Isabel Manalo

Isabel is a professional visual artist and an experienced educator having taught at the University, Middle and High School institutions for many years. She taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Adjunct at American University and George Mason University while also working as an Independent Curator including the Katzen Art Museum. She was a Visiting Artist at Wayne State University, University of Puget Sound, Stony Brook University, The Chautauqua Institute, the Ruth Arts Foundation, and the Takt Artist Residency in Berlin, Germany. Furthermore, as an artist, her work has been featured and collected internationally and is included in a number of public and private collections including the Katzen Art Museum, The National Academy of Sciences, the Orlando Museum of Art, and a number of U.S. Embassies. She has been an active voice in the local DC arts community supporting the arts non profit groups such as Transformer, Hamiltonian, DCAC, WPAC, Arlington Arts Museum, and many more, having served on the board of DCAC.

In 2011 she founded a pivotal online art journal The Studio Visit (TSV), that thrived as a counterpoint to the gallery as an active organization that placed the focus on artistic practice, rather than the show. TSV now serves as an digital archive with over 200 artists interviewed by a team of artists and writers both from Berlin and Washington D.C. 

In 2020 after the sudden death of her father, Isabel took a sabbatical to take care of her mom full time who has dementia. While she is still her main caregiver, her mom is now in an assisted living home nearby. Isabel has one college age daughter, another in graduate school, and currently lives with her husband, two dogs and one cat in Bethesda. Isabel is represented by Addison Ripley Fine Art Gallery in Washington D.C. She will have her 6th solo show this forthcoming October 2025. She is excited to be a part of the Waldorf community where humanity, compassion, and creativity are core principles of their teaching.