PITTSBURGH, PA.- The Mattress Factory announced the addition of Felice Q. Cleveland as the museum’s new Director of Education. Cleveland joins the Mattress Factory after five years as the Education Coordinator at the renowned American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, where she led the way in developing the museum’s workshops, summer camps, and after school programs.

Cleveland brings with her a wealth of experience in the areas of art education, community development, and youth leadership programming. After earning her BA in Art History in 2002, she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years teaching English grammar and environmental and cultural studies to middle and high school students in rural Cameroon." Says Cleveland, “It was during that time that I discovered the importance of working with and in a community, and also that I wanted to incorporate art into my daily life.”

Cleveland holds an MA in Art and Design Education from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she focused in community arts, and where she received the Award of Excellence in Education as well as an award for Best Non-Fiction Writing. She has been a guest blogger for the popular design blog Design*Sponge, has lectured and given presentations about art education at several nationwide conferences, and is a champion of learning environments that support imagination, creativity, and personal growth.

“We live in a world that doesn’t always encourage experimentation, mistakes, and wild dreaming,” says Cleveland, “yet those are often the places where so many beautiful and inventive ideas are given flight.”

"Felice has the leadership and expertise to blur boundaries and work in an integrative manner at all levels – from internally with staff throughout departments to the greater community," says Barbara Luderowski, the founder and Co-Director of the Mattress Factory, "She has a broad view of arts education and is already taking steps to make the Mattress Factory a hub of community life by using art as an entry point to discuss a host of different issues."