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  • JOB // F.A.G. | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... LAUNDRY LOOPS (JOB) IV SOLDIER'S F.A.G. (FEMINIST ART GROUP) NOVEMBER 3, 2016 LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle LAUNDRY LOOPS // JOB // F.A.G. //PPL Laundry Loops JOB // IV Soldier's F.A.G. at Panoply Performance Laboratory November 3, 2016 Photo: Brian McCorkle 1/1

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Q: Entity

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... Q:ENTITY April 23, 2016 by Nina Isabelle and Clara Diamond Photos by Geraldo Mercado Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus at PPL Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus Q: Informaticus APRIL 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Q:Informaticus at PPL Q: Informaticus Panoply Performance Laboratory April 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Photo: Brian McCorkle Q:Informaticus at PPL Q: Informaticus Panoply Performance Laboratory April 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Photo: Brian McCorkle Q:Informaticus at PPL Q: Informaticus Panoply Performance Laboratory April 23, 2016 Nina Isabelle & Clara Diamond Photo: Geraldo Mercado 1/2 This project aimed to locate new information and vantages through allowing a process that seeks and acknowledges the emergence of scientifically unverifiable perceptive experiences that result in useful information. Through building awareness of alternative forms of perception and by implementing unusual sensory input modalities, such as ritual, breath, Hz, cryptography, pseudo-algebra, dowsing, the concept of The Q: Entity emerged and “Q” became understood as a unit of measurement expressing a quantifiable amount of information that might result in an equation intended to facilitate a circular energy exchange between The Q: Entity and its constituents. A Silent Mass Generator Workshop was held on November 7, 2015 and the public interacted with the physical mass inside of a fabricated soundscape designed by the artists, in collaboration with experimental musician Christina Diamond, to loop through electronic frequencies correlating to the physical body chakra system as an electronic gong wash activating the complete chakra system fourty-six times. By the hands-on manipulation of the donated material for a span of five hours and fourty-four minutes, the ephemeral energies of participants were interwoven into The Q: Entity. A performance on Saturday November 21, 2015 aimed to build connections with constituents by transmitting unsubstantiated and unrecognizable forms of energetic information. THE Q:ENTITY THE LINDA MARY MONTANO ART/LIFE INSTITUTE KINGSTON NOVEMBER 21, 2015 Q:Informaticus, a division of The Q:Entity Corporation, is designed to generate constituents as information receptacles programmed to solve unreal and/or otherworldly problems. Q:Informaticus directs functional information along proper dispersal channels activating the psychic conduits of multiple physical bodies. Activation originates at the coccyx and rises through the spine while keeping operational residence within the instinctive functioning portions of the guts, heart, and brain meat, matter, fluid, and circuitry using complex interlaced bacteria and neuroelectric pathways programmed to transmit and receive local and non-local information. The sensory input perception manifolds within all programmed constituents will evolve and transform comfortably to reduce validation of information received through the physical portals known as eyeballs, tongue, ears, and skin. Alternative modalities of perception will be established and activated. Q:Informaticus: for people who want to solve unreal and / or otherworldly problems. There are few career paths, be it scientific research, business, design, medicine, the fine arts, or telecommunications, in which Q won't play an important part of your work. Healthcare specialists use Q records to help diagnose disease and discover new ways of treating patients. Advertising firms use Q data to create visualizations of customer behavior. Environmental scientists compile big Q data to track the impact of climate change. Smartphones are awash with Q apps that can do everything from pay your bills to find the next band you might like. All of those applications and much more are Q: informaticus in action putting Q to work to solve complex problems. Utilizing Q: informaticus to study Q technology impacts academic disciplines in the science, arts, medicine, business, and telecommunications fields. Q is also one of the fastest growing fields in technology, and the demand is high. Last year alone, 88 percent of Q: informaticus constituents secured full-time employment within six months. Among students holding Master's degrees or a Ph.D., 98 percent accepted employment within six months of graduation. In a world of stagnating salaries, Q: informaticus constituents also enjoy an average salary. Q:Informaticus lays out a bright, flexible, structural path to a future and imparts valuable real-world experience and works side-by-side with some of the most innovative thinkers in the field. Q: informaticus prepares, excites, severs programming, technologizes, and generates futures. THE SILENT MASS GENERATOR WORKSHOP GES #411 ARCHIVE SPACE NOVEMBER 6, 2015 The Silent Mass Generator Workshop incorporated the public to assemble, build and incorporate physical mass within an experimental simulated mindfulness environment. The duration of the workshop spanned 5 hours and 44 minutes inside of The Grace Exhibition Space Shirt Factory Studio #411. There was no speaking, eating, or drinking. Participation was not required, participants were free to come and go, or stay for a portion of the workshop. The workshop was designed to distract the subconscious mind by the tedium of cutting, ripping, and tying material to form long strands in order to facilitate the entry into a mindful, meditative, psychic space. The project explored the development and agenda of interwoven notions of communal beliefs, material dynamics, possibilities of non-linear physical travel implied through numbers expressing location using longitude and latitude, the metaphor of breath in relation to inspiration and language styles expressing give-and-take or push/pull communication patterns, the articulation of verbal concepts in relation to the movement between ball-and-socket joints such as the hips and shoulders during the birthing-process, as well as the documentation of scientifically unsubstantiated effects of focused intention and ritual action in non-physical reality such as memory, deja-vu, and other phenomena of psychic imprint. An experimental soundscape designed with Christina Amelia Diamond acted as an electronic gong wash intended to initiate 23 cycles of ordered energetic body activation using specific Hz. Other auditory Information within the noise composition was generated by The Entity. Speaking was disallowed at The Silent Mass Generator Workshop. The Entity thanks Jeanie Antonelle, Undine Brod, Leonard Fujiyama, Hillary Harvey, Mor Pipman, and Christina Varga for their contribution of materials. more info. CALL FOR MATERIAL DONATIONS SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 The Entity seeks donations of scrap, waste, or unsellable materials such as fabric cut-offs, twine, rolled or spooled material, rope, ribbon, thread, or anything that is in long strands or could be cut and tied to form long strands. The nature of the project has lead to the present development of an official CALL FOR DONATED MATERIALS. The Entity also seeks donations of traditional artist’s materials as well as non-toxic industrial materials which might be repurposed. The upcoming phase of the project includes an opportunity for community participation with an interactive component in the form of a silent workshop intended to build physical mass through the hands-on manipulation of donated material. The workshop will be free and open to the public. FEEDING THE ENTITY MARCH 2015 Feeding The Entity explores the development and agenda of interwoven notions of communal beliefs, material dynamics, possibilities of non-linear physical travel implied through numbers expressing location using longitude and latitude, the metaphor of breath in relation to inspiration and language styles expressing give-and-take or push/pull communication patterns, the articulation of verbal concepts in relation to the movement between ball-and-socket joints such as the hips and shoulders during the birthing-process, as well as the documentation of scientifically unsubstantiated effects of focused intention and ritual action in non-physical reality such as memory, deja-vu, and other phenomena of psychic imprint.

