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HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... The Ear, Brooklyn, NY August 23rd 2019 VOICES & CHOICES Referencing the ways misperceptions of fear, safety, danger, pain and the body create difficulty when voicing choices, this performance was an exercise in decision making, speaking up, and the difficulty that surrounds these things. I welded a steel cage for my body that was also a percussion instrument to be played on and off the body. I constructed and wore a garment of half visually reflexive material and half acoustically absorbent foam. The performance audio included partially told stories, inaudible language, and uncomfortable loud sounds. Curated by Polina Riabova and organized by Oya Damla at The Ear in Brooklyn, NY. Photos by Kira DeCoudres

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... PAINTINGS 2016 20-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 19-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 18-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 17-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 16-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 15-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 14-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 13-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 12-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 11-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 10-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 9-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 8-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 7-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 6-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 5-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 4-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 3-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 2-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 1-2016 22x30, oil paint on paper 1/1

Things can be objects or subjects. While objects are tangible things abstracted from the particularness of subjects, subjects are the intangible concepts or notions we extract from objects. How do we process the intangible sense data we extract from encountering objects made of particles in the phys HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... TEN THOUSAND OBJECTIVES I was interested in trying to figure out how the body knows what it knows — specifically, the somatic experience of tangible material, the cognitive experience of intangible concepts, and the interplay between these four variables. I was also interested in how repetition seems to create the potential to sidestep consciousness, and I wanted to experiment with that notion to see if I could access different modes of perception or ways of knowing by engaging in a repetitive action for an extended length of time. In setting up the framework for this performance, I mapped out and identified all the parameters that I was able to. I decided on the timeframe and squared off the surface area of my work space. This gave me a way to control the tangible aspects of the performance. By laying out this semi-structured plan, I hoped to create a situation where intangibles and surprises could occur. Starting in the middle of an eighteen foot square of floor space, I set out to make one thousand pinch pots within a span of four hours. I imagined the pots would fill the entire work space and somehow be equally distributed. I counted the pots as I went along and kept track of them in ten groups of ten — something I realized was necessary as I went along and realized would be the only way for me to know when I was done. I was surprised to find that, at the end of the four hours, and down to within a few minutes, I had made the exact amount I set out to make. While I was working, the span of four hours seemed to shrink down to about the feeling of twenty minutes. These are the types of perceptive phenomena I’m interested in working with and demonstrating. How did these things happen so exactly with such little planning? How and why does time seem to stretch or contract depending on levels of engagement, intention, and focus? Things can be objects or subjects. While objects are tangible things abstracted from the particularness of subjects, subjects are the intangible concepts or notions we extract from objects. How do we process the intangible sense data we extract from encountering objects made of particles in the physical dimension and what do we call this process? What are the internal mechanisms we use to govern how we locate and position our physical selves in relation to objects in space? For this project, I constructed and deconstructed a batch of 10,000 intangible and tangible subjects and objects as a way to set both their physical and nonmaterial aspects free. Through forming a set of 1,000 physical objects made of clay with my hands, the conceptual intangibleness of their essence was simultaneously set free and bound as it transformed into material form. Conversely, intangible concepts were released from physicality through the gestural motions accompanied by the transmutation of 9,000 subjects into nonmaterial objects. Equinox: EMERGENCY OF JOY - 10,000 THINGS SET FREE Seventy one artists from around the world work together remotely and simultaneously over the spring Equinox. Organized by Chelsea Burton, Rae Diamond, Erik Ehn, Brenda Hutchinson, Suki O’Kane, “Ten thousand is rooted in the Buddhist concept of the ten thousand dharmas – an image for all observable reality." MARCH 19, 2020 11:49 PM EST - MARCH 20, 2020 1:49 AM EST (Equinox at 11:49 PM EST)

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.

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.

