isabella vella

Isabella Vella is an emerging painter born in Toronto, Canada. After obtaining a high-level secondary education in the visual arts, she studied at McGill University in the Geography and Environmental Science faculties to build upon the environmental themes embedded in her paintings. She has shown work in both public and commercial galleries in her native Toronto and Ontario surroundings, as well as galleries and exhibitions in New York City and the Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo. Her work has been featured in several publications and media outlets, including House & Home Magazine, the CBC, and A5 Magazine.

Vella’s practice combines painting and drawing, utilizing various media including ink, natural forged pigment, acrylic, and gesso. Her materials’ textures and opacities produce a flat-plain image where narratives can emerge simultaneously.

Inspired by her academic background in the environmental sciences, Vella manufactures female-led narratives of past and present climate endurance. Her paintings often explore imagined heroines amidst a wealth of mismatched props, patterns, and scenery specific to feminine interaction with the environment. Referencing medieval artworks and manuscripts, Vella illustrates narratives of intimacy between her female protagonists and their surroundings, drawing connections between the Medieval Climate Optimum and our present-day Anthropocene.