Meet Isabel Oliva | Artist and Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isabel Oliva and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isabel, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
In 2024 I was able to travel to Cleveland, Ohio to participate in the Digital Weaving residency hosted by the Praxis Fiber Workshop to expand my digital weaving knowledge and create new work on the TC2, and right after that I was accepted to participate in the YoungArts Summer Residency for a three month period to focus on my painting practice after having spent so much time on my weavings. I now feel ready to return to my weaving practice again, the paintings inform the weavings, so I would like to travel to another TC2 residency in the near future such as la Residencia BILBE, in Bilbao, Spain, the Icelandic textile center and TEKSTIL LAB located in Norway to further my weaving practice and continue the conversation between drawing and weaving. By the end of my career I would like to be able to say I attended all three of these residencies and more. Traveling to a residency is so valuable because it gives you the opportunity to connect with other artists who are perhaps working in the same medium but approaching it in a totally different way. It also gives you the opportunity to learn new techniques and create some work based on your new environment, these experiences allows for spontaneity and new ideas to be born in your practice. I hope to continue connecting through travel and art throughout my professional career.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
There is something familiar about the sound of galloping horses. The way a swan glides through a lake. The shine in a spider’s web. The silhouettes and shadows I conjure in my work are inspired by the edges of the animate earth. The sight of these creatures evoke a feeling of nostalgia within me. They are emissaries from my unconscious.

My work explores the archaic connection I have to the natural world, as well as my quest to create and explore my own personal mythology by dissecting symbols and imagery that often shows up in my dreams. I draw inspiration from the natural world to create artificial landscapes and fantastical ecosystems filled with creatures that are fleeting and constantly transforming. I reference reality to create a fantasy. This intersection of nature and abstraction creates an atmosphere where wildlife fluctuates and hybrid entities emerge.

I create paintings and weavings that reflect the wild and ever-changing nature of the fantastical realms present in my work. The space where I start to reference the silhouette of a creature and then slowly morph and abstract the figure and landscape is a space I am interested in navigating. In my paintings, the edges of my figures get lost and the space where things begin and end starts to disappear. Trees turn to antlers and hooves melt into the ground. Familiar yet mythological creatures emerge from the dream-like landscapes I conjure. In my work, I strive to capture the spirit and mystical knowledge that is present in the natural world.

My woven works explore the intersection between drawing, painting and digital weaving. I create my weavings using a TC2 loom. The TC2 (thread controller two) is a jacquard loom based on computer technology. This tool requires the weaver to design their weaving in photoshop. The TC2 allows the artist to experiment with weave structures, imagery, color and weft density in a way that would not be possible on a regular floor loom.

I begin my weaving process by choosing a few drawings and merging them together digitally in photoshop. This process interests me because I can overlay images and merge symbols together. I then plug in the weaving structures into the photoshop file. The weaving structures are what allows you to “shade” in your woven design in photoshop. I translate my drawings from paper into a digital realm to allow a second world to emerge from the fantastical landscapes I create. There is always a loss of information that occurs when I create a weaving, the edges of my figures become even more defined or become completely abstracted. I enjoy this relationship with the machine where I leave space for the unexpected to take place while I create a weaving. As I weave, I also think about how cloth was once used to depict folktales and pass down family histories. I feel as though I am tapping into that tradition by depicting my personal mythology through cloth. Leaving my own trail of magic behind…

This past March, I was able to attend a two week residency at Praxis Fiber Workshop as the TC2 Digital Weaving Lab resident in Cleveland, Ohio. This residency offers support and targeted engagement with the TC2, allowing artists the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of this tool as well as realizing a project or body of work. This was an incredible learning experience as well as a great opportunity for me to be immersed in a community of like minded artists. Shortly after completing my residency at the Praxis Fiber Workshop, I was selected to receive an art studio space for a three month period, provided by the YoungArts Foundation for Summer 2024 in Miami, FL. I was able to dedicate time to my painting and drawing practice and continue exploring the space where I walk the line between abstraction and reality. Choosing when and where they meet. It was great to be able to walk into my own personal space everyday and try something new, whether it was starting a painting twice my height or just making small sketches. It was so valuable to have enough studio space to have multiple projects in process in the studio and be able to bounce back and forth between works and try new things at the same time. This style of working helped me expand my painting vocabulary. This past Summer I realized how important it is to allow yourself time to play in the studio and not try to control the outcome of the work all the time. I allowed the imagery to slowly reveal itself to me through intuitive mark making.

It has been increasingly difficult to be able to have access to a studio space in Miami due to high cost and an increase in demand. I am so grateful to the YoungArts foundation, for supporting me and my work and allowing me to grow and nurture my artistic practice by providing this space for me. So many magical things take place in the studio, intentionally and through intuitive processes, it’s essential to artists’ growth to have access to these spaces to learn more about themselves, their practice and be able to share the work with others. Something new process wise I explored during my YoungArts residency was working with homemade botanical inks. I extracted color from plant matter such as hibiscus and marigold flowers to create natural inks. I was able to host a workshop in my studio with a small group and teach them how to extract color and how to experiment with different mordants to change the color completely ! It was very special and rewarding to be able to pass this knowledge on to people in my community. I hope that more opportunities like this become more and more available as Miami’s art scene continues to flourish.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I always take visiting friends kayaking in Key Biscayne at Virginia Key, it’s such a relaxing and fun activity to do with friends. Sometimes you get lucky and are able to see a group of manatees swimming nearby. My favorite time to go Kayaking is at sunset. Seeing the sky change into fiery oranges and soft pink hues is one of the most beautiful sights in Miami. For a nice fresh seafood lunch I would recommend Garcia’s located right by the Miami River, it’s a family owned Cuban restaurant that has been there since the 1960’s ! I like getting a table outside and watching all the boats passing by while I enjoy my mahi sandwich, oysters and a mojito ! If you enjoy salsa and bachata I would recommend Ball and Chain, an iconic Cuban style nightclub in Calle Ocho. The live music is always on point, it’s the perfect place to dance the night away. Miami is a beautiful, vibrant, multicultural city. I am proud to call it my home !

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like thank all my professors at New World School of The Arts for guiding me as a young artist to develop my artistic voice and for encouraging me to purse art as a career path, especially Jenny Gifford, Yasmine Samimy, and Aramis O’Reilly who deeply influenced the way I approach painting. I would also like to thank the Fiber Faculty at the Maryland institute College of Art for their guidance during my time as an undergraduate student. Jessica Pinsky and Cathryn Amidei at Praxis Fiber Workshop and of course my loving family and friends for their constant support over the years as I navigated being an artist.

Website: https://isabeloliva.squarespace.com

Instagram: sirenastudio_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-oliva-a754b4241/

Image Credits
Photographs Taken by Jason Koerner