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... PROPERTY ROMAN SUSAN & ROGERS PARK / WEST RIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY APRIL 1, 2017 TELLERS I The women and girls from St. Henry's First Communion at 6235 N Hoyne Ave predict the future of the Devon Bank at 6445 N Western Avenue. 20x30 NINA A. ISABELLE February 2017 TELLERS II The women and girls from St. Henry's First Communion at 6235 N Hoyne Ave predict the future of the Devon Bank at 6445 N Western Avenue. 20x30 NINA A. ISABELLE February 2017 ALONG THE WAY Streicher and friends have been displaced. Transported by a drunken maritime time traveling expedition, the three men find themselves near the Chicago surface line sign at 2100 W Touhy Avenue. Peter Van Iderstein's boat, launched at at Greenleaf Avenue and Lake Michigan, has been repurposed as a time traveling vessel. NINA A. ISABELLE 20x30 February 2017 Roman Susan Art Foundation and the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society will present a collaborative exhibit in Spring 2017 reflecting the way neighborhoods emerge and change as a result of land development. For this project, the Historical Society has placed 100 images from the Rogers Park/West Ridge photography archive into the creative commons. The exhibition will include repurposed and reimagined responses to the historical photographic archive. View the full selection of images dating from 1870 to 2005 here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpwrhs/sets/72157676302462950/ The selection of original images include photographs donated to the Historical Society from the collections of Leonard and Lillian Adler, Katherine Allen (née Dittmar), LeRoy Blommaert, Lillian M. Campbell, Ann Davis Dix, Gail Donovan, Paul and Jean Einsweiler, Fred Elisius, Dorothy Ferguson, Stephen C. Ferguson, Howard Frink, John Peter Geroulis, Ken Gustafson, Elizabeth Habman, Gladys Hoaglund (née Van Iderstein), Maryl Hook, Leslie Keeling (née Pollard), Anthony Kingman, James and Sally Kirkpatrick, Carmen Lara, Rasmus Larson, James C. McCabe, J. Curtis Mitchell, William Morton, Margaret Mary Muno, Marcella Polonsky, Jean R. Price, Sidney and Ann Rockin, Marie Roti (née Bornhofen), Richard Schaul, Grant Schmalgemeier, Marty Schmidt, Toni Sherman (née Albanese), George and Margot Striecher, Mel Thillens, Sr., Ceal Thinnes, Mary Thiry (née Mertens), Albert and Loretta Weimeskirch, Gerald Wester, John Winkin, the American Legion Rogers Park Post #108, Angel Guardian Orphanage, B'nai Zion Synagogue, George Buchanan Armstrong School of International Studies, Cook County Federal Savings & Loan, Devon Bank, Mundelein College (Loyola University Chicago), North Town Public Library, Rogers Park Women's Club, Philip Rogers School, RREEF Management Company, S&C Electric Company, St. Margaret Mary Archives, and Sullivan High School. Tellers I The women and girls from St. Henry's First Communion at 6235 N Hoyne Ave predict the future of The Devon Bank at 6445 N Western Avenue. Tellers II The women and girls from St. Henry's First Communion at 6235 N Hoyne Ave predict the future of The Devon Bank at 6445 N Western Avenue. Along The Way Streicher and friends have been displaced. Transported by a drunken maritime time traveling expedition, the three men find themselves near the Chicago surface line sign at 2100 W Touhy Avenue. Peter Van Iderstein's boat, launched at at Greenleaf Avenue and Lake Michigan, has been repurposed as a time traveling vessel.

MOTHERING looks at a child's nonverbal perception of the unspoken or hidden in relation to the improbability of a hierarchal god or mother. Multilayered family HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... MOTHERING NINA A. ISABELLE, EVER Z. PEACOCK, & SYLVIA ROSEKILL PERFORMANCE ART FARM ROSENDALE, NY JUNE 3, 2017 MOTHERING looks at a child's nonverbal perception of the unspoken or hidden in relation to the improbability of a hierarchal god or mother. Multilayered family video and sound are projected onto a quasi-defunct Airstream trailer behind the south barn at Rosekill Performance Art Farm while Mother and Son perform with gestural sound-loops and shrouded interpretive movement.

