Isabelle Michaud was born in Quebec City. Michaud holds a BA in Historical Studies from MUN—Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (2004) and a BFA from Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie (2018.)
She received her first grant from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) in 2018 to create paintings with her son Jonathan Brodbeck. In Dactylografies, Jonathan used a typewriter to write stories chronicling his life and thoughts, which Michaud interpreted in paintings to express her relationship to her son’s autism. In 2019, Isabelle received an OAC Artist in Communities and Schools grant to teach abstract painting to youth with special needs.
In 2020, Michaud curated and led a first francophone exhibition titled (é)découpure, featuring four local francophone artists. Michaud was also the inaugural artist in residence at the Sault Museum and helped bring to light a somewhat forgotten neighbourhood of Sault Ste. Marie: French Town.
Last November, Michaud received an OAC Presenters and Visual Artists grant to launch a micro-gallery inside her studio, Galerie Sans Clous, which presented the work of Annie King, Katie Huckson, and Zenith Lillie, among others.