Artist’s Statement

Every painting is a series of questions 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 answers come through editing, through paring down and cutting out extraneous detail 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 illustrate 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 feeding my own need to be oriented, to be grounded, to know where I am and to feel connected to that place.

Bio

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 central Virginia and spending time on my family’s property in the mountains, I formed a deep attachment to the region that I have carried 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.

I then returned to Charlottesville to teach in the Art Department at UVA. I continue to paint and exhibit at galleries throughout the south east.

CV

EDUCATION:

MFA 2011  |  Painting  |  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

BA 2005  |  Studio Art |  University of Virginia, BA with Distinction

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

Upcoming  Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

Upcoming  Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

2017  Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2017  Summer Perspectives, Les Yeux du Monde, Charlottesville, VA

2016  November Gallery, Richmond, 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-Present  Renting Member, McGuffey Arts Center, Charlottesville, Virginia.  Studio awarded through juried application process.

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, Virginia

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:

University of Virginia Health Systems

Capital One

Dominion Energy

Boar’s Head

 

ARTIST LECTURES:

2014  Guest Lecturer, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia

2012  Studio Critique Sessions, Advanced Painting, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

2008  Visiting Lecturer, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2011- 2013 Adjunct Faculty, University of Virginia

2010- 2011  Teaching Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

2010- 2011 Gallery Co-Director, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elliot Union Center Gallery

2009- 2011  Graduate Assistant, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Assisting Painting, Drawing, and Art History faculty

2008 – 2009  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: 2013Cville Weekly, 2013

Casey, Elizabeth,. “Cville Niche, Local Artist Check In.Cville Weekly, 2014