Mildred Isaacs was introduced to the visual arts at an early age and remained
fascinated by and engaged in artmaking throughout her life. She was born and
educated on Long Island in New York state and upon graduation from high school was
awarded a faculty scholarship, enabling her to attend school at the Maryland Institute
College of Art. From there she received a diploma in General Fine Arts and then a Post
Graduate Certificate in Fine Arts. During World War II she built radio parts for the
defense industry. After the war she worked as a clerk and attended night classes in art.
She married Mark Len Isaacs and had two daughters, Susan and Barbara. Isaacs had a
keen, curious mind and deep heart. Her family and friends, her travels, and her
engagement with nature, music, and learning in all realms deeply informed both her life
and her studio practice. She was a respected member of the Baltimore art community
and showed regularly. Isaacs worked with the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (formerly the
Pyramid Prints and Paperworks Studio) from its inception. This important experience led
Isaacs to establish her own studio, Studio i. Here she deepened her practice, working
prolifically on gallery-quality pieces, teaching, mentoring other artists, and creating a
strong intergenerational community. During her long career she had many one-woman
shows in and outside of Maryland, she completed significant commissions, and her
work is held in several private collections. She was on the board of the Artist Equity
Association, Maryland Printmakers, and a member of the Maryland Institute College of
Art Alumni Association.
Statement
Mildred Isaacs’s life-long passion for the arts started in childhood when she created
elaborate illustrated comics. This early work began to describe a love of paper,
narrative, and the idea of exchange and community that continued throughout her
career. She was endlessly curious and continued to develop her skills and knowledge
base throughout her career whether that involved making a ventilation system in her
studio for the chemicals used in print making or later, teaching herself digital tools that
she used as part of her art making. Central to her identity as an artist was being part of
a creative cohort—print- and paper-making have a long tradition of collegiality and
exchange of work and inspiration, perhaps because much of the work is made in
multiples. The pace and structure of paper-making processes was inspiring to her; she
saw in it a generative, complex cycle of life and growth. The understanding of pulp
preparation developed slowly, it took patience and close observation, and this yielded
great reward. She approached the work of papermaking as a painter or a printmaker
creating abstract, almost sculptural work even in two-dimensions. She focused on
immediacy, variability, and the breaking of boundaries. The skill of making paper by
hand served as a way to have structure and freedom at the same time. She was
interested in integrating processes from different traditions and approaching her work
across mediums. Isaac’s knowledge of both traditional Eastern and Western forms of
papermaking gave her flexibility inside processes that she understood in a rigorous,
technical way, allowing her to take what she called a “humble craft” into the world of fine
art.
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