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

HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... TWO THINGS CRACK IN HALF A Griswold Cast Iron pan from 1947 that belonged to my grandmother and a 500 ml Luminarc Working Glass both cracked in half in my kitchen on the same day. On December 27, 2022, I performed a photographic study and documentation of the objects. On February 20, 2023, I interviewed ChatGPT to help me understand. View & download full-color 30 page document here:

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... PAINTINGS 2017 1-2017 - 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 2-2017 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 3-2017 - 43.50 x 62.25 Acrylic on Canvas 43.50 x 62.25 2017 Paintings in the studio Paintings in the studio In 2017, I made these large abstract paintings using a four-inch brush to drag six colors sequentially across each surface. With each new color came the erasure of what came before, each mark both creating and subtracting, layering presence over absence. Seven years later, I revisit these works through the lens of my history as a climber, seeing how physical instinct and embodied decision-making shape both artmaking and movement. In making these paintings, I explored the boldness required to act, to trust the body’s sense of direction apart from rational logic. The process feels akin to bouldering: reading a route, sensing where the holds might be, and moving through uncertainty with focus and commitment. Sometimes instinct leads to success; other times it fails completely. Yet in both art and climbing, these moments of failure become gifts that reveal what we know, what we don’t, and how understanding and discovery emerge through the body. Like artmaking, climbing demands presence, intuition, and courage. Both acts arise from a need for momentum and discovery, from testing the limits of embodied perception. Through these works, I consider how the body: its history, effort, and instinct, can guide creative process and generate knowledge beyond the rational or cerebral. This approach also resists the elitism and performative intellectualism that too often alienate people from art. The creative, experimental, and playful processes of both artmaking and climbing are accessible to all humans, regardless of social, educational, and economic backgrounds, offering a way of being that reconnects us with our shared humanity. I began climbing in 1990. My main stomping grounds were the boulders and trad routes of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City. I also climbed extensively in Indian Creek, City of Rocks, Yosemite, and Zion, focusing on trad routes, bouldering, freeing aid routes, as well as scouting, exploring, and developing hidden spots around Gunnison and the Southwest as a proto–dirtbag van-life kid.

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 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.

Handmade book by Nina Isabelle HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... Handmade Book 1992 7x9 This book was made using vintage photos, construction paper, and resin coated photo paper sent through a Xerox machine, map scraps, and electrical, scotch, and masking tape. I used a sewing machine to stitch it together. The book had been in storage for years and I decided to document it.

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... UMEWE HAPPY SPOT 2016 NAI_1988 http://www.intoyellow.com/ P&T Surplus Timothy J. Smythe at P&T Surplus in Kingston, NY. http://www.intoyellow.com/ Alexus, April, Qunisha Block Park in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Ines & Domingo Santos Just For You Oaxacan Restaurant in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Kuda & Quan First Capital Barber in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Ever & Aaron At Rezny Photography Studio in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Brian Buboltz American Legion Post 150 in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ Rosa The Happy Apple Thrift Shop in Kingston, NY http://www.intoyellow.com/ INT-O Yellow was developed as a collaboration between conceptual artist Riley Johndonnell, Pantone and UMEWE Inc.- an art and design collaborative founded by Whitny Sobala and Riley Johndonnell which supports, promotes and disseminates Optimistic 'tools' and works of public art. www.intoyellow.com As a way to articulate with INT-O Yellow I photographed one of the INT-O Yellow Happy Spots around Mid Town Kingston. Happy Spot visited some classic Kingston locations, integrating the familiar with new faces and places.

