTvent" / Illustration / Madrone Art Bar

  • "Good Spirits" / Illustration / Ritual Valencia

  • “Ren Fair ” / Illustration, & Plush Sculpture / Quartz Place Community

  • “Fall Show” / Illustration / Rosebud Gallery

  • “Winterfest” / Screenprint / SF Bike Coalition

  • “Beautiful Mutants” / Illustration / MutMuz

  • “Ants 3.0” / Illustration / Unassigned Gallery

  • “Evolved Art Gallery : Ventura Opening” / Illustration / Evolved Art Gallery

  • “Everyday Strange” / Illustration / Novack Gallery

  • “$hit $how” / Illustration / Uma Gallery Oakland

  • “Exchange” / Screenprint / Youth Art Exchange

  • “Claude’s Big 3-0 : Nightlife” / Poster Illustration / California Academy of the Sciences

  • "Sonder Literary: Issue 2" / Illustration / Online & Print Magazine

  • "Themeless Show" / Illustration / Rosebud Gallery

  • "Runt Pub : DOGFIGHT" / Illustration / Online & Print Magazine

  • "Summer Show" / Illustration & Screen-print / Rosebud Gallery

  • "Buy GAY Art!!!" / Illustration & Screen-print / Sour Cherry Comics

  • "Showoffs: Graduating Student Showcase" / Illustration / California College of the Arts

  • "Student Scholarship Showcase" / Illustration / Society of Illustrators, New York

  • “DYKEADELLIC : Issue 1" / Illustration / Online Magazine

  • “Youth of Letters: Issue 2" / Illustration / Online Magazine

  • “Jardin Zine: Issue 2" / Photography / Digital + Print Multimedia Magazine

  • “Sex" / Illustration / CCA Nave

 

2024

 

  • "CCA Arts and Craft Fair 2024" / Illustration and Sculpture / CCA Main Building

  • "Photographing the Supernatural" / Photography / CCA Graduate Center Showcase

  • "BOM-ROCK-A-THON" / Illustration and Decor / Center for Art and Public Life Performance

  • "Drag and Democracy" / Poster / Creative Citizens in Action Performance

  • "VOTE!" / Zine / Center for Art and Public Life Installation

  • "Pastel Serenity: Issue 16" / Illustration / Zine

  • "Femicide Zine: Issue 7" / Illustration and Collage / Zine

  • "Listen Here" / Video + Sound Art / Zine

  • "Doll Heart Zine : RAGE" / Illustration / Zine

  • “Quick Draw” / Illustration / CCA Illus Homeroom

  • “Sustainability in Practice” / Found Material Art / CCA Nave Expo

  • “CCA Spring Fair 2024 ” / Multimedia / California College of the Arts

  • “Riot GRRRL Culture” / Zine / CCA Creative Citizens in Action

  • “Bay Area Resources Vol. 2” / Zine / CCA Illus Homeroom

 

2023

 

  • “CCA Fall Fair 2023 ” / Multimedia / California College of the Arts

  • “Midsummer Magazine ” / Illustration / Online Magazine

  • “Imperfect Zine Issue 1:Head In the Clouds” / Illustration / Online Zine

  • “Fourteen Zine ” / Illustration / Online Zine

  • ​“Graveyard Zine : Issue 6 ” / Illustration / Online Zine

  • “Plantita : Issue 3” / Illustration / Online Magazine

  • “Pastel Serenity : Issue 12” / Illustration / Online Magazine

  • “Wellness Zine : Issue 2” / Illustration / Zine

  • “XinSai : Edition 3” / Illustration / Digital Magazine

  • ​“The Starving Artist : The Body Remembers ” / Illustration / Online Exhibition

  • “Same Faces Collective : Last Romantics” / Illustration / Online Exhibition

  • “Altruistic Zine : Issue 1” / Illustration / Online Zine

  • “102 Knots and Images on SA” / Illustration / CCA Nave

  • “Mark Eanes’ Student Drawing Exhibition” / Drawing / California College of the Arts

  • ​“CCA Spring Fair 2023 ” / Multimedia / California College of the Arts

  • ​“Love” / Multimedia / California College of the Arts

  • “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Person” / Adobe Illustrator / Hooper Atrium

 

2022

 

  • ​“Teen Art Sale” / Painting / West Hollywood Venue

  • “Art + Clothz Sale” / Print / Culver City Venue

  • ​“Without U or 👁️There is No Unity” / Multimedia / Online

  • “Gender” / Zine, Fashion / California College of the Arts

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