Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Silver.
Stephen, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was a very active artist as a child, drawing all the time and also teaching myself how to oil paint. My artistic endeavors were put on the back burning during my career in the computer industry, both working for a Fortune 500 company and venture backed startups, including one where I was a founder and CEO, and another turnaround situation where I was the CEO. After a long business career, I finally found myself burning out and decided to drop out of the business world. That is when my desire to paint reemerged. I started taking some courses at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and then classes with a private teacher.
To avoid painting at home, in 2004, I found a studio at 450 Harrison Ave. in Sowa, where I started painting every day. I haven’t looked back and enjoy my life doing what I truly love.
Once I was in the my studio, I started the SOWA Artists Guild, which is now an association of over 80 studio artists. The Guild sponsors First Friday events every month at 450 Harrison Ave. in Boston.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Almost ten years ago, after years of painting representational landscapes, I felt a push to experiment. I picked up my palette knife and started spreading paint on the canvas. I had no plan, however my love of nature and landscape subconsciously impacted my direction. My process usually begins at the top of the canvas, where I apply paint as areas of color. As I work my way down the canvas, I get a feel from the developing composition. The direction is not always obvious, so I’ll continue to layer paint, using color and shape to resolve the composition. Abstract, or somewhat recognizable, the ultimate interpretation is up the viewer.
Through my continued experimentation, two alternative styles have evolved. They find their roots from my years of doodling through innumerable meetings in my corporate life. I’ve expanded those doodles, drawing upon color and line to create an exciting organic flow. Each of these paintings represents a season, expressed through the color palette I choose.
The second of these experimentations are composed of geometric shapes that appear to expand the dimensions of the canvas and fool the eye. Elements jump off the canvas, while others settle into the background. I play with shapes and shadow as well as focus to give the illusion of depth and movement.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I am lucky to be in a studio building with over 80 other artists and also share my studio with another artist. We have a great community of artists and through the Sowa Artists Guild, we support and promote each other. It is helpful to get into an environment where there are other working artists and our First Friday events all year long are very popular.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work can be seen at my studio #211 at 450 Harrison Ave. in Boston and at the following galleries.
L’attitude Gallery – Boston
Calvin Charles Gallery – Scottsdale, AZ
Thanassi Gallery – Provincetown, MA
Gallery Z, Providence, RI
The Gallery of Art in Giving – www.artingiving.org
My work is displayed on my web site and I can be reached at stephen.silver2@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Address: 450 Harrison Ave.
Studio #211
Boston, MA 02118 - Website: www.silverwoodsstudio.com
- Phone: 978-337-4191
- Email: stephen.silver2@gmail.com
- Instagram: stephen.silver2
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/StephenSilverArtist/
Image Credit:
Stephen Silver
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