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

The Random Community Generator - a social experiment by Nina Isabelle Nina Isabelle HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... RCG1-1 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-2 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-3 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-4 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-5 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-6 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-7 RCG1-8 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-9 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-10 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-11 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-12 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-13 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-14 18x26, oil on canvas RCG1-15 18x26, oil on canvas The Random Community Generator February 24, 2014 by Matthew Gioia The Random Community Generator is an interactive project designed to generate a random community of 15 people who, by either purchasing or bartering for one of the pieces in the series, agree to become acquainted with the owners of the paintings which come before and after theirs in the series. The series is itself a “community” of 15 visceral and boldly colored 18x26 oil paintings. Energetic and defiantly opaque, the paintings contain aggressive elements which thrust themselves off the painted surface, longing for release into the third dimension. Discreet rivers and pockets of luminous color saturate the canvas beneath criss-crossing paths of uncertain trajectory. Yet despite their apparent abstraction, there is a creeping sense that the paintings are actually a concrete rendering of the vertiginous tumult of impulse, image, and ancient emotion that swirls just below the more or less ordered surface of human consciousness; the tumult which divides the world from our knowledge of it. Produced as one massive painting by hanging 15 canvases in a tight row and applying elements in a sequential manner from beginning to end, the series expresses varying degrees of chance and manipulation which interplay within each piece as well as throughout the collective whole. Thus, the paintings are separate yet inextricably linked by elements which move ecstatically across multiple canvases. Taken as a whole, the project is a map of a mind, which is - in the first and the last instance - communal, complex and messy, organized by the logic of dreams. The interactive component of the series is laid out as a social and interpersonal experiment designed to facilitate an examination of the perception of separateness and identity. First, the project asks, “can a randomly generated or accidental community be as meaningful - or even more meaningful than a community based on occupation, convenience, interest, or faith?" And then the Community Generating begins dealing in ideas, and tips into abstraction. By challenging our stagnant definitions of community, the project asks us to look at the division between our private and public life, between the kind of community we would most like to be a part of and the kind of community we actually create, and between the people we are, the people we think we are, and the people other people think we are. Indeed, the Random Community Generator, by its process of creation as much as by its experimental distribution plan, generates profound questions: is there any such thing as a distinct individual? What comprises a person? How do people overlap, echo, mirror, and create each other, consciously and otherwise? The paintings will disband, but could it ever be possible to really know any one of them without knowing the others?

