who is isadora?

Isabelle Desjeux, born in 1967 in Tunisia. French by nationality, she has lived in many different countries before settling in Singapore in 1999. Scientist by profession, Isabelle has studied and worked in France, Scotland, Germany and Singapore until 2000. As a biologist, she studied the development of different animals, always wondering : “What came before?”. Her studies have left her fascinated by the microscopic world, convinced that you can find beauty and inspiration under the microscope. Artist since leaving full-time science in January 2000, Isabelle has always been creating objects and transforming her surroundings with colour. She credits a small workshop in the attic of a “Maison de la Culture” when she was between 10 and 14 years old, for inspiring her to always explore new techniques. Traveling the world provided fertile grounds for special mail-art involving very special stamps and unusual 3-D letters. She started ”serious” painting in an Edinburgh high school, drawing nudes after hours. She continued while in Tübingen. Since Singapore, she has joined a group of like-minded artists, the markmakers”, for figure drawing and taking mark-making one step further. Her other ventures include creating objects with papier mâché, book-making of all sorts, printmaking (Certificat in Printmaking, 2002, NAFA), and good old-fashioned painting (Certificat in Western Art, 2002, NAFA). Designer by request, she is the official “arts consultant” of Temasek Life Sciences Laboratories (TLL). She designs their posters and occasional journal covers, and in general anything a Biological Institute might need in terms of images. This allows her to merge her artistic and scientific interests. Offspring Organiser, Isabelle is the mother of 3 girls. In the process of getting them interested in art, she has researched how to approach teaching for children. Influenced by Mona Brooks and Betty Edwards, she no longer believes that a child has nothing to learn from trained teachers in drawing. As much as they like to draw by themselves, teaching children to draw THE RIGHT WAY can only help them enjoy drawing more. Since 2000 when she opened a small workshop in her appartment teaching crafts, Isabelle has gone on to teach realistic drawing in international schools in enrichment programs. She has also been running workshops for the Asian Civilisation Museum, using the museum’s collection as a source of inspiration for the children. She regularly runs holiday workshops to enhance children’s creativity through art and craft making, and drawing. Récuperatrice, Isabelle’s art focuses on “reusing”. Whether it be household goods, found objects, or marks on the canvas. Just as in the living world “what came before?” is important, Isabelle’s art thrives on building upon existing materials. She also uses this approach in her workshops as much as possible, believing that the creative side of an individual will flourish when fed junk! Click here to see some of her Quirky Objects. Alias isadora... who is isadora? if you still wonder why isadora, you might want to have a look at Isadora Duncan. Barefoot dancer when dance was still serious business, she pursued her art in her own way, no matter what. Related to the dada artists, she was one of those saying “so what?” to the establishment. Exhibitions 2002 SRT, group exhibition with the Markmakers, figure drawing 2004 “Peep Show”, at the Substation, mixed media exhibition on the theme of the “secret lives of figures”, group exhibition by the Markmakers. 2005 "Pameran Poskad", at la Libreria. An exhibition of postcards involving many artists from Singapore. 2007 "Story Sculptures", 1st solo exhibition at ArtyFakt. Artist’s Website Artist’s Blog Art Classes

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