Isabel De Obaldía was born in Washington, D.C. in 1957 of French and Panamanian parentage. She studied architecture at the University of Panama and drawing at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris before receiving a BFA in Graphic Design and Cinematography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1979. She went on to study at the Art Students League in New York City in 1982 and the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington in 1987. In 1990 she received the John Hauberg Fellowship from Pilchuck and first prize for graphics from the Concurso Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Panama. For the past several years she has studied engraving and glass casting at Pilchuck and has participated in several glass symposia in Europe. She currently resides in Panama with her husband and twin teenage sons.

INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS

1998 Recent Works, Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, FL
1997 Beasts and Men, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York
1997 Obras Recientes, oleos y dibujos, Galería Arteconsult, Panama
1996 Recent Works, Elite Fine Art, Coral Gables, FL
1995 Centro Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba
1994 Los Conjuros del Silencio, Galería Museum, Panama
1993 Vidrios, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama
1990 Los Veedores, Galería Arteconsult, Panama
1989 Maniobras, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama
1986 Marina y los amigos de Selba, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama
1985 Galería Arteconsult, Panama
1981 Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama
1980 Galería Arteconsult, Panama
1978 Galería El Sotano de Panarte, Panama
1977 Galería Etcétera, Panama

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1999 Glass Art Society International Expo II, Tampa, FL
1999 Mujeres en las Artes, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
1998 Crosscurrents, Contemporary Painting from Panama, 1968-1998, Americas Society Art Gallery, New York, May 15 - July 19, 1998; the exhibition then traveled to the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL, September 10 - November 1, 1998 and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá, December 1, 1998 - January 15, 1999
1998 Primera Bienal de Pintura del Istmo Centroamericano, Guatemala; the exhibition
then traveled to the Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC
1998 Primera Bienal Internacional de Cumana, Venezuela
1997 Primera Bienal Iberoamericana de Lima, Peru
1997 The (ADAA) Art Show (Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art), New York
1997 Art Miami '97 (Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art), Miami, FL
1996 Venezia Aperto Vetro, Venice, Italy
1996 III Bienal del Caribe y Centroamérica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1996 Contemporary Art of Panama, Casa de América, Madrid, Spain
1995 A Woman's View: Equality, Development and Peace, World Bank, Washington, DC
1994 World Glass Now '94, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan
1993 Art Miami '93, Miami, FL
1993 Paintings of the Caribbean and Central America, Museum of the Arts of the Americas, OAS, Washington, DC
1993 Seven Panamanian Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Dominican Republic
1992 I Bienal de Arte Pictórico, Panama (First prize)
1992 Imágen y Ritual, 4 Pintores Panameños, Galería Metropolitana, Quito, Ecuador
1992 I Feria Iberoamericana de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
1992 I Bienal del Caribe y Centroamérica, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1991 X Bienal de Valparaíso, Chile
1991 Davidson Gallery, Seattle, WA
1991 Opus Gallery, Miami, FL
1991 Nueva Pintura Bolivariana, Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia
1991 La Generación Emergente, Nagoya, Japan
1989 The Drawing Center, New York, NY
1989 Galería Juan de Juanes, Alicante, Spain
1987 I Bienal Internacional de Pintura Contémporanea, Cuenca, Ecuador
1986 II Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba
1985 Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, NY
1983 VI Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano, Puerto Rico
1978 I Bienal Italo Latinoamericana, Rome, Italy