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE PAIN PROJECT MARCH 2015 The Pain Project revisits eight physical injuries and is meant as an exploration of where pain is held in the physical body and how it changes with time. Each piece was made by applying paint to paper using the affected body parts. 3rd Metacarpal of Left Hand , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Broken 3rd Metacarpal of Lett Hand: When I was in 3rd grade I broke the 3rd metacarpal on my left hand doing a back-handspring on the trampoline at The Nittany Gymnastics School in State College, PA. Initially I thought that I had just cracked my knuckle in a painful way but later that day when I was asked by my instructor to do a glide kip on the bars I noticed that there was a sharp pain in my hand. My instructor assumed that I was lying in order to get out of class. I felt conflicted by her accusation, so I tried to swing from the bars again but it was still painful. Was I imagining it? Maybe I just hated doing gymnastics? I began to question my perception of pain within my physical body, I couldn’t tell if I was hurt. That night I told my Mom that I thought I had hurt my hand. She said she would take me to have an x-ray in the morning, but my Dad told her it was not broken, there wasn’t enough swelling, to leave me alone and it would be fine. They fought about it but she took me anyway and it turned out to be broken. They wrapped it up with a plaster cast. Frontalis Bone , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Multiple Concussions: Due to skateboarding and snowboarding I have been knocked unconscious several times. Once I hung up and fell to my head on a mini-ramp and was knocked out for several seconds. When I opened my eyes a man who was there said “Don’t move, I’m going to get your Dad.” I didn’t move. When the man came back he said, “Your Dad says to get up, that you’ll be fine.” The first time I dropped in on a vert ramp everyone told me, “Make sure you lean forward!” I dove from the top of the 12 foot ramp to the bottom, landing head first. I felt dizzy and was giddy but thought it would be a good idea if I tried again. Everyone was yelling “just sit down, don’t get up!” I tried again. On the way home I felt nauseous, my friend had to drive, I threw up on the side of the road. The worst time was when I dropped in on an 7 foot quarter pipe that went onto an asphalt street course. My wheel ran into a piece of gravel and it caused my board to stop rolling, I fell right onto the front of my head. Right in my hairline, directly above my right eye, a large lump instantly grew straight out of my skull, like when cartoon characters get hit with a bat. I had a lump that was as tall as a spool of thread sticking straight out of my head, like a horn! I couldn’t stop laughing, time was distorted, I was delirious. The person I was with took me to the E.R. I had a concussion, they said to wake me up every two hours. The lump turned to dark colors, and then eventually drained into both my eye sockets. I had two black eyes, like a raccoon. I was in Art school at the time, my painting teacher took me aside and asked if I was experiencing domestic violence, he was convinced that my boyfriend was beating me, I couldn’t stop laughing. My skull is indented in that spot. To this day If I touch it with my finger my heart starts racing and my throat clenches shut and it becomes hard to breath. Right Hip , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Multiple contusions on right thigh, inferior lateral aspect of the greater trochanter of femur : At age 14 I was doing a balance beam trick called a Gainer Layout Step, where you sort of fling yourself up in the air and do a no-handed flip and land on one foot. I missed my landing foot and landed on the lateral aspect of my thigh resulting in a giant black and blue mark. Shortly after that I was required to have a physical for school, the nurses saw my bruises and asked if I “had a happy home life.” They sent me to the school counselor who asked me if I drank or used drugs or if I had been exposed to domestic violence. She didn’t believe my answer, that I had “fallen off a balance beam.” Many years later, I was doing a 50/50 grind around a bowl corner on my skateboard, and when I went to go back in my back trucks hung up on the coping, causing me to slam into the bottom of the 5 foot deep bowl with full force, directly onto my right hip. It swelled up instantly, looking like an enormous raspberry scone stuck to my thigh. Blood and yellow fluid began to push out of my pores and flow down my leg. I’d wake up with the bed sheets stuck to my thigh each night, eventually there was a scab the size of my entire hand. My thigh was swollen fat and wiggly like it was full of jello. I couldn’t put on pants and had to wear skirts for weeks, I had an unbelievably huge and disgusting scabby, black-and-blue thigh. To this day, over 20 years later, I still have a lump of scar tissue the size of a small lemon inside my lateral thigh. It is still surprisingly painful to touch. I call it my “perma-bruise.” Lateral Malleolus of Right Fibula , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Undiscovered Broken Lateral Malleolus of the Right Fibula : I had sprained my right ankle several times doing gymnastics, it usually took 3-4 week to feel completely better. The usual protocol involved sticking my foot in a bucket of ice water several times a day, continuing to try to walk on it so that I wouldn’t loose mobility, and wrapping it tightly with athletic tape so that I could get back to training as soon as possible. I had been through this injury several times. When I was 15 I took up skateboarding instead of gymnastics. One time I dropped in off of a ledge that went to a bank and my front right foot rolled under. I wound up landing on top of my crumpled foot with all of my weight from several feet in the air. It was so painful, I was frozen and unable to make a sound or move. Nobody in the crowded building recognized that I was injured. I slowly and quietly moved myself across the concrete floor toward the exit and crawled on one knee with my ankle in the air, very delicately and smoothly, down the hill to where the athletic trainers were. They looked at my ankle and said I would need to get an x-ray, then I was given a ride home. I called my Dad, who said “No, you don’t need an x-ray, it’s probably just a bad sprain, just ice it.” 4 weeks had gone by and I was still not able to put much weight on my foot. I kept trying to walk normally, and just wrapped it up tightly with athletic tape. It was over 2 months before I could walk without pain. My boss and other people implied that I was faking an injury for special attention, so I made a point to conceal my pain. When I was 36 I sprained my ankle again while bouldering. I had it x-rayed and they said, “It’s not broken now, but we can see where it has been broken previously in several places.” My ankle has never recovered from this, it is extremely sensitive and I can’t allow anything to touch it, the lightest tap makes me yelp. Dragging it across the paper for this project was excruciating, I almost cried. This injury is 18 years old and has not left my body yet. Occipital Bone , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Bad Neck Injury: I’m not sure what happened to my neck. I over-rotated a double back flip on the trampoline and was about to land on the back of my head. My friend dove toward me to stop my rotation before I landed but his fist wound up right in the back of my neck when I landed with my feet crumpling over the top of my body. My entire head and neck were tingling and making crackling sounds, it felt like fluid had been blasted up my nose. I crawled off the trampoline and took myself home. I took some Advil, put a bag of frozen peas on my neck and tried to sleep. I couldn't move for days, the phone had been ringing but I couldn't get to it. I finally crawled to the kitchen 2 days later to eat, but wound up on the floor in pain. I made an appointment with a chiropractor but he needed to see an x-ray. I didn't have insurance so I just waited for it to get better. I have a lump the size of a walnut at base of my occipital bone on my right side. It hasn’t gone away yet, sometimes I have sharp, shooting pains if I turn my head a certain way. Contusions on Lungs , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Contusions on Lungs, Cracked Tooth: When I was 16 I was snowboarding on an icy slope with my friend. Something happened and I wound up in the air face-first and landed on my chest and face. I knocked the wind out of myself and banged the front of my face and head onto the ice. I started laughing really hard, blood gurgled up from my throat and sprayed onto the snow, then I spat a tooth into my mitten, I couldn’t stop laughing. My friend asked if I was okay and I couldn’t stop laughing, I said that I was okay, but he took me to the hospital. They x-rayed my lungs because of the blood coming out of my throat, it had a contusion. The next day I went to the dentist and he made me a new tooth out of putty, I still have it. Lateral Deltoid 44x36, tempera paint on paper Separated Right Shoulder: When I was 16 I was skateboarding on a 5 foot mini ramp inside of a metal building near my home. My back trucks hung up on the coping and I fell to the flat bottom landing on my shoulder. I tried to leave the building but couldn't open the door because I needed to hold my right arm onto my body with my left arm. I tried for a while to open the door with my foot, or to unlatch and slide the barn doors open with my legs. Eventually I managed to open the door and walked home. My parents were upset with me for being late for dinner. My Dad gave me a sling for my arm, and we tied my arm to my torso for several days until it tightened back onto my body. Sacrum / Coccyx , 44x36, tempera paint on paper Possible broken or subluxed coccyx or sacrum: My skateboard slid out from under me and I landed on my tail bone on a metal pipe. I was able to get home and go to bed. In the morning I was in so much pain, I couldn't stand upright. I walked slowly, bent over all the way, to the bathroom, then back to my bed. My parents didn’t know I was hurt. They kept yelling for me to “Make sure you don’t miss dinner at camp, we don’t have any food at the house!” I couldn’t get out of bed, I was so hungry. I never saw a doctor.

