BIO
Isabel is a visual artist, aspiring cook, and retired musician based in North Adams, Massachusetts. Originally from Cabin John, Maryland, Isabel graduated High School from the Washington Waldorf School and went on to receive her B.A. from Bennington College in 2018 with concentrations in music, visual arts, and neuroscience. In her time at Bennington, Isabel strove to combine her interests in as many ways possible. Her studies in neuroscience and human psychology informed her creative projects by providing a clearer understanding of how a viewer or listener perceives and processes a piece, while her knowledge of the arts helped to refine her priorities in neuroscience by researching the effects of the arts on the developing brain.
Isabel’s work experience supplemented her academic studies while exposing her to the professional art world: she assisted New York City-based artists Jeanne Silverthorne and Daniel Wiener, developed her interest in bio art/science-inspired art at the SVA Bio Art Lab, explored the world of film and TV production with Knight Takes King Productions and Red Marble Media, and landed post-grad at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art where she worked in Visitor Services for 4 years.
Isabel now works as the Associate Director at Ferrin Contemporary. In her free time, Isabel likes to rollerblade, do yoga, go thrifting and vintage shopping, and make visual and edible art in her kitchen and in-home studio space. For more information about Isabel’s work experience, please find her CV here. To see what she's cooking, please see her food page here--aptly titled "Wontwans"-- where she shares Asian recipes and food photography.
CONTACT
isabeltwanmo [@] gmail.com
@isabel_mai_
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work throughout my life, and as it relates to my biracial identity, has always involved the intersection of two or more ideas, cultures, concepts, or processes. I am an illustrator that combines my love for food and cooking with botanical or vegetal themes often in the form of anthropomorphic characters or food puns. Ranging anywhere from comic-form illustrated narratives detailing a cooking technique, to single-character imagery of animal/food crossovers, my ideas come from seeing, eating, and the humor I find in both. Many of my works lean into self portraits; my most recent pieces depict a rat (I was born year of the rat) hanging and tethered by the grips of a melting cheese-pull (reasons I could never be vegan), and a hangry alligator morphing into a piece of vegetable pizza (we are what we eat, HANGRILY). I also created an illustrated guide to making Chinese chili oil a couple years ago, a piece which has inspired a project I would like to expand on next: a series of single-recipe zines complete with illustrations and step-by step instructions on some of my favorite Asian recipes.