Interview and Opening with Isissia Drake
Opening July 19th, 2026 | 3pm - 5pm at Narrow Bridge, 6028 S. Champlain Ave
Narrow Bridge Arts Club is delighted to announce the opening of a new outdoor exhibition by the wonderful Isissia Drake.
Drake’s striking, three-dimensional paintings give a taste of the joy and beauty of creating to all who traverse S. Champlain between 60th and 61st.
Melia Moore: What drives you to make art, and do you feel that these paintings express the role that making art plays in your life?
Isissia Drake: What drives me? I feel like what drives me is I have to visualize art. It helps me to feel my way through the world because I have to visualize things before I do it. So it kind of helps me practice manifesting something that I did, and it just really- It allows me to be in another world where I don't have to think as hard, and yeah, it just expands how I look at things. I like to see stuff being made, I like the process of going from nothing to something, how things take shape and form.
MM: What were the first few stages of this project like, and why did you end up choosing to paint people making art? How did your ideas evolve over time?
ID: Well, I switched ideas a few times, but this idea– I started off with three colors, and then I built up from the colors. So, a yellow to a burnt orange to a turquoise or teal, and then I just kind of visualized what I saw in the colors, and I visualized people making art. And then after that, I was just trying to think, like, what kind of art they would be making. But then I used what people do here at Narrow Bridge as a- Yeah, this is what we do here. So why not make it like that?
MM: What draws you to incorporate such vivid colors into your paintings?
ID: Oh, I'm trying to be more expressionist. Like I always thought you had to paint like how you saw things, and so I'm trying to just experiment, play around, and yeah, go more intuitively instead of planning out what I want to do. Plus, I just like it!
MM: How did the fact that this is public art and going to be on the outside of the building change your approach to these paintings?
ID: I think it changes it a lot because I wanted something that was more. I want to compliment the block, not just the building, but also the block. I wanted to try something new that was more physical, since I knew it was gonna be a little bit of a larger scale than what I would do at home. It gave me an opportunity to play around with dimension, with material, and since I had access to the wood shop, it's like, I might as well just go for it and see what it looks like.
MM: Since it's new for you to work with wood, what made you decide to take that leap and implement woodworking into your paintings? And what was the learning process like?
ID: I would say- Right before I came into Narrow Bridge, I was interested in woodworking. I never really did it, but I just like to- Even though I paint a lot, I like to just do stuff with my hands. So that was one thing, and then I think being here, Amber really encouraged me to just try different things, and I think that kind of sparked the light bulb in my head like, oh, I can use this or I can use that, and try different ideas and learn how to use the tools. I used to be scared of power tools, but now Kahari’s helping me learn how to use the jigsaw. At first, it was scary and I was kind of afraid of messing up, but then after I started to get the hang of it, it felt fun and it encouraged me to keep making it.
MM: How do you want your audience to feel when they see these pieces?
ID: I guess I would want them to see how I felt when I did it, and maybe just be curious about different types of art and what you see as art. Like I don't think- some people might not see wood working as art or ‘being an artist’, but that's how I see it. So yeah, just be curious and have fun. You have fun, making art. It doesn't have to be super serious, and you don't have to be in galleries all the time to enjoy.
