Bio
Isabel Wolke (b. 1999) is a painter and educator from Northwest Ohio who received her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Cincinnati in 2024. She is a drawing and painting adjunct professor at Bowling Green State University where she received her BFA in Studio Art in 2021. Wolke’s canvases are a colorful expression of pop culture and her love for the horror genre. Since a young age, she had always loved the allure of horror and her fascination crept its way into her paintings and academia.
Wolke gave her BGSUxTED talk, Monsters on the Canvas: How Horror Can Improve Contemporary Art, in March of 2025.
I’m Isabel Wolke, a Mexican-American artist on a perpetual quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe, one brushstroke at a time. I have grown up in Ohio my whole life and have enjoyed living amongst the corn. When I am not creating art I am usually watching horror movies or playing video games with my friends. Movies are a huge influence on not only my work but also my life. I love to review films and talk about their content extensively to those who will listen. I have always been an oddball, but try my best to embrace it and allow it to help me create cool art.
When I am not working on a painting I am usually sketching in my sketchbook. My sketchbook is the way that I observe the world around me and I try to use it as a way of thinking. I write notes, internal monologues, Dungeons and Dragons ideas, and of course lots and lots of doodles. It all helps me creatively process my thoughts and ideas so that they become the backbone for my future paintings.