My artistic practice is grounded in the activity of being present to ephemeral moments in everyday life. Working across mixed media, photography, site-specific installation, and public art, I explore how art can heighten perception and deepen our connection to our surroundings. My projects have included artistic interventions in public spaces and participatory works in Curitiba, Calgary, and Edmonton. These community-engaged projects often invite participants to slow down, observe, and experience familiar places in new and more attentive ways. My work has been exhibited and performed at venues including the McMullen Gallery, Lougheed House, Memorial Park Library, Leighton Art Centre, Nickle Galleries, Museu de Arte Contemporânea, and Memorial de Curitiba. My current work focuses more closely on personal observation outdoors and on translating lived experience through photography and mixed media. These activities respond to nature’s unfolding performances and the particular qualities of each site. They often begin with a fleeting encounter—a change in light, a reflection, a seasonal shift, or an unexpected transformation within the landscape.
— Isabel Porto
Isabel is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and have lived in Calgary since 2011. You can contact her at [email protected]
Art Exhibitions and Public Art Projects
2019
Porto, Isabel. Walking Window: Drawing on the Everyday Life of the Alberta Hospitals. Those Who Wander a group exhibition at the McMullen Gallery, Edmonton, January 5th to February 24th
2018
Porto, Isabel. New Iteration of the Walking Window, a Community-Based Public Art Project at the Alberta Hospitals in partnership with the McMullen Gallery & Friends of the University Hospitals, Edmonton, November 23rd and 24th
Porto, Isabel. Landscape Tracing at the Leighton Art Centre during the Alberta Culture Days, September 30th
Porto, Isabel. Windows of Beaulieu. Formed by Sand a group exhibition at the Lougheed House, Calgary, June 21st to September 30th
2017
Porto, Isabel. Drawing on Transit. Field Station – Tuscany LRT Community Cultural Development, An Artistic Collaboration with the GO collaborative + Legge Lewis Legge team, the City of Calgary and Calgary Transit. August 28th, September 17th and October 29th
Porto, Isabel. A Book Inside the Temple of Knowledge. Spectral Illumination II, a projection mapping with EMMEDIA and Calgary Public Library during Beakerhead event at the Memorial Park Library, September 13th
2016
Porto, Isabel. Perceptual Drawing at the Leighton Art Centre during the Alberta Culture Days, October 1st and 2nd
Porto, Isabel. Walking Window, a Community-Based Public Art Project with the City of Calgary in partnership with the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre through the 2016 Artists Working in Community public art professional development course. Fifteen images resulting from the outdoors drawing event Walking Window were on display at the Sheldon M. Chumir Centre’s window facing 12 Ave SW, Calgary, July to December
Porto, Isabel. Two Untitled Photographs, Constructions Sites Shaganappi Station. Headlines Exhibition through the Alberta Society of Arts. Northern Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, January 15th to February 26th and Sothern Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary April 15th to May 30th
2014
Porto, Isabel. Perceptual Drawing. MFA Exhibition, Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary, Perceptual Drawing was a site-specific work at the +15 between Taylor Family Digital Library and MacKimmie Library, University of Calgary, August 8th to September 30th
Porto, Isabel. Collaborative Drawing. ADGSA symposium and exhibition Performative Ecologies: Thinking Through Research Practices,” Drawing Interventions at the Pedway between Fine Arts Building and HUB International, University of Alberta, Edmonton, March 20th to 22nd; the exhibition remained until April 4th at the dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton, Canada
2012 Porto, Isabel. Circulando. st[art] Residency Program by Calgary Allied Arts Foundation, Art Central, Calgary, Canada, April to June
2009 Porto, Isabel. Three untitled C-Print. 5a. Bienal VentoSul, Museu de Arte Contemporanea do Paraná, MAC, Curitiba, Brazil
2008 Porto, Isabel. Convite ao Largo da Ordem. Memorial de Curitiba, Curitiba, Brazil
2007 (R) Porto, Isabel. NW 41st Street Série. SESC da Esquina, Curitiba, Brazil
1999 Porto, Isabel. A Marca. (The Brand) Exhibition for the winners of the Heineken Art Contest “Heineken, Novos Talentos da Pintura” (Heineken, New Painting Talents) at the Museu da Republica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The art piece is now part of the Heineken Museum collection in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Art Residency
2026
The Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage – Artist Residency in July
Public Art Projects supported by Public Funds
2016 Community-Based Public Art Project with the City of Calgary in partnership with the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre through the 2016 Artists Working in Community public art professional development course
2008 Bolsa Produção 02 – Fellowship by the City of Curitiba and the Art Foundation of Curitiba, Brazil
Artworks Published
2017 Porto, Isabel and Harry Sanders. Drawing on Transit. Field Station, A community project for the neighbourhood of Tuscany, Royal Oak, and Rocky Ridge in partnership City of Calgary, Go Collaborative and Legge Lewis Legge, Summer, and Fall, pages 22 to 29
2015 Porto, Isabel. Perceptual Drawing. Edit. Canadian Art, Smart Guide. The Changing School: A Guide to Canadian Art Schools Thinking Outside the Box. Canadian Art. Winter 2015, pages 49 and 74
2010 Flórez, Fernando C. Isabel Porto. Edit. Escobar, Ticio; Amarante, Leonor. 5a. Bienal Vento Sul. (Curitiba: Instituto Paranaense de Artes, 2010) pages 276 and 277
2009 Porto, Isabel. Convite ao Largo da Ordem. Edit. Fundação Cultural de Curitiba. Bolsa Produção para Artes Visuais 02 (Curitiba: Fundação Cultural de Curitiba, 2008) pages 68 to 71, 127 and 136
Education
2022 Graduate Program Bridge To Teaching, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
2014 Graduate Degree Master of Fine Arts, Department of Art University of Calgary, Canada
2005 Degree in Art Education from the Faculdade de Artes do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
National and Provincial Scholarships
2014 Graduate Scholarship from Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary
2013 SSHRC, Joseph-Armand Bombardier (CGS)
2013 Graduate Scholarship from Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary
2012 Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship
Sessional Instructor at the Department of Art, University of Calgary
2020 Spring term, Sessional Instructor for the Perspectives in Plein Air course, Department of Art, University of Calgary
2018 Spring term, Sessional Instructor for the Perspectives in Plein Air course, Department of Art, University of Calgary
2016 Summer term, Sessional Instructor for the Perspectives in Plein Air course, Department of Art, University of Calgary
Teacher Assistant Positions at the Department of Art, University of Calgary
2014
Fall term, Teacher Assistant for instructor Kaarina-Nancy Bauer, Prehistory to later Middle Ages
Winter term, Teacher Assistant for instructor Paul Woodrow, Topics in Art, Technology and Media
2013
Fall term, Teacher Assistant for instructor Craig Fahner, Topics in Art: Survey of New Media.
Winter term, Teacher Assistant for instructor Clyde McConnell, Film Photography
Winter Term, Teacher Assistant for instructor Peter Deacon, Painting II
Casual Teacher
Calgary Board of Education (CBE)
September 2022 – present
Teach French and Social Studies in French Immersion programs across grades 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11 through casual and temporary contracts. Schools include Bishop Pinkham, David Thompson, Elboya, Valley Creek, and Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School.
Casual teaching Art 10, 20 & 30 at Western High School.