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CV

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Isabel Padilla Bonelli

Born in San Juan, PR 

Based in Puerto Rico 

 

As an artist, I am drawn to exploring how our environments work as natural/external reflections of the individual through fiber arts, craftwork, and mixed-media printmaking. Using fiber arts techniques has become central to my evolving practice as I ask for the consideration of what happens when art is tangible, recognizable, and relatable- a point of access to feelings of nostalgia, childhood ritual, and comfortable space. Incorporating crochet, embroidery, and knit handwork into my mixed media pieces allows me to construct a tactile representation of my exterior and interior environments that relate to the “home”- as both a physical place and as an exploration of self-identity. 

Gates are artistic interventions in our landscapes. My interest in rejas takes its form as a personal investigation of culture and my position within it through this study of colonial architectural elements; the rejas, that protect our homes and sites of comfort, also send conflicting messages of identity, territoriality, exclusion, and status. My work addresses the juxtaposition between “hard and soft”, playing between the representation of the object's materiality and questioning its charged connotation within the history of design. Underscoring a gate’s dual purpose of protecting those inside and controlling those that enter, I reflect on its societal ability to “gatekeep” what it means to be Puerto Rican. Exploring this relationship between decorative objects dual significance to bring beauty to a space and confront my sense of belonging within it. 

CV

Education

2024- Liga Estudiantes de Arte de San Juan: Serigrafía, Cianotipia, Medio Mixto y Grabado

2023- Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico: Cerámica en torno

2019-2023- B.F.A Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art & Planning

Minor: Fashion Studies 

 

Grants & Awards 

2024- Lisa Wainwright Graduate Merit Scholarship

2024- Margot and Thomas Pritzker Graduate Fellowship  

2023- The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Robert Blackburn Printmaking Award

2023- Ezra Colin Cornell Media Award 

2021-2023 Cornell Club of Puerto Rico Scholarship

2021 - Reed Hastings Scholarship 

2019-2023 - Cornell University Tradition Fellowship 

2019-2022 - Hispanic Scholarship Fund

2019 - The National Puerto Rican Day Parade Scholarship 

 

Group Exhibitions 

2024- "Taller de Collage Político"  with Moréna Espiritual, San Juan, Puerto Rico 

2024- El Salón de la Gama, Módulo de Mejoramiento Comunitario, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 

2024- Caminos Encontrados, ORI Micro Galería Afro. San Juan, Puerto Rico 

2024- Certamen de Estudiantes, Liga Estudiantes de Arte de San Juan, Puerto Rico

2024- Autora, Me.seum, Ponce, Puerto Rico 

2024- Dewey Decimal System, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

2024- Echoes of Liberation: Artistic Expressions of the African Diaspora, AM:PM Gallery, New York, NY

2023- Collage and Printmaking Workshop and Conversation Workshop Leader with The Bluprint Archives, New York, NY

2023- Flock, Sheep Not Bird, Ithaca NY

2023- Golden Hour, Art Crawl, Ithaca NY

2023- County Fair, Ithaca NY

2023- Woven Within, Ithaca NY

2023- Threading the Needle, Mann Library Gallery at Cornell University, Ithaca NY

2022- Liquidation Sale, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 

2022- Soft Launch, Art Crawl, Ithaca NY

2022- Sad Happy Hour, Art Crawl, Ithaca NY

2022- Get Soft, The Soil Factory, Ithaca NY

2022 - Colorful Nonsense, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 

2022 - Featured "Coqui Calling", The Ink Shop Printmaking Center, Ithaca NY

2022 - AnthroPu$$yne, Cornell University, Ithaca NY2019- Invited to exhibit at The Mint Museum, Charlotte NC

Recent Press

2023- Cornell AAP "2022-23 Student Academic Awards and Prizes"

2023 - Collective X; A-Muse, "Fashion Feature"

2020 - Cornell Daily Sun, "Rising Artist Spotlight"

Resume

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