About The Artist

She finally settled in Moscow, where she learned to paint with a Russian Master, Valery Alexeyevitch Gierackievitch. She currently lives in Washington DC, where she continued her art studies at the Torpedo Factory and at the Smithsonian. She is very involved in Washington’s art community: she is a member of Mid-City Artists; she participates in the copyist program at the National Gallery of Art (copying work of art in the museum, a Cézanne and now a Raphael); volunteers at the Phillips Collection. She also runs a French blog on art in the USA. This blog is hosted on the website of the main French newspaper, Le Monde.fr.

She has decided to give back to the community, and donated paintings for fundraising events benefiting a DC public school, an after-school program, and more recently the LGBT community.

Her main medium is oil. She has been working on a series of paintings about her neighborhood, the U Street corridor, documenting its fast-paced changes. She is also starting a new series of painting of famous DC murals (Madam’s Organ, Marilyn Monroe at Woodley Park, etc…), celebrating the century-old theme of art-on-art.

Fascinated by urban landscapes, she sees the world through a filter of bright colors. She must have spent too much time studying Socialist realism at University, because her sky is always blue, her grass always green, and, hopefully, her artistic tomorrows all singing.

Isabelle Spicer’s artworks can be found in private collections in Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland, and in the United States. She is also working by commission.

Like the French painter Pierre Bonnard, Isabelle Spicer grew up in Fontenay-Aux-Roses, located about a mile from Paris. Like him, she loves playing with colors, and thinks of draftsmanship as a necessary evil. Unlike him though, she always looked East. After studying political science in Paris, she lived in Germany, Poland, and Belgium.

Art Education

In Moscow:

* Oil painting with Valery Alexeyevitch Gierackievitch – 2005 - 2007

In Washington DC:

* Chinese brush painting with Monica Shia at the Chinatown Cultural Community Center – 2008

* Beginning and advanced drawing at the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program with Max-Ernst Winkler – 2008

* Draw and Discover, Luce Foundation, American Art Museum - Since 2008

* Collage class with Rosemary Luckett at the Torpedo Factory - 2009

*Advance oil painting at the Torpedo Factory with Mike Francis – Since 2008
*Abstract painting - Delna Dastur - Smithsonian - 2010

Artist Statement

“I have always lived in capitals: Paris, Moscow, Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw and Washington, DC. I am definitely a city girl. You can see it in my urban landscapes.

As a painter, I feel like an archivist. In Russia, I painted churches - survivors of the communist time. In DC, I live in a gentrifying part of town – the U-Street corridor, one of the rare place where all communities and all social classes mix. That also means constant, fast-paced change. I am tracking those changes and express them with my worldview, my colors.

In September 2008 I began my first painting in my new “hood”, featuring Ben’s Chili Bowl. The work in oil also displayed the neighboring restaurant’s sign, Songhai. But by January, Songhai had become “Ben’s Next Door”; the painting was already outdated, in less than 5 months. It became a testimony of the past.

Follow me on Facebook