Isa Gagarin

Isa Gagarin is an artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Mni Sota Makoce). Working with mixed media on paper and site-specific installation, Gagarin transforms elements of the Pacific islands, ocean and sky into a poetic visual language. Circles, crescent moons, silhouettes of hands and other simple shapes appear in Gagarin’s work, representing Gagarin’s orientation to time and space, including navigating her perspective living in a diasporic context and connecting to her birthplace of Guam. Gagarin is currently studying Chamoru–her maternal heritage language–and in 2023, she attended a language immersion program in Guam. 

Gagarin teaches drawing and mixed media courses at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She received an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University (2018), and earned her BFA in Painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (2008).