Open Studio with Artist-in-Residence Isabella Myers

Attendees will have the opportunity to gain insight into Isabella's artistic process and collaborate on her artwork firsthand during this Open Studio session on Saturday, June 22nd from 12-3pm. 

To learn more about Isabella's work, visit her website www.isabellamyers.com.

Artist Bio: Isabella Myers is a book and paper artist born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa. She spent nearly a decade in Chicago, first attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in printmedia and later working as an arts educator. She relocated to her hometown to attain an MFA in Book Arts at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. She is a former US Creative Arts Fulbright Grant recipient in Cambodian papermaking and serves on the board of the National Hand Papermakers Association as the VP of Communications. She resides in rural Iowa working as an arts educator with a deep-rooted desire to engage her community in craft, teaching individuals from various backgrounds and ages centered on pedagogy that cultivates a profound learning experience for all. 

Artist Statement: "A monument is a container for the storage of memory, or it can be an altar that counters the loss of memory. My work is an exploration of loss—of memory, material, and tradition. It all begins with the question of what's missing. I collaborate with materials to reveal their concealed stories. Papermaking is my chosen medium, a craft rooted in centuries of tradition. Throughout the practical and conceptual process of papermaking (from gathering raw materials from nature to embedding sheets of paper with the memory of my hands), I bridge the gap between the tangible and intangible. 

I manipulate and remix materials, weaving them into new narratives that challenge our conventional understandings of materiality. In the face of relentless change and loss, my work is a reminder to viewers that an inquiry into remembrance resets our capacity to grow. My MFA thesis ‘The Book As Monument’ highlights this idea as a project that evolved out of continuous reworking of my poems in the composing stick and culminated in a series of book-monuments splintering in their perspective of a singular theme: a commemorative text for my father in his memory.

My work provides a sense of interconnectedness to viewers with an invitation to quietly contemplate a void in the face of information-saturated contemporary society. In an era where society craves a new relationship with the present and envisions different possibilities for the future, my work encourages a shift in perspective and offers a distinct connection to the world around us."