  • ARTICULACTION | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... ARTiculAction Art Review // Special Issue Interview from December 2015 Published January 2016 By Dario Rutigliano and Josh Ryder https://issuu.com/articulaction/docs/articulaction_art_review_-_spiss Multidisciplinary artist Nina Isabelle's work ranges from Painting to Performance to explore the inability of communication which is used to visualize reality: her approach rejects any conventional classification and crosses the elusive boundary that defines the area of perception from the realm of imagination, to create a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are urged to investigate the ubiquitous order that pervades the reality we inhabit. One of the most convincing aspect of Isabelle's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a deep and autonomous synergy between our limbic parameters and our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production. A: Hello Nina and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you hold a BA in Art from Westminster College: how did these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem? N: As a younger person I was part of a community of acrobat-like athletes who maintained an extreme bodycentric focus while engaging in high-risk physical activities. As my artistic process evolved it naturally embodied the physicality of movement in relation to mark making. Early on I began to inspect the nature of energy patterns as they emerged and flowed with the breath in relationship to physical movement. Connecting mark making to physical movement was a natural progression for me. When I was first introduced to gestural line during my foundational academic studies I felt an instant, fluid, kinesthetic understanding and I recognized a potential within the allowance of gestural mark-making for me to reconstruct communication and perception. At the same time I became involved with interpretive modern dance and was excited by the dialogue generated between action and art because what I had known of language up to that point had bothered me. During my formal training, college provided a duration of time and the physical space to practice art, but also fueled my aggravation as I recognized a chasm between academic art and my personal approach. Although I was a good a student, I felt displaced and misunderstood in the art department and after graduation I chose not to continue my studies inside of academia. Since then, I’ve developed multiple personal superstrata that allow me to span the divide between formal academic programming and personal process. By using physical process in combination with self-developed cryptographs I’m able to construct psychic spaces and explore the possibilities of metaphysical transformation as the result of art action and objects. In the past year I’ve arrived at a way of working that suits me, my work has begun to develop a coherent focus and I’ve begun to understand the benefits of my early struggles. While my athletic experience connected me to physical reality, my academic exposure opened up my awareness of mental and psychological concepts. I had also spent years as a rock climber living in a tent all around the west and traveling in the snowy backcountry of the Wasatch mountains, and these experiences definitely broadened my spiritual perceptions. Integrating my varied foundations has been a tenacious process and plays a big part in my approach to visual and other language. A: Your approach coherently encapsulates several techniques and - ranging from Painting to Performance - it reveals an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.ninaisabelle.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between different disciplines is the only way to express and convey the ideas you explore. N: Working as a multidisciplinary artist suits me because I have a natural tendency toward instinctive response that allows me to engage equally with whatever action or material I find in front of me. Part of any thorough process involves identifying and becoming familiar with all of the materials and variables. When I first began to do deeper studies of line, color, gesture, material, posture, and action it occurred to me that there was an amount of information beyond the apparent implications of these face-values. As I began to look to metaphor and archetypes for clues, my understanding and relationships to these elements began to open up and grow. I feel a level of success that you’ve used the word “incessant” in response to my work, that’s a sensitive and accurate word because I do feel captured by a relentless focus that keeps going round-and-round, spanning decades, creating a snarled web of thought-loops. Performance art has allowed me to physically express the anguish around being ensnarled in a mental struggle. In a way, it’s like having a wrestling match with dichotomy programming. If I’m able to smooth out connections, through painting or performance, I might be able to reconcile polarized thought forms. In that way, my process has resulted in a practical application as it translates directly to interpersonal relationships and extremism. A: For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected The Q: Entity, a recent Performance Art Project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to unveil and challenge the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. So we would like to take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? N: Inside of physical reality it would be impossible for personal experience to be separate from creative process. Author Caroline Myss says in her book Anatomy Of The Spirit that “Every thought we have travels through our biological system and impacts our physiology. It is inescapable that your life history—the cumulative and synergistic blending of your feelings, experiences, and perceptions—has culminated in the body you are walking around in today.” From this perspective it would be crazy to imply that a physical body could be separate from its own art processes. However, inside of a lateral psychic reality unquantifiable possibilities exist. Phenomena of psychic imprint like dreams, deja-vu, and other mystical-seeming experiences are valid art process elements. In this way, physical connection can act as an interruptor between personal history and psychic process while creating possibilities for non-physical connections to dictate a re-scripted reality. Working with The Q: Entity, fellow artist Clara Diamond and I found that by facilitating intellectual disconnections between physical reality perceptions and process by employing techniques such as dowsing, divination, ritual, and other unsubstantiated methods The Q: Entity was able to build etheric connections of its own which transcended our physical manufacturing capabilities. In this way, channels of communication were able to connect the subconscious sphere with the human perception manifold. A: How do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience? N: I’ve have had a couple of art viewing experiences that have lead me to realize the importance of public space as it relates to viewership. Around 2001 I happened to see a large piece by Robert Rauschenbuerg hung in the lobby of The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. I was so thrown off guard by it, at first I couldn’t understand why The Bellagio would have a knock-off Rauschenberg, I imagined it to be a passive maneuver by a Bellagio “set-designer,” but it turned out to be a real Rauschenburg. I was so outside of my element in Las Vegas, and my perception of the city was that it was very hollow and temporary, that everything was made to be like a Iow-budget theatre production. I couldn’t understand what was going on, or how the Rauschenburg painting could be in that space other than to recognize it as a fake, but it wasn’t. I went back to my tent, which I had pitched in the desert outside of Las Vegas, and tried to fathom it’s placement. Through recent inquiry I was able to identify the piece as “Overnight,” a vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate (107 x 93.5) commissioned by The Bellagio in 1999. Another time, while visiting The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University with my mother, I happened to see a large abstract painting (80.5 x 131.5) by Jules Olitski titled “Compelled” from 1966. I wasn’t expecting the surprise because the experience of visiting The Palmer Art Museum with my mother had been shrouded in a long, dark history. She took me there often as a child because we lived nearby, I alway tried to enjoy it but usually wound up feeling tortured by the visits. So when I saw the Olitski painting I was thrown off guard. I could instantly see the space created behind the painting, or next to it, I’m not sure what preposition to use or exactly where the space existed, but it was tangible and I was excited by it. This time, the experience was created by timing, space, and object combined. Both of these experiences caused me to rewrite a portion of my knowledge about the relationship between art, place, time, and viewer. I recognize that, on the viewers part, its best to have a combination of awareness, desire, hunting, and to be ready for a surprise. A: We have appreciated the way The Q: Entity, through an effective synergy between Art and Technology, condenses physical gestures and ethereal perspectives into a coherent unity. The impetuous way technology has came out on the top has dramatically revolutionized the idea of Art itself: in a certain sense, we are forced to rethink the intimate aspect of constructed realities and especially the materiality of an artwork itself, since just few years ago it was a tactile materialization of an idea. I'm sort of convinced that new media will definitely fill the apparent dichotomy between art and technology and seemingly Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your thought about this? N: I agree that technology will continue to have a larger role in art, especially considering the mystical-seeming implications of quantum research being done at CERN and other recent phenomenal findings regarding Einstein’s Spooky Theory. For instance, new research published in Nature Communications by Griffith University's Howard Wiseman and colleagues uses a single particle to show that wave functions collapse in a strange way. Their findings back up years of research into quantum entanglement in which particles are connected in a mysterious way even when separated, and that observing or manipulating one instantly affects the other. If you ask me, this uncovers tremendous possibilities for artists if we begin to recognize the human machine as a sensitive and powerful tool, or even a medium, when interacting with material. Working with The Q: Entity facilitated a tangible opportunity to interlace technology with memory as Clara and I began working with sound waves, specifically Hz. I had read about studies involving instrumental conditioning of sensorimotor rhythm using Hz to impact human memory and this led us to work with experimental musician, Christina Diamond. We designed a sound piece together using cryptography that incorporated specific rhythm, Hz, and musical notes reduced from astronomical dates to express the agenda of The Q: Entity. A: Now we would like to focus on your abstract painting production: your works capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: What is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create. N: Perceiving memory as part of a holographic paradigm, one who’s parts possess the information of the whole, has allowed me to understand it as a dynamic structure which can be reprogrammed through technology-infused mysticism. In this way, memories that once existed as linear narratives or psychological stories entangled within the memory structure can be re-scripted to form a type of non-linear download. In a biological and ephemeral way, memory imparts itself in my painting practice as a sort of past life experience that is Hell bent on continuing the historical work of midcentury abstract expressionists who have already addressed hypothetical concepts like synchronicity, quantum mechanics, action, and spirituality. Keeping this focus in spite of that implies that these studies are free of distinct beginnings or ends, unlike what art historians and theorists suggest. These concepts are holographically ongoing throughout eternity. General memory and individual memories don’t seem to ever possess starting points yet are inseparable from any endeavor involving the documentation machine of a brain inside of a body with working eyeballs. It’s as if our perception apparatus needs to be updated in order to interface with non-linear structures, maybe that’s one agenda of the art entity. A: We definitely love the way you question the abstract feature of images, unveiling the visual aspect of information you developed through an effective non linear narrative, establishing direct relations with the viewers: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead.” What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works? N: Abstraction is a technique for me to manage complexity between instinctive and programmed sensory input / action output processing systems. By establishing direct communication between the hidden collective input processing system and our personal awareness function, abstraction can generate non-linear communication dynamics, like downloadable psychic narratives, which can commingle in the secret space that exists behind the mask of visual input worn by the painting object. Thinking of written language as a medium, I perceive Thomas Dumond’s statement that “art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead” as a narrative itself describing Art as an entity that is being forced into new circumstances due to the false perception of progress attached to linear time. That’s a very relatable narrative because it speaks to a collective shared experience. At some point every person must move or die- birth for example. Narrative seems to exists in the psyche and surfaces as myth, emerging from a non-linear space shrouded from direct consciousness as concrete archetypes and stories. Understanding this dynamic plays a big part in allowing my work to be instinctive and to recognize it as a new personal mythology as it unfolds. A: While exhibiting a captivating vibrancy, your paintings seem to reject an explicit explanatory strategy: rather, you seem to offer the viewer a key to find personal interpretations to the feelings that you convey into your paintings... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that is in a certain sense representative of the conflictual relationship between content and form: how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? N: I try to avoid over explanation in order to honor the viewer’s opportunity to arrive at their own personal meaning. When people are able to come to their own conclusions they are able to integrate meaning on a more dynamic and practical way. For example, The Talmudic concept of the Evil Eye implies that “blessing (or understanding) only rests upon something that is concealed from the eye,” this comes from a parable deduced from a biblical myth found in Genesis where people were directed to emulate fish when it came to multiplying because fish do so under the water where it’s impossible to view the process because it occurs in a place that is shielded from view. This hiddenness acts as a type of protection against the Evil Eye, so in one way, obscuring information creates greater possibility of understanding, especially when the information is non-linear or comes from a non-visible realm in the first place. Just like history and memory, personal psychological nuances must be inseparable from action and process. For instance, I’m personally reactive to cultural implications that attempt to dictate what I should or shouldn’t do. In that way, I’m like a child and that is an obvious visual aspect of my painting. Defiance pathology is part of what allows me to maintain my true focus, insulates me from the pressure to conform, and keeps me impervious to art fads and lingo. Psychology isn’t black and white, either. Although I choose my palette based somewhat on theory, I also allow myself space to follow my hunches and to make instinctive color choices. I definitely wrestle with the pathology of conflict between understanding how formal training should dictate my color choices and choosing to ignore and even challenge that training. This conflict plays out visually as extreme or unlikely color choices as well as through the challenge of laying down color as a metaphor for form. A: The recurrent reference to the emotional sphere but at the same time to universal imagery removes any historic reference from the reality you refer to, and I daresay that this aspect allows you to go beyond any dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness, and that establishes a stimulating dialogue between references from contingent era and an absolute approach to Art: do you recognize any contrast between Tradition and Contemporariness? N: Perceiving tradition and contemporariness as dichotomies creates contrast and my work might deal with this by referencing a larger grey area. Then vs. now doesn’t fit into my perception of time so maybe that’s what you’re picking up on. Because I’m deploying abstract painting, an old fashioned and traditional language to begin with, as my superficial framework I’m referencing history in a general way. Being aware of the objectives and findings of abstract painters throughout history in conjunction with the notion that because somethings been done before doesn’t deter me. I’m sort of like a scientist with an outdated lab. I like paint and I feel drawn to work with it inside of the framework of abstract painting, there’s still a hefty amount of information to sort through. I don’t believe that its possible for abstract painting to have an end or be killed, it’s a living tool used to deal with information, and it’s useful to me. However, its being pushed to extremes by both technology and academia, which I think will force it to change and grow, but not be killed. Abstract painting has been fed a steady diet of brains for decades, and if we apply the cliche “You are what you eat,” Zombie Formalism makes sense. Instead of stabbing it in the head and pronouncing it dead, maybe we could feed it some heart and guts to revitalize it as a hero / savior, instead of fueling the zombie by feeding it more brains. Collectively, if we focus intention on reviving abstract painting through a more inclusive, receptive, and feminine approach, and if art can be liberated from academia I think that would be helpful. It seems like things are shifting as more and more art students are struggling to be baristas with huge student loans. A: It's no doubt that interdisciplinary collaborations as the ones you have established with experimental musician Christina Diamond and performance artist Clara Diamond for The Q: Entity are today ever growing forces in Contemporary Art and that the most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, Peter Tabor once stated that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists? N: Collaborating with Clara Diamond on The Q: Entity has been a profound experience in that our way of working together generated an enormous amount of information. We spent almost nine months conceptualizing and building The Q: Entity and along the way were confronted with numerous opportunities to evaluate output as valid or not valid. At one point, a sequential pattern of numbers emerged which we initially mistook for zip codes suggesting physical locations. Through Clara’s methodical way of processing information we were able to recognize that the sequences actually desired to be expressed as musical notes and this led us to work with her partner, experimental musician Christina Diamond. Having the ability to check in with each other, and to easily respect each other’s perceptions, helped refine our focus and resulted in a literal voice for The Q: Entity. Another dynamic between Clara and I exists in that we are both mothers and have each experienced the birthing process, so we were able to understood the conception and gestation of The Q: Entity as very literal. Drawing parallels to the birth of our children facilitated our reverence for The Q: Entity and this resulted in a tangible sense of growth, personality, and and recognition of a miracle. The final performance paralleled the physical birthing process in that together we each entered a similar introverted primal trance state and were able to give over personal control to the powerful instinctive force accessible to woman during childbirth. A: Over your career you have exhibited around the United States, showcasing your work in several occasions, including two solos. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? N: Keeping a clear focus on my process and an authenticity to my intention means that I don’t direct much energy into involving myself with how my work might be received by viewers. By holding the belief that viewership is best dictated by the viewer, a more powerful and integrative experience can happen for viewers as this allows them to remain in control of their own experience. For now, I maintain a dedication to my instinctive nature and to be exempt from considering audience in my decision-making process. I feel good about entrusting viewership to a cosmic power. A: Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Nina. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? N: My way of working is very prolific, in 2015 I completed over 50 large scale paintings and I’m continuing to produce work at that pace. I spend a lot of time in the studio and always take exhibition opportunities seriously. My studio is located north of New York City in the city of Kingston, NY. As artists are having a rougher financial time in the city they are relocating here, and I hope this will lead to new opportunities to connect my work with a larger community. Recently, Jill McDermid and Erik Hokanson, founders of Brooklyn’s Grace Exhibition Space, began a performance art residency program and exhibition space here in Kingston called The Linda Mary Montano Art / Life Institute and it’s been really awesome to see national and internationally recognized artists working in their space and to be able to perform there. My future plans include expanding my studio and I’m looking into buying a building here in Kingston. I’m learning about the realities of balancing art with finances and would like to connect with business and marketing people who can generate money so that I can keep working in my studio. I’m fervently motivated to continue my deep, authentic, and thorough studies of painting and performance, to generate relatable material, and to exhibit and perform as opportunities arise. Thank you, ARTiculAction for engaging with my work and for offering me the opportunity to articulate my art and action!

