Jordan

Ismaiel

Assistant Professor of Studio Art

Jordan Ramsey Ismaiel (they/them) is a painter and drawer whose studio practice examines desire, longing, and emotional safety through processes of self-portraiture and composite imagery; staging moments of intimacy through self-provided partnership. Having moved to the rural Midwest at the age of 15 from Washington D.C., their practice situates these self-portraits into regionalist scenes in order to respond to their experiences living in the so-called ‘Great Plains.’ Their work was included in “Meet Me in the Middle of Nowhere,” (2023), curated by Kyle Herrington, at the Hessel Museum of Art with the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York, and featured in GAYLETTER Magazine by Tyler Akers, (2023); as well, was the subject of “The one year between us,” (2025), at the Anderson Gallery of Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Ismaiel has completed residencies with MakeRoom Artist Residency in Minneapolis, MN; the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency with Collar Works in Granville, NY; the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, NE; and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, where they were a recipient of the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship; among others. They received a BA in Studio Art and Philosophy & Religion from Hastings College, and both an MA and MFA in Painting & Drawing from the University of Iowa where they were a recipient of the 2021-22 Iowa Arts Fellowship. More recently, Ismaiel is a recipient of a 2025 Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship; and has been awarded a solo exhibition with the council's Fred Simon Gallery in Omaha.

Ismaiel lives and works in between Hastings, NE, and Lindsborg, KS, where they are the Assistant Professor of Studio Art in Painting & Drawing at Bethany College (KS). They also serve as Residency Coordinator to the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency with Collar Works (NY).