Isabelle Abbot

Convergence
Isabelle Abbot
9 July – 27 August 2022
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Summer Perspectives
Isabelle Abbot w/ Sarah Boyts Yoder & Cate West Zahl
23 June – 20 August 2017

Twenty!
LYdM turns 20 in 2015
9 January – 1 February 2015
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Summer Scenes
Isabelle Abbot & Priscilla Whitlock
17 July – 16 August 2015
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Seeing Summer
19 July – 25 August 2013
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New Vistas
Isabelle Abbot, Karen Blair, Janet Bruce, Kris Iden, Susan Murphy
31 March – 6 May 2012
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Biography

I use painting to explore the world around me and, through the tools of brush and paint, come to a deeper understanding of the landscapes that I love. Growing up in Greenwood, Virginia and spending time on my family’s mountain property, I formed a deep attachment to the region and have carried that with me throughout my life. I studied art at the University of Virginia with painters Richard Crozier and Philip Geiger. After graduating, I continued painting the Virginia landscape, showing work locally as well as in Richmond and Farmville. The idea of Place and how we form memories and attachment to the land fascinated me and I decided to attend graduate school to deepen my knowledge of painting and how I could use it to understand and celebrate the world around me. I earned my Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. In the Spring of 2011, I returned to Charlottesville to teach in the Art Department at UVA and to continue painting the landscape I love most.

Education
2011 MFA Painting, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
2005 BA Studio Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Selected Exhibitions
Upcoming Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2017 November Gallery, Richmond, VA
2017 Summer Perspectives, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2016 Landing, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2015 Summer Scenes, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2014 Knowing a Place, Bridgewater College Gallery, Bridgewater, VA
2014 A Take on Spring, New City Art Space, Charlottesville, VA
2013 Surveying Light, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2013 Seeing Summer, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2013 A Year in the Foothills, J Fergeson Gallery, Farmville, VA
2012 Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA
2011 Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, NC
2011 New Work, J Fergeson Gallery, Farmville, VA
2011 Christina Ray Gallery, New York, NY
2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2010 Elliot University Center Gallery, UNC Greensboro, NC
2010 Size Matters, Center for the Creative Arts, Greensboro, NC
2009 Homeland, J Fergeson Gallery, Farmville, VA
2008 Greenwood, The North Gallery, Crozet, VA
2008 Reminiscence, The Gallery at Fifth and Water, Charlottesville, VA
2008 Show for Emerging Artists, Kaller Fine Arts, Alexandria, VA
2007 Horizons II, The Gallery at Fifth and Water, Charlottesville, VA
2006 Ridgelines, The Mezzanine Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

Awards & Residencies
2013 “Best Of Cville” award for Best Visual Artist
2011 Renting Member, McGuffey Arts Center, Charlottesville, VA
2010 – 2011 Thrush, Holderness, and Howard Scholarships, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2010 Graduate Assistantship (Summer)
2009 Visiting Artist, Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, Ireland
2008 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Residency, Amherst, VA

Artist Lectures
2014 Guest Lecturer, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA
2012 Studio Critique Sessions, Advanced Painting, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2008 Visiting Lecturer, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Professional Experience
2011-13 Adjunct Faculty, University of Virginia.
2010-11 Teaching Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2010-11 Gallery Co-Director, Elliot Union Center Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2009-11 Graduate Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2008-09 Director of Exhibitions at South Street Brewery, Charlottesville, Virginia
2008 Art Teacher, Spectrum Art Program, Tandem Friends School, Charlottesville, Virginia.
2007 Art Teacher, Oakland School. Keswick, Virginia

Publications
Pesch, Allie Marchall, “Isabelle Abbot’s Land Portraits Are Getting Snapped Up.” The Crozet Gazette, 2009
Crean, Brian. “Size (& location) Matters.” Yes! Weekly, 2010
Abbot, Isabelle. “Painting and the Experience of Place in the Southern Landscape.” University of North Carolina, Greensboro, 2011
Sargent, Sarah. “A Brush with Spring.” Cville Weekly, 2012
“Best Visual Artist: 2013” Cville Weekly, 2013
Casey, Elizabeth,. “Cville Niche, Local Artist Check In.” Cville Weekly, 2014

Every painting is a question I pose to myself, about the landscape, about my relationship to my environment, about the specificities of where I am. How does this moment feel? How does the atmosphere, the topography, the light affect me? How can I communicate these sensations honestly and clearly? The answer comes through editing, through paring down and cutting out extraneous detail and any sense of illustration to discover what is essential about a place. The answer also comes through using paint as an investigative tool that can take on the textures and colors of earth and sky, allowing me to reconstruct my surroundings on the canvas. All the work begins with direct observation and, by asking and answering questions, grows into a painting that does not describe but embodies the qualities of a particular moment in a particular landscape. I am a painter of a very specific region and I want my viewers to feel instinctively where these paintings come from. I am paying homage, as well as fostering my own need to be oriented, to be grounded, to know where I am and to feel connected to that place.[/tlg_tabs_content][/tlg_tabs][/vc_column][/vc_row]