  • SAN DIEGO ART INSTITUTE | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... MOTHER VS GOD A short creepy video by Nina Isabelle September 28, 2016 The Dead Are Not Quiet was organized by Scott Mitchell Putesky, an artist and musician best known for his work as the guitarist and co-founder of the musical group Marilyn Manson. the exhibition will run concurrently with “The Haunted Art of T. Jefferson Carey. Exhibiting Artists in The Dead Are Not Quiet include Addison Stonestreet, Alex Ingram, Alison Chen & Michael Covello, Anne Pelej, Cayce Wheelock, Clayton Llewellyn, Dakota Noot, Dan Adams, Daniel Corona, David Russell Talbott, Emily Hastings, Eric Potts, Garrett Wear, Hannah Johansen, Hugh Schock, Ivy Guild, Janice Grinsell, Jenya Armen, John Purlia, John Straub, Julia Oldham, Karim Shuquem, Kurosh Yahyai, Larry Caveney, Liza Hennessey Botkin, Lucas Novak, Maidy Morhous, Michelle Mueller + Erik Mueller, Natalie Meredith, Nathaniel Clark, Nina Isabelle, PANCA, Paul Koester, Philip Petrie, Rita Miglioli, Robin Spalding, Shahla Rose, Sheena Rae Dowling, Wick Alexander, and Yvette Jackson.

  • THE BODY DESCRIBES ITSELF | nina-isabelle

    My Grandmother designed leather gaskets used to strap prosthetic limbs onto amputees. Being an athlete and bodyworker, this series of paintings is an inquiry into what the body knows of its own shape and where might this knowledge come from. How might my own body describe itself with line and paint? HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE BODY DESCRIBES ITSELF An in-progress painting series started August 2020 by Nina Isabelle. My Grandmother designed leather gaskets used to strap prosthetic limbs onto amputees. Being an athlete and bodyworker, this series of paintings is an inquiry into what the body knows of its own shape and where might this knowledge come from. This is a study to learn how my own body might describe itself with line and paint. Oil on canvas sizes range from 36 - 60 inches Inquire here for details and prices

  • FORCE YOURSELF TO BE GOOD | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... FORCE YOURSELF TO BE GOOD Brooklyn, NY May 24, 2018 Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself To Be Good Force Yourself to be Good Force Yourself To Be Good

  • TIME TRAVEL RESEARCH / Panoply Performance Laboratory

    This video documents time travel research conducted at The Panoply Laboratory in Brooklyn, NY on February 4, 2017 and is part of Panoply Laboratory's ongoing re HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... TIME TRAVEL RESEARCH REPORT BROOKLYN, NY / FEBRUARY 4, 2017 This video documents time travel research in Brooklyn, NY on February 4, 2017 and is part of Panoply Laboratory's ongoing research practice initiated in 2014 titled Embarrassed of the Whole. By distorting temporal local perceptions the practice facilitates quantum nonlocality and manipulates the phenomenon of local realism. Participant Subjects - Amelia Iaia, IV Castellanos, Jon Konkol, and Alice Teeple Photography - Amelia Iaia, Alice Teeple, and Nina A. Isabelle

