ABOUT THE ARTIST
Charlotte Marie Isbell is a contemporary painter whose practice extends into immersive, site-responsive environments based in Northern Alabama. Working primarily in oil, her practice explores the nuanced interplay between emotion, memory, and physical landscape; how complex emotional states can coexist without extremity or simplification. Through layered, intuitive compositions, she creates immersive abstraction that invites sustained reflection and embodied presence.
Originally from Australia, Isbell’s visual language is shaped by years living and working between Australia, Europe, and the United States. A decade in Sydney’s strategic design industry — including senior roles within award-winning creative agencies — continues to inform her sensitivity to spatial composition, narrative structure, and audience experience.
Her formal studies include a Bachelor of Business majoring in Creative Communications from the University of Technology Sydney (Distinction), postgraduate studies in Organisational Psychology and Culture at The University of Sydney Business School (High Distinction), and study in French language and arts at Sorbonne Université in Paris.
Working from her garden studio in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, since establishing her full-time studio practice in 2016, Isbell has presented solo and collaborative exhibitions across the United States and Australia. Recent immersive exhibitions in Huntsville, Alabama — including The River (2025), Beautiful Mess (2024), The Other Side of Blue (2024) and the collaborative project The Unfolding (2023) — have reconfigured non-traditional architectural spaces into curated environments for communal reflection.
In 2025, two works from her Beautiful Mess collection were extended long-listed for the Jackson’s International Art Prize. In 2026, she will debut a large-scale installation developed in collaboration with the Land Trust of North Alabama, expanding her immersive abstraction into ecological contexts and public conservation dialogue. This evolving body of work reflects her ongoing shift from painterly exploration toward immersive, site-responsive spatial practice.
Her work is held in private, corporate, and commercial collections internationally, including prominent architectural and family collections in Australia and the United States. A curated body of work was also selected by Anthropologie Living and she has been featured in regional media including 256 Today, News Break, and Tennessee Valley Living.
EXHIBITIONS & SHOWS
2018: Les Femmes - In Her Space, Solo Show Colorado Springs, CO
2019 / 2020: Les Femmes - Un Jour, En France - Solo Exhibit Fort Collins CO
2020: Soft & Wild Abstracts - Solo Show Fort Collins CO
2021: Les Femmes The Comforts of Home - Solo Exhibit Madison AL / Sydney Australia
2022: Herself - Solo Show Madison AL
2023: Natural Presence - Solo Show Madison AL
2023: An Original Touch - Peachtree & Co Huntsville AL
2023: The Unfolding - Collaborative Collection Huntsville, AL
2024: The Other Side of Blue - 104 Jefferson, Huntsville, AL
2024: Beautiful Mess - Gilded Moth Lincoln Mill, Huntsville, AL
2025: The River - The Little Green Gallery, Monte Sano, Huntsville AL
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
2025: Does a flower ever feel lost amongst the spring daisies?, Jackson International Art Award, Extended Long List
2025: Amidst the magnolia and water lily I discovered something new, Jackson International Art Award, Extended Long List
IN THE MEDIA
256 Today - The Vessel At Stovehouse to Unfold New Fine Art - Nov 2023
News Break - The Unfolding: A Breathtaking Journey Through Artistry and Inspiration - Nov 2023
Tennessee Valley Living - The Vessel Celebrating One Year - Nov 2023