Kelly Isaak is a Calgary-based artist whose practice centers on drawing through photographic and material processes. Informed by a feminist perspective and the female gaze, her work examines intimacy, connection, and the ethics of representation, emphasizing care and consent in her collaborations with and through the relationships she forms with those she depicts.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art and Design, now Alberta University of the Arts, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary. Alongside her studio practice, she teaches visual arts in a Calgary high school and is an instructor in Continuing Education at the Alberta University of the Arts.
Her work has been exhibited in Canada and the United States and has been recognized with grants from Calgary Arts Development, as a finalist in the Kingston Prize, and with an Honourable Mention in the People’s Portrait Prize. She has participated in an international residency at Château Orquevaux in France and an upcoming research residency at the Ionian Center for the Arts and Culture in Kefalonia, Greece.
She is a studio member at NVRLND. Studios and a former member of the Fem Assembly. She was part of the RBC Emerging Artist cohort (2023–2024) and her work has been published in Arts to Hearts Magazine, Issue #6
KELLY ISAAK
Education
2008 BEd, University of Calgary
Calgary, Canada
1999 BFA, AuArts (formerly Alberta College of Art and Design), Drawing Major, Calgary, Canada
Solo Exhibitions
2022 – 2025 Alone Together, Travelling exhibit through the Trex
Program and the Alberta Society of Artists
2022 The Impermanence of Memory, The Boutique Gallery
Calgary, AB
2020 Breadmaker Volume 2, The Pioneer
Calgary, AB
2019 Boardroom, A Kyle Marks Project
Calgary, AB
2019 Works on Paper, Galérie La Cité
Edmonton, AB
2019 Monochrome, The Boutique Gallery
Calgary, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025. The Kingston Prize, Arta Gallery,
Toronto, Canada
2025 Ghost Stories 4, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery,
Calgary, Canada
2024 Connections, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery,
Calgary, Canada
2023 When We Circle: A Fem Assembly Show,
Arts Commons, Calgary, Canada
2023 Ghost Stories 3, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery
Calgary, Canada
2023 F is for Fem, The Alberta Hotel
Calgary, Canada
2022 Amuse Bouche, Workshop Studios
Calgary, Canada
2022 Connective Tissues, Colony Studios
Calgary, Canada
2022 Mark, Manifest Gallery
Cincinnati, OH
2021 Soft Opening, Good Neighbour
Calgary, AB
2021 A Symphony of Darkness, The Boutique Gallery
Calgary, AB
2020 Ghost Stories 2, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery
Calgary, AB
2019 Vol. 4, nvrlnd w/Palace of Manufacturers
Kelowna, BC
2019 Ghost Stories, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery
Calgary, AB
2019 A Point on the Horizon, Leighton Centre
Millarville, AB
Selected Professional Service and Awards
2025 Finalist in the Kingston Portrait Prize
2024 CADA Project Grant
2024 Artist Residency at Chateau Orqueveux, France
2023 – 2024 Part of the RBC Emerging Artist Cohort
2023 Honorable Mention in Drawing, People’s Portrait Prize
Calgary, AB
2008 – Present Calgary Board of Education,
Art Education Specialist
2019 Film Photography Workshop, Part of Ghost Days Project with Terrance Houle.
Banff Center, Canada
2018 Photography Workshop, Medalta
Medicine Hat, AB