  • Multidisciplinary Artist | New York | Nina A. Isabelle

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. Nina Isabelle HOME ABOUT PROJECTS HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE TWO THINGS CRACK IN HALF WEST HALL OPEN STUDIO RINGING IN EARS PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE SCULPTURE IMAGINED PERFORMANCE STORYTIME THE BODY DESCRIBES ITSELF MOSS ROCK CAGE TEN THOUSAND OBJECTIVES VOICES & CHOICES REMARKABLE NEW LOCATIONS ILLUMINATING INTANGIBLES SHAPE OF A FEELING SEEMRIPPER WE CAN'T TELL WHAT WE'RE DOING NEW SITUATIONS FORCE YOURSELF TO BE GOOD CITIZEN PARTICIPATION HYMN WARP TRANSDUCER VIDEO MANIFESTATION SYSTEM VMS USER ARCHIVE BEAST CONJURING BLACK BEDROOM CYBORGS & GENDER SHIRT FACTORY CENTENIAL CAVE GIRL FAMILY SOUNDS JUST SITUATIONS EXPERIMENTAL ARCHERY MOTHERING YARD WORK / YARD STUDIO THE GIANT DRESS OUT IN THE ZONE / ANARCHIST ART FAIR THE FABRIC OF WOMEN'S SPACE-TIME UNITY AT THE LACE MILL HILO CATSKILL OPENING BANGKOK UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL STAGES PROPERTY / ROMAN SUSAN MKUVM / MIND CONTROL RABBIT THE EUCHARIST MACHINE SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT LAMP PAINTING 2017 TIME TRAVEL RESEARCH JSP PLUMBING COMMISSION SAN DIEGO ART INSTITUTE JOB // F.A.G. CZONG INSTITUTE / ARTISTS & LOCATION MOCK THE CHASM UMEWE INC. ANIMAL MAXIMALISM THE GIANT WEED WEB JURNQUIST COLORING BOOK SHOW IN BERLIN HYPERACTIVE INSTALLATION WOODSTOCK LIBRARY CHAIR LOCATIONAL TRAUMA TRANSFORMING TRAP WINDMILL WEAPON MATRON Q:ENTITY / Q:INFORMATICUS SUPERFUND RE-VISIONING PROJECT CERTAIN SOLUTIONS MOTHER VS. GOD SILENT MASS GENERATOR PAINTING 2016 C O D E ART/LIFE KINGSTON - CLARA & NINA THE PAIN PROJECT FEEDING THE ENTITY PAINTING 2015 THE RANDOM COMMUNITY GENERATOR HANDMADE BOOK SILVER GELATIN PRINTS (1989-1999) INTERVIEWS ACTIVATING PERCEPTION ARTICULACTION VIDEO CONTACT 43.50 x 62.25, acrylic & house paint on canvas, 2017 Nina A Isabelle performing in Temporary Ungovernable Zone for Anarko Art Lab at Ft. Tilden, NYC. Photo by Jaime Rosenfeld PAST: -Ambient Performance for Quiet Village 6.0, September 26, 2025 -Sudden Somethings with Patricia Coleman, MJPIII & Brody Scott at NYU Silver Center, July 27, 2025 -Electronic Arts Graduate Exhibition, Create Community Studios, Troy, NY April 28, 2025 -2025 recipient of The Malcolm S. Morse Graduate Research Enhancement Award -THE CORVETTE PERFORMANCE MACHINE , OFF SIGHT + SOUND , Eastern Bloc , Montreal, Quebec, March 20-21, 2025. -UFO Conjuring for Transit of Venus at Kiddie Pool Art, December 6, 2024, Albany, NY -Dialogues for the Ear & Eye: Anton Yakovlev, Nina Isabelle, Marianne Osiel, 9W Diner, Saugerties, NY, November 12, 2024 -O+Art festival with Linda Mary Montano at Keegan Ales, Kingston, NY, October 13, 2024 -The Scholar with Structure Affliction, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, October 7, 2024 -Embodied Noise Exorcism, Rosekill Performance Art Farm, Rosendale, NY, May 24, 2024 -Seeding Care with Kathie Halfin, Hanae Utamura, and Georgia Lale, Artport, Kingston, NY, May 19, 2024 -RPI Graduate Exhibit, Create Communities Studio, Troy, NY April 28, 2024 -Postenkill Gorgeous with Lisa Schonberg, Oakwood Community Center, Troy, NY, Jan 15, 2024 - 5 Objects, Percussion & Piano for Lisa Schonberg's Old Growth Playback at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY on December 16th, 2023 at 7:PM - Electronic Arts PhD Open Studios, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY - Chicken Performance with Linda Montano at Lamb Center, Saugerties, NY - Art = Healing - group exhibit by Linda Montano at Emerge Gallery, Saugerties, NY - b priori, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute EArts PhD Graduate Exhibit at Collarworks , Troy, NY - SOLVERMATH! Initial phase opens virtually February 24, 2023, CLICK HERE > > > SOLVERMATH! - West Hall Open Studios, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, December 2022 - Livestream - Nina Isabelle & Adriana Magaña at Jennifer Zackin's Upstate Art Open Studio, July 2022 - Building as Being / Construction as Performance - IV Castellanos & Nina Isabelle at Rosekill Performance Art Farm, June 2021 -Nina Isabelle - Artist, Thinker, Observer , Theresa Widman's Podcast #183 - The Black Meta Interviews Nina Isabelle for Radio Kingston, by Beetle & Freedom Walker, May 2021 -PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE Sculpture, Installation, & Demonstration at Art/Life Kingston, May 1st - 29th, 2021 -Imagined Performances read by IV Castellanos at Para\\el Performance Space, Brooklyn, NY, February 12, 2021 -Kerry Santullo interviews Nina Isabelle for NYC Children's Museum of Art "Meet The Makers ," October 21, 2020 -Spheres of Perception & Value, Virtual Presentation, Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Iona College, September 21, 2020 -Video Manifestation System User Interface Lecture and Presentation, Grace Exhibition Space, NYC, May 1, 2020 -Superfund Revisioning Project Lecture, Grace Exhibition Space, NYC. May 15, 2020 -EQUINOX, An Emergency of Joy, March 19, 2020 -The Ear, Brooklyn, NY, August 23, 2019 -Remarkable New Locations- Nye Ffarrabas & Nina Isabelle, CX Silver Gallery, Brattleboro, VT, May 18th - June 15th, 2019 -PARALLEL-104 Meserole Street, Brooklyn NY, Saturday, March 23rd, 2019 -documentation discussion panel with LiVEART.US at Queens Museum , February 17, 2019 -Empathy Blinders by David Ian Bellows/Griess with Nina Isabelle & Elizabeth Lamb, Brooklyn Arts Media , December 4-18, 2018 -As Far As The Hart Can See / In Honor of, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts , NYC, October 20th, 2018 -actLife, Linda Mary Montano, Nye Ffarrabas, Cai Xi, Nina Isabelle, Jennifer Zackin, Lee Xi & Sharon Myers, CX Silver Gallery, Brattleboro, VT, August 24 -Healing + Arts / Radical Domesticity, Movement Metaphors Workshop, Kingston, NY, August 24, 2018 -NO NUDES NO SUNSETS , August 11 - September 22, 2018, Green County Council on the Arts , Catskill, NY -Whistle Portraits, Linda Montano & Nina Isabelle, Secret City Art Revival, Woodstock, NY, July 28 - DRAMATIC OBJECT MAKING / EMPATHY BLINDERS with Elizabeth Lamb & David Ian Bellows Griess, THREE PHASE , Sept.1, 2018, Stone Ridge, NY -WE CAN'T TELL WHAT WE'RE DOING, HiLo , July 20, 2018 - August 26, 2018, Catskill, NY -Whistle Portraits, Linda Mary Montano, Nina Isabelle & Jennifer Zackin, HiLo, Catskill, NY June 10, 2018 -ANIMALIA, Anarchist Art Festival, Judson Memorial Church, NYC, June 8 2018 -GUTTER HANGER w/ Lorene Bouboushian & Friends, THREE PHASE , 1:PM-DARK, May 27, 2018, Stone Ridge, NY -EMBODYING THE OUTER BODIES: a demonstration of low-level energetic vacuum form technologies 7:PM, May 24, 2018 -Citizen Participation: Diagrams & Directives, Feminist Art Group, www.bulletspace.org , May 6, 2018, NYC -Hymn Warp Transducer at Paul McMahon' s Bedstock Exhibit, 9 Herkimer Place, Brooklyn, NY, April 15, 2018 -New Genres at Living Arts in Tulsa,OK , March 2-3, 2018 -Muscular Bonding Collaboration at M.A.R.S.H. (Materializing and Activating Radical Social Habitus)- Feb 15 - March 5, St. Louis, MO -The Video Manifestation System released by Human Trash Dump - February 26, 2018 -PIANO PORTRAITS By Linda Mary Montano with Nina Isabelle, & Jennifer Zackin at HiLo , Catskill, NY, Feb. 11, 2018 -BEAST CONJURING by Nina Isabelle, The Mothership , Woodstock, NY, Jan16-21, 2018 http://paulmcmahon.tv/mothership -MKUVM, Human Trash Dump, November 27, 2017 https://archive.org/details/htdc002 -The Bedroom, 4th Iteration by The Women Artist Team, Holland Tunnel Gallery , Brooklyn, NY , October 20- November 12 -Patricia Field's International Art / Fashion Show, Joe's Garage, October 6, 2017, Catskill, NY www.greenearts.org -CENTENNIAL:SHE, Greene County Council on the Arts, October 7 - November 11, 2017 -The Shirt Factory Centennial Celebration- Performance / Open Studio , Kingston, NY, September 16, 2017 -F.A.G. Slumber Party, Nina's House & Yard Studio, Hurley, NY September 4-6, 2017 -We Are The Secret Garden: An Evening of Performance, Kingston, NY September 26, 2017 -The Bedroom , The Women Artist Team at NA Gallery, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea, July 23- Aug. 7, 2017 -Just Situations, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY, July 23, 2017 https://justsituations.wordpress.com -Temporary Ungovernable Zone , Anarcho Art Lab / ARTINYC, Ft. Tilden, NY July 8, 2017 -Experimental Archery Workshop , Rosekill Performance Art Farm, Rosendale, NY, June 10, 2017 http://www.rosekill.com - Mothering, Rosekill Performance Art Farm, Rosendale, NY, June 3, 2017 http://www.rosekill.com/ - N Y C Anarchist Performance Art Festival #11, The Judson Memorial Church , NYC, May 12, 2017 -The Fabric Of Women's Space-Time, The Lace Mill Gallery, Kingsotn, NY, May 13, 2017 -UNITY, The Lace Mill Gallery, Kingston, N, May 6-13, 2017 -The Unstitute's Projection Room,Catalunya, Spain, August 2017, http://www.theunstitute.org/Projection.Room.html - STAGES, Performance by Clara Diamond with Valerie Sharp & Nina Isabelle, GREENKILL , APRIL 15, 2017 -P R O P E R T Y , R O M A N S U S A N / RPWRHS, CHICACO, IL, APRIL 1-30, 2017, www.romansusan.org -Bangkok Underground Film Festival , Bridge Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand, March 4-12, 2017 -SHORTCUT TO HELL, January 22, 2017, Otion Front Studio, Brooklyn, NY www.otionfront.com -HiLo Art, April 2017, Catskill, NY https://www.hilocatskill.com -EotW (Embarrassed Of The Whole) February 4, 2017, Panoply Lab, Brooklyn, NY http://www.panoplylab.org -Mock The Chasm, November 12, 2016, Art/Life Institute Kingston, NY http://www.artlifekingston.com/ -JOB /// IV Soldier's Feminist Art Group at Panoply Performance Lab, Brooklyn, NY -San Diego Art Institute - The Dead Are Not Quiet, San Diego, CA October 1-31 -Animal Maximalism, Green Kill, Kingston, NY, October 1-15 www.greenkill.org -POLITRICKS: Theories & Other Conspiracies, October 14, Ellipsis Art, Philadelphia, PA -Artist and Location, September 23-October 9, Czong Institute For Contemporary Art, Gimpo Korea, www.cicamuseum.com -Jurnquist Coloring Book Show, September 24, Studio Fidlär, Alexanderplatz, Berlin