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HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... THE SHIRT FACTORY CENTENNIAL KINGSTON, NY September 16, 2017, 2018 For The Shirt Factory Centennial Celebration I tied 100 flags together and looped them through the building.

Nina A. Isabelle is a multidisciplinary artist working with abstract painting, performance art, video, photography, sound, and sculpture. HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... HYPERACTIVE INSTALLATION JUNE 4 2017

HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... CERTAIN SOLUTIONS FOR DISSOLVING PROBLEMS CZONG INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART GIMPO, KOREA / AUGUST , 2016 Certain Solutions For Dissolving Problems August 21, 2016 8:39 Certain Solutions For Dissolving Problems compiles digital imagery, audio, photography, and writing from The Superfund Re-Visioning Project into a video that addresses the failure of language and processes used to confront social and political issues such as environmental contamination. Using subtle neurolinguistic programming tactics combined with inaudible frequencies this video implants the idea of psychic reprogramming as a possible solution to artistic process displacement and underutilized artistic visions within the financial and political structures intended to remediate environmental contamination. In September 2016 Certain Solutions for Dissolving Problems was exhibited in an exhibition called Artist and Location at The Czong Institute For Contemporary Art in Gimpo, Korea.

HOME ABOUT PROJECTS More... WEST HALL OPEN STUDIO RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE TROY, NY DECEMBER 11, 2022

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.