Gisela Insuaste
My work is based on memories of real and imagined landscapes that are precarious yet beautiful. By playing with scale, line, imagery, and diverse materials, I create drawings, paintings and large-scale installations that map out and emphasize the subtle and quirky topologies of urban spaces: they are shifty, unstable, and ambiguous, and reflect the physical, emotional, and socio-political charged spaces we live in. For me, the process of collecting, documenting and interpreting material culture is significant in creating work that is not just an end product in itself but can promote the continuous interpretation of ideas and the interconnectedness of people, places and things. I use drawing as the basis for this conceptual framework, which allows me to move freely between 2-D and 3-D works and create relational systems that examine the concept of time, history and memory while questioning both individual and shared spaces. These spaces consider the dynamic yet fragile relationship we have with the natural and man-made architectural forms that surround us. My travels continue to inform my work, where a shift in location, in emotion, in activity, gives rise to new ways of looking and interpreting.
Gisela received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and
her BA in Anthropology & Studio Art from Dartmouth College. Exhibitions
include the Chicago Cultural Center, Gallery 400-UIC, Thomas McCormick, Bucket
Rider Gallery, Polvo, 3Arts Gallery, NIU Gallery, Betty Rymer and several group
shows in Chicago, IL, Kansas City, MO, Washington, DC, and Ecuador. She is a
recipient of the 2004 Richard Driehaus Emerging Artist Award and a 2005 Illinois
Arts Council Finalist Award in Visual Art. In 2005 and 2006, she received MacDowell
Colony Artist Fellowships to complete new work. She was recently nominated for
a 2006 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Sculptors and Painters and has upcoming
solo exhibitions in 2007 at Bucket Rider Gallery and NEIU Gallery, both in Chicago.
This summer, with the support of the Illinois Arts Council's Governor's International
Exchange Grant, Gisela will be in residence at the Can Serrat International
Residency in Spain. Gisela is an artist, educator and arts administrator in
Chicago.
Related Work Activities
Teaching
Association House of Chicago • Lead Art Instructor • Chicago,
IL • 9/03-11/05
El Cuarto Año Alternative HS- AHC • Lead Art Instructor•
Painting, Drawing, & Graphic Arts • Chicago, IL • 9/03-6/04
Lill Street Art Center • Lead Instructor • Painting & Drawing
• Chicago, IL • 9/03-5/04
Early College Program • School of the Art Institute of Chicago •
Lead Instructor • Drawing • Chicago, IL • 6/04
School of the Art Institute of Chicago • Teaching Assistant •
Painting & Drawing Dept. • Chicago, IL • 8/02- 5/03
Early College Program • School of the Art Institute of Chicago •
Teaching Assistant • Painting • Chicago, IL • 7/02
Hyde Park Art Center • Workshop Instructor • Education Dept.
• Chicago, IL • 3/02- 8/02
Armour Elementary School/Visual Learners • Hyde Park Art Center•
Art Instructor • Chicago, IL • 2/02- 6/02
Rassias Language Institute • Harold Washington College • Spanish
Lecturer • Chicago, IL • 6/00- 10/02
KCAI HS Summer Residency Prgm • Kansas City Art Institute •
Lead Instructor • Drawing • Kansas City, MO • 6/98
Art In Your Future • Kansas City Art Institute • Lead Instructor
• Kansas City, MO • 10/97-6/98
Dartmouth College • Studio Art Dept. • Teaching Assistant •
Hanover, NH • 9/96-8/97
Lectures/Artist Talks
VIP Black Pass Program of Art Chicago • Artist Talk • Artadia/Driehaus
Studio Visit • 4/29/07
Artists in Schools • Art Chicago • Chicago, IL • 4/27/07
Dartmouth College • Guest Artist • Alumni Office • Hanover,
NH •August 2006
MacDowell Colony• Artist Talk & Open Studio• Peterborough,
NH • June 2006
Thomas McCormick Gallery • Into the Woods, Artist Talk• Chicago,
IL •10/05
Gallery 400, UIC • Artist Lecture • At the Edge • Chicago,
IL •10/12/05
Art Institute of Chicago • Artist Lecture • Arts Connect •
Chicago, IL •10/1/05
Dartmouth College • Visiting Artist • Alumni Office/Art Department
• Hanover, NH •4/13/05
Concordia University • Visiting Artist Lecture-Drawing • Montreal,
QC, Canada •1/20/04
School of the Art Institute of Chicago • Graduate Series Artist Lecture
• Chicago, IL • 4/22/03
Chicago Historical Society • Junior High Gifted Program • Museum
Studies Lecturer • Chicago, IL • 4/01
Universidad Central de Chimborazo • Visiting Artist Lecture •Facultad
de Artes • Riobamba, Ecuador • 5/12/00
Projects, etc.
City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs-Community Artist Assistance Program
• 2007 Review Peer Panelist
Richard Driehaus Foundation • 2006 nominator
SAIC Graduate Program Critique Panels • 2002-2003
Hyde Park Art Center • Just Good Art Benefit • Chicago, IL •
2002, 2004, 2005, 2006
Exhibition Catalogs: Here and Now, Jin Soon Kim: A Twenty Year Retrospective
and Leon Golub: Paintings and Drawings • Visual Arts Division, Dept.
of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Cultural Center • Writer/researcher •
2002-2003 publications
Open Studio Night • Co-Coordinator• School of the Art Institute
of Chicago • Chicago, IL • 11/ 15/02
Casual Crit • Coordinator • School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Chicago, IL • 1/02-5/02
Mt. Pleasant Arts Night • Coordinator & Artist • La Casa
Community Center • Washington, DC• 4/10/1999
National History Day HS • Judge • Historical Society of DC •
Washington, DC • 4/6/99-4/8/99
Smithsonian Institute TALKSTORY• CFCH Newsletter • Spring1999,
No.15, pg. 16, “The Latino Community Heritage Center, Nuestras Voces
en Washington” by Gisela Insuaste
Stratta Del’Arte Street Painting Festival • Kansas City, MO
•Sponsored Artist • 6/13/98 & 6/14/98
Drum Farm Folk Festival • Latino arts coordinator • Independence,
MO • 4/25/98 &4/26/98