  • F.A.G at OLD GLENFORD CHURCH | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... FEMINIST ART GROUP (F.A.G) HURLEY, NY SEPTEMBER 1-4, 2017 THE OLD GLENFORD CHURCH STUDIO IV Castellanos, Amanda Hunt, Miette, Anya Liftig, Elizabeth Lamb, Jodie Lyn Kee Chow, Lorene Baboushian, Valerie Sharp, Kate Hamberger, Linda Montano, Ernest Goodmaw, Jennifer Zackin, Clara Diamond, Nina Isabelle

  • Nina A. Isabelle / The Giant Weed Web at Rosekill Performance Art Farm

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE GIANT WEED WEB IV SOLDIER'S F.A.G. (FEMINIST ART GROUP) at ROSEKILL SEPTEMBER 2016 Feminist Art Group founder IV Castellanos of IV Soldiers Gallery curates a group of artists at Rosekill Performance Farm in Rosendale , NY for a weekend of building and performance. Elizabeth Lamb, Kaia Gilje, Amanda Hunt, Lorene Bouboushian, Nina Isabelle, Quinn Dukes, Anya Liftig, IV Castellanos, Jill McDermid, Claribel Jolie Pichardo.

  • SHAPE OF A FEELING

    Photographs of piles by Nina Isabelle. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... SHAPE OF A FEELING Photographs of Piles by Nina Isabelle COLLECTION STARTED NOVEMBER 12, 2018

  • SOLVERMATH | phase 1

    Solvermath in an interactive experience that allows the human body to identify tones in potential relationship to physical objects. The experience involves either viewing a virtual object or holding a physical object while interacting with a tone generator tool capable of producing up to 20kHz. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... SOLVERMATH A conceptual math model tha t proves the improbability of knowing what you’re doing Click HERE to access the Sense-Object Intake Form. Wooden Block with Wire Object 1 Rubber Ball Object 2 Steel Wool Object 3 Brick Object 4 Bolt Object 5 Axe Head Object 6 Soup Can Object 7 Light Bulb Object 8 Bees Wax Object 9 Polyfill in Plastic Object 10 Superfund Site Specimen Object 11 Purple Glass Object 12 Pear Wood Object 13 Field Crystal Object 14 Sheet Steel 5.5"x7"x.25" Object 15 Pressure Treated Spindle Cut-off Object 16 Leather-bound Cowboy Book Object 17 Sea Rock Object 18 Interactive Frequency-Generator Tool To use: Click green arrow & drag finger across bar to produce tones. Click red X to stop LINK TO SENSE-OBJECT INTAKE FORM Solvermath in an interactive experience that allows the human body to identify tones in potential relationship to physical objects. The experience involves either viewing a virtual object or holding a physical object while interacting with a frequency-generator tool* capable of producing up to 20kHz. The human body is a sophisticated and responsive module capable of intermediating, detecting, and deciphering variables outside the realm of its awareness. Solvermath uses relational math to reveal an absence of relation between sense-informed response and sense of knowing. The project is inspired by Gödel's theorems concerning the limits of provability which say that “it is impossible to give a meta-mathematical proof of the consistency of a system comprehensive enough to contain the whole of arithmetic unless the proof itself implies rules of inference different in certain essential respects from the transformation rules used for deriving theorems within the system” and that “any other system within which arithmetic can be developed, is essentially incomplete because there are true number-theoretical statements that cannot be derived in the system.” The initial phase of Solvermath collects data from individual human interactions with the frequency-generator tool and the sense-objects. The second phase uses a redesigned version of relational math to form a conceptual math model that describes the space between awareness and action, and aims to highlight the improbability of knowing what we're doing. To participate, open the Google form through this link in either a separate window, on a separate screen, or other device. Keep this page open so that you can use the frequency-generator tool above. In the form on the second screen or device, you will see images of each sense-object. Using the interactive frequency-generator tool on this page, find the Hz frequency (or range of frequencies) that you sense correspond to the visual image (for remote participants) or the physical object you are holding in your hand (for those participating physically.) Enter the numbers into the form field associated with each image. To use the interactive frequency-generator tool, slide the finger back and forth on the bar from 1Hz - 20,000Hz. Click the green arrow to sense & hear the sound. Click the red X to stop the frequency. You'll notice the Hz number changing as the finger slides back and forth. You may also enter any number between the two arrows to experience a frequency between 1 Hz and 20 kHz. The frequency-generator tool produces tones that travel through the air as waves that the human body can detect through somatic listening. The experience is not designed to be used with head phones or earbuds. If you are participating remotely, view each image while interacting with the tone-generator tool and choose the tone (or range of tones) you feel represent the object in the image. Enter the Hz number(s) you identify with each object into the form with the corresponding image. For those who have access to the physical objects, hold the object in one hand while sliding a finger back and forth on the frequency-generator tool. You may detect a vibrating sensation in the hand-held object in response to certain frequencies or within a range of frequencies. Enter the numbers of the frequencies you notice into the form. Please enter your real or fake name, the real date, and indicate either "Remote" or "Physical" for each entry. After you submit the form, you will see the message "Thank you for participating with Solvermath! Your response has been recorded." This means your submission has been accepted and recorded. You may participate as many times as you like. Email questions or comments to Nina Isabelle at isaben@rpi.edu or to schedule physical access to sense-object set. *frequency generator designed by Tomasz P. Szynalski / modified by Brian McCorkle

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // Perception Management

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT LAMP FEBRUARY 2017 Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization." SALIENT MEMORY MANIPULATING PENDANT Hanging Light Sculpture: Using neon plexiglas, colored lights, and fabric, the Salient Memory Manipulating Pendant Lamp alters the psychic terrain of interior design, creating, building upon, and forcing suggested memory implants of a "magical childhood," and "parental idolization."

