Isaac Smeele

Isaac Smeele is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, and installation. Their work emerges from a longing to reconnect with the inner child’s
profound sensitivity. They build textured, emotional worlds that hold grief, memory, and transformation. They are places where the wreckage of life becomes touchable, where joy and pain can coexist without
needing to be explained.
Raised in a northern Canadian town often cited as the country’s murder capital, they were surrounded by
violence, racism, and ecological collapse. In a culture where sensitivity was unsafe, Smeele took refuge in making things. Art became their language of survival, a place where they could speak without permission.
They were raised by their grandmother in a deeply fundamentalist Christian home where corporal punishment was used to instill fear. Spirituality became synonymous with control and shame. Throughout their adult life, they have been reclaiming meaning and the sacred through relationships with Indigenous healers, medicines, and story. These experiences have offered them a path toward connection, reciprocity, and presence.
At the age of 21, Smeele survived a violent home invasion that left lasting trauma. Their art practice became not onl...

BFA - Painting and Drawing Concordia, Montreal QC

VAV Gallery: “A Web Of What” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC. Canada.
Collaborative live performance and video installation piece. 2023

Art Matters: “Becoming a World” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC,
Series of works entitled Becoming a World was shown as part of Art Matters festival. 2020

Écomusée du Fier Monde: “Black Clouds” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC,
Live performance encorporating dance, theatre, music and projections. 2020

VAV Gallery: “Performance Soiree” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC.
Performance with live music, dancers, sculpture and augmented reality. Canada, 2020

Centaur Theater: “Becoming a World” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC.
A series of works entitled becoming a world was shown during one of the theatre’s productions. 2019

VAV Gallery: “Smelted” - Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, QC. Canada.
Candyland, a sculptural painting, was exhibited as an integral part of the Smelted exhibition. 2018