BIO
Isabella Fernanda is an artist based in New York. Her work examines the exploration of identity through the societal norms and peculiarities that emerge within our contemporary world.
Fernanda’s work has appeared in exhibitions, film festivals, and virtual shows. Most recently she exhibited at Shockboxx and at Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio in 2023. She has performed live on the New York City Streets and Subways and has been digitally projected onto Long Island's Village of Patchogue MoCA L.I.ghts’s site-specific installation in 2022. Her short film, CLOSER, first premiered at Pace University's Student Film festival in 2020. She has collaborated with Performance Artist Rebecca Pristoop’s, “The Moving Company”, articulating an original live art performance at the Pace University Art Gallery in 2019.
Fernanda received her B.A. in Film and Screen Studies & Art from Pace University.
Presently, Fernanda is the Museum & Fine Art Gallery Assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island (MoCA L.I.)/ Patchogue Arts Council (PAC), where she co-manages creating art awareness through promoting, supporting, and organizing events for the local community with the executive director and curator. Previously, Fernanda was also the Museum Educator & Administrator at Preservation Long Island’s (PLI) Custom House in Sag Harbor, NY.
In 2021, Fernanda was one of only three students to be selected and awarded by guest juror and artist, Onyedika Chuke, at the Annual Art Student Exhibition at the Pace University Art Gallery.
Fernanda is currently exploring live art performance, painting, sculpture, and video as she continues to devote herself to the arts.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Cozy thoughts are a form of limiting existing negativity. Yet, through embedded labels, society is deprived of developing self-comfortability. Our contemporary environment is one where culture and media either flatters, or leads individuals to fabricate questions of the self.
My work examines the exploration of identity through the societal norms and peculiarities that emerge in present-day culture.
Using the body as a platform, I work with video and performance to create spaces that acknowledge the experience and energy of our contemporary world. By utilizing my body, I am able to interact with the surrounding environment in a more raw state. When painting and making sculptures, the mediums allow me to explore personal and social perceptions of reality.
My intention is to encourage the public to love both the familiar and peculiar of the self.
CV
Education
2021 B.A. Film and Screen Studies & Art, Pace University, Dyson School of Art & Sciences, New York, NY
2017 High School Diploma, Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School, Riverhead, NY
SOLO Exhibitions
2022 Solo Exhibition, Artist Spotlight: Isabella Fernanda, Preservation Long Island, Custom House, Sag Harbor, NY
GROUP Exhibitions
2023 Group Exhibition, Counterpart, Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio, Southampton, NY
2023 Group Exhibition, Summer Camp, Shockboxx, Hermosa Beach, CA
2022 Group Exhibition, Ritual: Art And Witchcraft, Womenswork.Art, Poughkeepsie, NY
2022 Group Exhibition, MoCA L.I.ghts, Art On The Marquee, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, Patchogue Theatre of Performing Arts, Patchogue, NY
2022 Juried Exhibition, PATCHWORKS, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, Patchogue, NY
2022 Invitational Exhibition, HOPE, Capital Culture House, Madrid, Spain
2022 Group Exhibition, ETHEREAL, Capital Culture House, Madrid, Spain
2021 Group Exhibition, The 2021 Small Group Show, Toast Coffeehouse, Port Jefferson, NY
2021 Group Exhibition, MoCA L.I.ghts, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, Toast Coffeehouse, Patchogue, NY
2021 Group Exhibition, Paint the Great South Bay, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, Patchogue, NY
2021 Invitational Exhibition, Next Up, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, Patchogue, NY
2021 Juried Exhibition, DEVOURED, Annual Art Student Exhibition, Pace University Art Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Invitational Exhibition, A Woman’s Work…, curated by Beth Giacummo, Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery of Iona College, New Rochelle, NY
2020 Group Exhibition, CLOSER, Student Film Festival, Schimmel Center of Pace University, New York, NY
2020 Group Exhibition, Playing with space, Digital student show, The New York Times Building at 41 Park Row of Pace University, New York, NY
2019 Group Exhibition, Blood Piñata, The New York Times Building at 41 Park Row of Pace University, New York, NY
2019 Group Exhibition, SELF-LOVE, The New York Times Building at 41 Park Row of Pace University, New York, NY
2019 Group Exhibition, with Performance Artist Rebecca Pristoop’s “The Moving Company”, Pace University Art Gallery, New York, NY
Professional Experience
2023 Museum & Fine Art Gallery Assistant, Patchogue Arts Council (PAC)/ Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island (MoCA L.I.), Patchogue, NY
2022 Museum Educator & Administrator, Preservation Long Island (PLI), Custom House, Sag Harbor, NY
Awards
2021 Recognized for Outstanding Artwork Award, DEVOURED, Annual Art Student Exhibition, Pace University Art Gallery, New York, NY
Bibliography
2023 Begun, Hunter, host. “Ma's House Podcast: With Exhibiting Artist Isabella Fernanda.” Ma's House Podcast, season 4, episode 1, Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio Inc, 13 October 2023, mashouse.studio/podcast.
2023 Roman, Jeniece. “Shinnecock Art Studio Presents "Counterpart" Exhibition”, WSHU | Public Radio, wshu.org/long-island-news/2023-07-26/shinnecock-art-studio-presents-counterpart-exhibition.
2022 The magazine of visual culture at Pace University, BLEND 41, Artist Feature & Cover Image: Isabella Fernanda.
2021 “Museum Lends Platform To Emerging Artists”, The Long Island ADVANCE, longislandadvance.net/stories/museum-lends-platform-to-emerging-artists,88307?.
2021 Fernanda, Isabella, “Coffee w/ a Curator | Next Up”, interview by John Cino, Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island, youtube.com/watch?v=7aQlNMUCYYw.