  • THE GIANT DRESS / Nina A. Isabelle & Melissa Lockwood

    Iqtest Melissa Lockwood and Nina A. Isabelle build the world's largest cotton double-pocketed patchwork dresses out of fabric castoffs in four hours flat. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE GIANT DRESS IQ TEST MELISSA LOCKWOOD & NINA ISABELLE The Giant Dress is the world's largest handmade all-cotton patchwork double-pocketed sleeveless up-cycled floral summer dress constructed in under four hours flat. KINGSTON, NY / MAY 2017 IQ Test Melissa Lockwood Firing tiny ceramic vessels in a fire at Rosekill with The Giant Dress. The Giant Dress The Giant Dress hanging on The South Barn at Rosekill Performance Art Farm in Rosendale, NY The Giant Dress Sewing The Giant Dress at The Shirt Factory Studio in Kingston, NY The Giant Dress Nina Isabelle with The Giant Dress at The Shirt Factory Studio in Kingston, NY

  • SILVER GELATIN PRINTS (1989-1999) | nina-isabelle

    Silver gelatin prints & hand made photograms by Nina Isabelle (1989-1999) HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... SILVER GELATIN PRINTS 1989-1999 A Collection of gelatin silver prints made from photograms, handmade negatives, and experimental darkroom photographic processes. Mother Selenium toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print Selenium toned silver gelatin print 7x9 toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print Selenium toned silver gelatin print 7x9 toned silver gelatin print prismacolor on toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print sepia toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print toned silver gelatin print Selenium toned silver gelatin print 7x9 1/1

  • Nina A. Isabelle - Interviews & Reviews

    Interviews & writing HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... INTERVIEWS LINDA MARY MONTANO INTERVIEW 2020 ACTIVATING PERCEPTION Midtown Arts District 2017 ARTiculACTion 2016 Aaron Pierce February 2017 A: I am a graduate from Utah Valley University and I am writing a dissertation for the university's biannual Art History Symposium. The topic of discussion this year is Maximalism. I am particularly focusing on performance art as the contemporary medium that is reinventing museum spaces and engaging audiences by stimulating the senses more through music, dance, film, and painting combined. That is where your exhibit Animal Maximalism came to my attention. I am completely intrigued and enthralled by your performance art pieces and projects you have created. For this paper, I would love to have your view on performance art and Maximalism. I am interested in hearing some of your methods about performance art and Maximalism. It is rare in art history to be able to have contact with the artist, hence my excitement. If you do not mind sharing your opinion, I would like to know how you feel performance art engages audiences and pushes them to connect on a higher level to art? Also, why are we seeing a shift towards more performance art pieces in museums and galleries? I feel that audiences want to have a full sensory experience. How does Maximalist performance art achieve this better than other medium of art? N: I practice a process of allowance where I let myself do what I want. This approach results in maximum data and action. By letting myself engage with an array of modalities I can generate multiple outcomes and possibilities. Because I'm not limited to any single mode of involvement, I'm free to use painting, performance, photography, or video or a mixture of modalities as I find necessary depending on my agenda and instinct. This suits my athletic, resourceful, and determined nature. I approach performance art in the same way I would approach any other art modality- by paying close attention to gut instincts and psychic impressions in a process designed to override cerebral programming. The aim is always to align action with intention, and make note of the findings and outcome along the way. Performance art is a good choice when the concept I'm grappling with calls for a human body, action, or a narrative to actuate the outcome, especially literal concepts like worshiping the golden calf or using blood to cleanse things. My body can become a tool, a stand-in, or effigy of or for the viewer, creating a point of commonality to facilitate access. Aligning action with intention is also a way to re-frame ritual and an attempt to validate the effectiveness of approaches historically relegated to realms of religious structures and beliefs. I was recently invited to teach an art theory class for kids at The Hudson Valley Sudbury School. Through our discussions it emerged that the students felt most drawn to art practices and outcomes that suited the nature, mentality, and necessity of the individual artist. For instance they could relate to how Chuck Close became successful at painting faces as a result of his lifelong struggle with a facial recognition disorder. In reflecting on my personal method it occurs to me that my mode of operation is dictated by my nature, I didn't choose to function within the Maximalism approach and philosophy, it's just that the philosophy happens to align with my nature. I'm a serial over-doer of all things who relishes the opportunity to push things too far. My work is reactionary because I'm a reactionary person. For instance the first time I encountered minimalism I was ready to explode in a thousand directions. And, as an art student I couldn't help but challenge typical art professor's slogans such as "You have to know when to stop." Of course I could recognized the academically dictated stopping point but I would never in a million years stop there. I've always felt that learning how to challenge, push, or destroy something is a valid study when handled respectfully and with intention. Performance art is an another mode of operating for artists to use in order to find or generate new information, to experiment with creating new experiences, or to try to express something they otherwise couldn't. It can engage the viewer in an intimate way offering the potential to build powerful experiences as it facilitates a space that can involve and include the viewer in a novel physical or psychic way. It's possible that since performance art inhabits walking space where gallery-goers would otherwise be moving about, a psychic connection is created by sharing the same space. As viewers, we know less about what it would be like to hang motionless on a wall. Performance art offers a platform for artists to practice aligning action with intention, a way to possibly re-frame ritual and to build experimental new models for of control or power to replace outmoded religious structures and beliefs. But also, It's possible the performance art trend might be a way for artists to backhandedly confront consumerism and elitism simultaneously, or at least to create the illusion of doing so. Commercial galleries and academic environments can be market driven or exclusive, but performance art has the ability to dissolve those traditional notions and to expand viewership by engaging broader mentalities in a way that would be difficult for strictly visual work focused on heady concepts or dollar amounts. And since we live in a culture of visual bombardment, where viewer's digitally conditioned eyes and minds are increasingly savvy, and in conjunction with consumer programming, we need something that can function both inside of and outside of commercial gallery and academic paradigms. There is a literal dissolution of boundaries. Since performance art is impervious to ownership and commodification, it pushes against market-driven capitalist structures and challenges a system where finances determine success. Issues of marketability, ownership, or commodity all come into play because its difficult to financially capitalize off of performance art. So, maybe it's like most trends- timely and culturally necessity. I developed the Animal Maximalism exhibition concept as a way to bombard the human sensory input manifold with the intention of revealing cloaked information. I use the word "Animal" as an homage to instinct. For me academia operated through reversal, fueling my defiance more than refining me the way school is supposed to, so part of my mission has always been to build legitimate framework for us animals, one that is less cage-like, and Maximalism is a good framework for that agenda. I try to work within and build upon systems that already exist that might reflect and support my authentic nature, and to allow my work to reflect and be a response to the full spectrum of my body's biologic manifestation of its own history within its cultural environment. Maximalism feels like science-fiction, in that it offers the potential for system building where the inward personal landscape can travel all the way outward through the giant jumbled experience of collective household, community, country, and planetary psychic connections. Maybe performance offers an easier access point to the viewer in that we can all relate to each other as humans who are human shaped and have human form. We all share common ways of moving our human forms through space. It's possible that performance could function to create a portal, like a way out or a way in. The Cult of Painting by Nina Isabelle 2014 Painting is a visual, psychological, or metaphysical study or exploration of an object or non-object, a place or non-place, an inner, outer, or simultaneous multiple psychic dimensions, something other, all, or none of the above. Various viscosities of liquid or paste suspending colored pigments in oil, wax, synthetic polymer, or other, are sometimes but not always laid down, poured, sprayed, or applied by the hand as an extension or non-extension of the wrist, elbow, arm, shoulder, hip, body, outer-body, aura, transcended-self, future-self, or by proxy with either a brush, tool, or other, onto a solid or canvas surface in either multiple or single opaque or transparent layers or strokes resulting in a tangible visual object manifest in the physical dimension as having weight, height, depth, mass, and occupying an amount or volume of time and likewise resulting in an equal to, greater than, or less than physical, psychological, or spiritual impact of understood or non-understood ethereal consequences within an inverse unquantifiable psychic dimension. The conception, execution, and result will or won't be quantifiable by subsets of verbal language, written or spoken, which may or may not contain specialized terminology.

  • AARON PIERCE | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... Aaron Pierce February 2017 A: I am a graduate from Utah Valley University and I am writing a dissertation for the university's biannual Art History Symposium. The topic of discussion this year is Maximalism. I am particularly focusing on performance art as the contemporary medium that is reinventing museum spaces and engaging audiences by stimulating the senses more through music, dance, film, and painting combined. That is where your exhibit Animal Maximalism came to my attention. I am completely intrigued and enthralled by your performance art pieces and projects you have created. For this paper, I would love to have your view on performance art and Maximalism. I am interested in hearing some of your methods about performance art and Maximalism. It is rare in art history to be able to have contact with the artist, hence my excitement. If you do not mind sharing your opinion, I would like to know how you feel performance art engages audiences and pushes them to connect on a higher level to art? Also, why are we seeing a shift towards more performance art pieces in museums and galleries? I feel that audiences want to have a full sensory experience. How does Maximalist performance art achieve this better than other medium of art? N: I practice a process of allowance where I let myself do what I want. This approach results in maximum data and action. By letting myself engage with an array of modalities I can generate multiple outcomes and possibilities. Because I'm not limited to any single mode of involvement, I'm free to use painting, performance, photography, or video or a mixture of modalities as I find necessary depending on my agenda and instinct. This suits my athletic, resourceful, and determined nature. I approach performance art in the same way I would approach any other art modality- by paying close attention to gut instincts and psychic impressions in a process designed to override cerebral programming. The aim is always to align action with intention, and make note of the findings and outcome along the way. Performance art is a good choice when the concept I'm grappling with calls for a human body, action, or a narrative to actuate the outcome, especially literal concepts like worshiping the golden calf or using blood to cleanse things. My body can become a tool, a stand-in, or effigy of or for the viewer, creating a point of commonality to facilitate access. Aligning action with intention is also a way to re-frame ritual and an attempt to validate the effectiveness of approaches historically relegated to realms of religious structures and beliefs. I was recently invited to teach an art theory class for kids at The Hudson Valley Sudbury School. Through our discussions it emerged that the students felt most drawn to art practices and outcomes that suited the nature, mentality, and necessity of the individual artist. For instance they could relate to how Chuck Close became successful at painting faces as a result of his lifelong struggle with a facial recognition disorder. In reflecting on my personal method it occurs to me that my mode of operation is dictated by my nature, I didn't choose to function within the Maximalism approach and philosophy, it's just that the philosophy happens to align with my nature. I'm a serial over-doer of all things who relishes the opportunity to push things too far. My work is reactionary because I'm a reactionary person. For instance the first time I encountered minimalism I was ready to explode in a thousand directions. And, as an art student I couldn't help but challenge typical art professor's slogans such as "You have to know when to stop." Of course I could recognized the academically dictated stopping point but I would never in a million years stop there. I've always felt that learning how to challenge, push, or destroy something is a valid study when handled respectfully and with intention. Performance art is an another mode of operating for artists to use in order to find or generate new information, to experiment with creating new experiences, or to try to express something they otherwise couldn't. It can engage the viewer in an intimate way offering the potential to build powerful experiences as it facilitates a space that can involve and include the viewer in a novel physical or psychic way. It's possible that since performance art inhabits walking space where gallery-goers would otherwise be moving about, a psychic connection is created by sharing the same space. As viewers, we know less about what it would be like to hang motionless on a wall. Performance art offers a platform for artists to practice aligning action with intention, a way to possibly re-frame ritual and to build experimental new models for of control or power to replace outmoded religious structures and beliefs. But also, It's possible the performance art trend might be a way for artists to backhandedly confront consumerism and elitism simultaneously, or at least to create the illusion of doing so. Commercial galleries and academic environments can be market driven or exclusive, but performance art has the ability to dissolve those traditional notions and to expand viewership by engaging broader mentalities in a way that would be difficult for strictly visual work focused on heady concepts or dollar amounts. And since we live in a culture of visual bombardment, where viewer's digitally conditioned eyes and minds are increasingly savvy, and in conjunction with consumer programming, we need something that can function both inside of and outside of commercial gallery and academic paradigms. There is a literal dissolution of boundaries. Since performance art is impervious to ownership and commodification, it pushes against market-driven capitalist structures and challenges a system where finances determine success. Issues of marketability, ownership, or commodity all come into play because its difficult to financially capitalize off of performance art. So, maybe it's like most trends- timely and culturally necessity. I developed the Animal Maximalism exhibition concept as a way to bombard the human sensory input manifold with the intention of revealing cloaked information. I use the word "Animal" as an homage to instinct. For me academia operated through reversal, fueling my defiance more than refining me the way school is supposed to, so part of my mission has always been to build legitimate framework for us animals, one that is less cage-like, and Maximalism is a good framework for that agenda. I try to work within and build upon systems that already exist that might reflect and support my authentic nature, and to allow my work to reflect and be a response to the full spectrum of my body's biologic manifestation of its own history within its cultural environment. Maximalism feels like science-fiction, in that it offers the potential for system building where the inward personal landscape can travel all the way outward through the giant jumbled experience of collective household, community, country, and planetary psychic connections. Maybe performance offers an easier access point to the viewer in that we can all relate to each other as humans who are human shaped and have human form. We all share common ways of moving our human forms through space. It's possible that performance could function to create a portal, like a way out or a way in.

  • BLACK BEDROOM | nina-isabelle

    Nina A. Isabelle is a process-based multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE BEDROOM 4th Iteration THE HOLLAND TUNNEL GALLERY Brooklyn, NY October 20 - November 12 The Bedroom is an international monochromatic flux installation by The Women Artist Team. The 3rd Iteration was exhibited at NA Gallery in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea.

  • RINGING IN EARS | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... RINGING IN EARS OCTOBER 2022

  • SEEMRIPPER | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... SEEMRIPPER A conceptual video-performance demonstrating artist as self replicator The Elizabeth Foundation As Far As The Heart Can See Curated by Nicolás Dumit Estévez October 2018 Seemripper was produced using The Self-Limiting Conceptual Video Production Process; a system that interlaces action, duration, direction, speed, sound, color, sequence, subject and object to form a linear audio and visual arrangement. The Self-Limiting Conceptual Video Production Process was designed as a system to sidestep consciousness in order to access lateral dimensions of awareness and is a continuation of The Video Manifestation System released by Human Trash Dump in January 2018. The video-performance frames the artist as a self replicator caught in a recursive loop of infinite destruction and renewal generated by the physical and quantum relationships between fire, water, air, metal and earth. This project was initiated by Linda Mary Montano as part of 'In Honor Of,' a performance series Curated by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful with curatorial fellow JP - Anne Giera at The Elizabeth Foundation in New York City on October 20, 2018. Performers were nominated by artists featured in 'As Far As The Heart Can See' (Nao Bustamante, Billy X. Curmano, Irina Danilova & Project 59, Beatrice Glow, Ivan Monforte, Linda Mary Montano, Praxis (Delia & Brainard Carey), Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle, and Martha Wilson & Franklin Furnace Archive) and include former mentees, current students, assistants and younger artists whose work they admire: Elena Bajo Bajo, Sindy Butz, Larissa Gilbert, Nina Isabelle and Xinan (Helen) Ran.

  • ART/LIFE KINGSTON - CLARA & NINA | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... ART/LIFE KINGSTON CLARA DIAMOND & NINA ISABELLE 2016

  • MOTHER VS. GOD | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... MOTHER VS. GOD SAN DIEGO ART INSTITUTE / THE DEAD ARE NOT QUIET OCTOBER 2016 Mother vs. God uses personal photographs combined with multiple sound tracks of digitally altered voice and electronic violin. The compilation of multiple media and input results in a distortion that parallels the dialogue that can exist between religious beliefs and psychotic delusions. In October 2016 Mother vs. God was chosen by Marilyn Manson’s Daisy Berkowitz, Scott Mitchell Putesky, as part of The San Diego Art Institute’s show The Dead Are Not Quiet.

  • NYC Anarchist Art Festival / Judson Memorial Church / Nina A. Isabelle

    oUT iN tHe zONE -MAY 12, 2017 PHOTOS BY WALTER WLODARCZYK HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... oUT iN tHE zONE NYC ANARCHIST PERFORMANCE ART EXHIBITION #11 JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH, NYC MAY 12, 2017 PHOTOS BY WALTER WLODARCZYK walter-wlodarczyk-2017-05-13-_87A3101 Nina A. Isabelle - Anarchist Performance Art #11 at Judson Memorial Church, NYC 2017 (photo: Walter Wlodarczyk) walter-wlodarczyk-2017-05-13-_87A3103 Nina A. Isabelle - Anarchist Performance Art #11 at Judson Memorial Church, NYC 2017 (photo: Walter Wlodarczyk) walter-wlodarczyk-2017-05-13-_87A3085 Nina A. Isabelle - Anarchist Performance Art #11 at Judson Memorial Church, NYC 2017 (photo: Walter Wlodarczyk) walter-wlodarczyk-2017-05-13-_87A3092 Nina A. Isabelle - Anarchist Performance Art #11 at Judson Memorial Church, NYC 2017 (photo: Walter Wlodarczyk) walter-wlodarczyk-2017-05-13-_87A3095 Nina A. Isabelle - Anarchist Performance Art #11 at Judson Memorial Church, NYC 2017 (photo: Walter Wlodarczyk) 18319281_318426008575701_4965584380399255762_o

  • Nina A. Isabelle // Multidisciplinary Artist // JSP Plumbing

    Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... JSP PLUMBING COMMISSION NOVEMBER 2016 These are 24x36 digital photo collage prints done for the office space of JSP Plumbing in Kingston, NY. I photographed tools and material from the JSP Plumbing shop and warehouse as well as the surrounding industrial landscape to form the final imagery. JSP 6 JSP 9 JSP11 JSP 2 JSP 8 JSP10 JSP 4 JSP 7 JSP 3

  • ACTIVATING PERCEPTION | nina-isabelle

    HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... ACTIVATING PERCEPTION - NINA A. ISABELLE MIDTOWN ARTS DISTRICT by Debra Bresnan May 10, 2017 https://madkingston.org/2017/05/09/nina-a-isabelle/ When did you first know you were an artist? Growing up people referred to me as an artist and so I became one – an experience that made me aware of the power of language, perception, belief, and social programming, all themes in my current work. It’s possible that if I had grown up in a different environment I might have been an engineer because as an artist I’m always working with how things like concepts of memory and phenomena articulate with visual and spatial perception, language, materials, and meaning and how to build generative dialogue between these factors. Where an engineer might work with materials, data, or electricity, as an artist I use a similar approach but with different variables. Favorite medium(s) you use to make art? My favorite art medium is probably the phenomena of perception and how language builds reality. Right now my focus is on working to manipulate and bend notions surrounding the value and usefulness of art away from commodity and towards structures that represent essential and social value. Inside of this, working with painting I can still have an intention to study gesture, motion, and look for new languages that might emerge from this action and mark making or find new information in whatever emerges. I like to get my hands on chunks of materials like vats of clay, lumber, bolts of fabric, or discarded machine parts and sort of grapple with the stuff until it gives in to another form. Sometimes I might start out with an intention or give myself an assignment, but other times I let myself generate information by engaging with materials and paying close attention as I go. Since I work pretty equally with photography, video, design, performance, installation, and painting, nothing is really off limits to me. I grew up at a summer camp for kids where we had an arts and crafts department with a ceramics studio, photo lab, leather tools, batik, enamels, silk screens, and fabric dye, among others. Nine months out of the year these departments were vacant and I really made the best of it – I learned to use the kiln and glazes by haphazardly blowing up and melting a lot of stuff, mixing chemistry by taste, a lot of other experimental and dangerous learning-by-doing that has carried over to my current approach. I never read instructions as a younger person because I couldn’t really read until I went to college. I’m rarely intimidated by new things, and I think that’s one of my favorite things about my development and approach. What are the most interesting new trends in your field? Is your work changing as a result? One of the most exciting things I notice right now is a shift toward recognizing the social value of art as a tool to reframe reality through community building, open sourcing ideas and data, and through things like artist collectives and working together with other artists and community members. In the art world, there are always these superficial fads like geometric shapes or graffiti, or some new trendy material, or something everyone is doing like such-and-such, but my work doesn’t usually wind up aligning itself with those sorts of cultural flows. I don’t usually find myself in trendy circles — something that has made it difficult to find a community but also has led me to the point where I am now. I recognize that, all along, my running mission has been to challenge outmoded institutional and economic systems that have grown regulated and insular and to work to build systems to replace these. Artists are always pressing hard against hierarchal structures like gender, race, and social class: It seems like the discord generated by our new political administration is influencing a lot of art thinking these days. Talk about your creative process – where/when do you get most of your ideas and how do you know a piece is ‘finished’? My creative process is rooted pretty firmly in letting myself respond instinctively. One thing I often find myself doing is trying to destroy rosy notions that abound around creativity being “beautiful.” Being a person who has given birth to babies I recognize the mess, blood, and pain that goes along with creativity. I have a lot of ideas and mostly I choose to go with the ones that make me laugh about myself or our collective idiocy. I also like to work with themes that irk me such as fake systems of legitimization we use to determine success, such as university degrees, financial values and the gender and power imbalances that seem to perpetually skew the art world. Making art objects like paintings and sculptures, and grappling with material and concepts together, I’ve questioned the point of it beyond decoration or commodity and have come to understand my process as a personal tool that lets me understand reality in a way that I can integrate. Working with materials and visual information puts me in touch with deeper threads of meaning, and nuances of life that fortify the tapestry. I’m drawn toward this way of working and thinking because there seems to be something I can’t quite say in writing or speaking, something linear language can’t quite get at. I don’t know what it is yet and that’s what keeps me engaged. As far as recognizing when something is finished, I think it’s just a matter of paying attention to a subtle feeling of “doneness,” or arriving at a comfortable stopping point or a feeling of resolve – like I’ve figured something out or said what I meant to say. Sometimes a stopping point might never come because maybe I’ve gone down on a dead-end path. I have a lot of projects in limbo because they’ve become overwhelming or I’ve lost interest, things I can always get back to at any point. And, in a quantum way, things can never be finished because time isn’t linear and there’s no such thing as an end point. Do you also teach or are you strictly a creative artist? Who was your most influential mentor and why? How do you see the role of being a mentor? and why? In the past, I’ve taught art classes like photography, modern dance, and painting or movement workshops. There is always a technical entry point where students spend time learning about say, the camera machine, visual mechanics, basic movement patterns, or just becoming familiar with materials, and this can be a fun and engaging way for people to come together. But I always want to move further into dialogue about how the usefulness of these art tools and practices can be more than a fun pastime or therapeutic hobby. Art offers invaluable ways to shift perception and find new vantage points. As an artist, I collaborate with others in several capacities that seem more like mutual mentorship, where we share and build upon each other’s momentum and concepts. I’m not sure that I’ve ever fit the part of strictly a mentor to another, but I do recognize people who’ve inspired me. I had a couple high school teachers who helped me to evade attendance, something that in a typical case might not sound helpful, but I really recognize and value people who have taken risks in order to do the right thing morally. School is not a good place for all children. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a strong relationship with an individual mentor, but something that intrigued me early on was finding and building obscure relationships between seemingly unrelated artists and their work. I remember wondering about Käthe Kollwitz’s Woman With Dead Child in relationship to Henry Moore’s sculptures and sheep sketchbook, and Jim Dine’s Robes. Somehow the similar volume expressed in these works was curious to me, possibly as a subconscious desire to connect the physical form of my body to their work because I’ve always been athletic. I was also intrigued by industrial design and how humans interact with tools and objects, especially mid-century chairs like the Eames Lounger and Bertoia’s designs as a framework for simultaneously supporting physical and thought forms together. So in a way, I’ve let this sense of wonder guide me. What are you working on now? For the past year, I’ve been working on a project called The Superfund Re-Visioning Project . It’s an experimental framework that aims to transform contaminated industrial sites recognized by The United States Government as Superfund Sites. In New York State there are 117 of these sites. I’m developing a project that aims to create a platform for artists and community members who might otherwise be marginalized by political and financial systems that typically deal with these sorts of remediation. I’m also involved with an artist collective developed by IV Castellanos called The Feminist Art Group (F.A.G.) from Brooklyn, and plan to invite them to Kingston this summer for one of The Shirt Factory Open Studio events. Currently, I have a show at the new HiLo gallery space in Catskill and like to participate in local shows at The Old Glenford Church Studio . I think it’s great when things like The UNITY show curated by Sarah Carlson and Lisa Barnard Kelley between the artists at The Shirt Factory and The Lace Mill come together to fortify community connectedness. Upcoming, I have work being featured by The Unstitute in Catalunya, Spain and plan to do something fun at Paul McMahon’s Mothership Gallery this fall. Recently my focus is moving into sound and auditory perception. I’ve become interested in digitally degraded sound snippets and obscuring auditory input to the point of noise in a way to find out what’s behind and within the experience of sound. For more information about my work and listings of recent/current exhibitions, projects and collaborations, please visit www.ninaisabelle.com/cv . How has being in Kingston enhanced/inspired your work? What do you like best about living in Kingston/being involved with MAD? How long have you been here? Kingston has a lot to offer artists and community members and is building momentum as an arts-branded district. Recently we’ve seen several exciting places pop up like David Schell’s Green Kill , Rilley Johndonnell’s Optimism concept, Broadway Arts , The Art/Life Institute on Abeel Street , and Kingston High School Art teacher Lara Giordano, who is exhibiting student work at PUGG on Broadway. The surrounding landscape is diverse and inspiring conceptually because of the Hudson River waterways, The Catskill Mountains, The Ashokan Reservoir, and the surrounding forests, hiking, and rail trails. The Mid-Hudson Library system is phenomenal, and it’s easy to travel back and forth to New York City from Kingston. It’s great to have artist studio spaces like The Shirt Factory and The Lace Mill which offer affordable living spaces for artists, and especially new organizations like MAD that are forming to support this new movement.

N I N A  I S A B E L L E

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