Emily Silver- Artist Statement

Raised in a family of geologists and artists whose ancestors took part in the settling and mapping of the West, I have a deep affinity for the American desert, its natural systems, and the history of our interaction with it.

As a girl I had a fantasy–based on a Robert Louis Stevenson poem–that I could run my hands over landforms. A dual practice of walking and painting affords me this sensation.

When we walk, our rhythmic presence creates a ripple in the seemingly random natural environment. The line of our footfalls actually becomes the horizon of experience, a permeable membrane between materiality and spirituality that is especially palpable in the desert. This meditation feeds my painting.

Watercolor has an uncanny ability to conjure metaphysical sensations using the same elemental forces that sculpt land–water, sediment, heat, gravity, and atmosphere. My painting process transports me out of a state of longing into a state of reflective euphoria that’s related to how I feel when I walk.

I aim to arrive at an eloquent language for conversing with my viewers about the aggregate perceptual experiences that form our passion for certain powerful places on Earth.

Resume

Education

• 2007 Master of Fine Arts, Painting/San Francisco Art Institute
• 1973 Bachelor of Arts, With Distinction, in Art/ Visual Design/Stanford University

Exhibitions

Selected Solo:

• 2010 Periphery: Ten Walks at the Edge of Las Vegas / Springs Preserve, Las Vegas
• 2009 Coyote Heights / Piante / Eureka, CA
• 2007 Ranging / OXS Gallery / Nevada Arts Council, Carson City, NV
• 2005 Water/Desert/Spirit / Oats Park Art Center, Fallon, NV
• 2004 Desert Etudes / Metro Gallery, Reno, NV
• 2003 Desert Etudes / Piante Gallery, Eureka, CA
• 2002 Windows / Nevada State Library & Archives, Carson City, NV Nevada Traces / The Painting Center, New York, NY
• 2000 Neva / Sierra Arts Foundation, Reno, NV
  Transition/ Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
• 1999 New Watercolor Explorations / Sun Mountain Gallery, Virginia City, NV 1997
  Recent Paintings / LXS Gallery / Nevada State Legislature, Carson City, NV
  Recent Paintings & Drawings / Valhalla, South Lake Tahoe, CA
  Emily Silver, Solo Exhibitions, continued
• 1995, 97 Paintings, Drawings / Western Nevada Community College Gallery, Carson City, NV
• 1994 Recent Rosary Paintings / C.I.T.Y. 2000 Gallery, Reno, NV
• 1992 Rosary / Paper Stones Gallery, Anacortes, WA
• 1992 Wall of Regrets / Washington Department of Corrections, Olympia, WA
• 1986 Skiathos Drawings / Spokane City Hall Gallery, Spokane, WA
• 1984 Oil Paintings / Gallery II, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
• 1981, 84 Watercolors / NICA Gallery, Pullman, WA
• 1978 Hyde Street Pier Drawings / Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

Selected Group:

• 2011 Mapable / Spacecamp Microgallery, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Abstractions 2011 (Invitational)/ Piante Gallery, Eureka, CA
• 2010 Geological Time / Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
• 2008-‘11 Faculty Exhibitions / College of the Redwoods, Eureka, CA
• 2009 A Celebration of the Arts / Humboldt Arts Council (Morris Graves Museum), Eureka, CA
• 2007 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition / San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
• 2007 The Sky Is the Limit / Courthouse Gallery, Yerington, NV
• 2006 Junque Art & Member Exhibitions / Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
  Untitled / Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
• 2005 Dirt, Dust, Danger / Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
• 2004,’05 North Coast Open Studios / Humboldt County, CA
• 2002 Intimate Passages / Ink People Gallery, Eureka, CA
• 2002 Arizona Aqueous / Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ
• 2001, ’06 Humboldt Arts Council Juried Member Exhibitions / Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
• 1999 The Notion of Motion / Laguna Art Museum R & S Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
  
• 1999 Cairns, Quilts, Contact / Ink People Gallery, Eureka, CA
• 1997 Women on Women on the Comstock/ Sun Mountain Artworks, Virginia City,NV
• 1993 Northwest Women / Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, WA
• 1989 Women in Washington: First 100 Years / Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
• 1984-‘88 Fine Arts Faculty Exhibitions / WSU Museum of Fine Arts, WSU, Pullman, WA
• 1987 Washington-Oregon All Media Exhibition / Maryhill Museum, Goldendale, WA
• 1984 Silver & Holland Recent Watercolors / Lucy Gallery, Spokane, WA
• 1984 Paper in Particular / Columbia College, Columbia, MO
• 1983 Drawings & Watercolors / Foster-White Gallery, Seattle, WA
• 1983 Artists of Mt. St. Helens / WSU Museum of Fine Arts, WSU, Pullman, WA
• 1982 Group Show / Rubicon Gallery, Los Altos, CA
  

Honors & Awards

• 2009 Best of Show, A Celebration of the Arts / Morris Graves Museum, Eureka, CA
• 2006 Cadogan Fellowship / San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, CA
• 2005 Kosciuszko Foundation Scholarship / New York, NY
• 2003 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship / Wolf Kahn, sponsor
• 2001 Project Grant / McLean Foundation, Fortuna, CA
• 2000, ’03 Project Grants / North Coast Cultural Trust, Eureka, CA
• 1995 Artists Grant / Sierra Arts Foundation, Reno, NV
• 1995 Governor’s Purchase (eight paintings), Carson City, NV
• 1993 Volunteer of the Year / Pioneer Human Services, Sedro Woolley, WA
• 1985 Winner / Artists’ Competition for the Palouse Peace Prize Commission, Pullman, WA

Collections

• Bill Pierson, Eureka, CA
• Del Norte County Department of Social Services, Crescent City, CA
• Washington State University Museum of Art, Pullman, WA
• Western Nevada Community College, Carson City, NV
• Spokane School District #81, Spokane, WA
• Northshore School District, Bothell, WA
• Washington State Senator Pat & Maxine Patterson
• State of Nevada (Governor Bob & Sandy Miller purchase)

Bibliography

• Jean-Marie Simpson Buzzinearts.com, Emily Silver Interview, November 2008
• Staff writer Eureka Times-Standard, Transition: A Sense of Place, August 4, 2000
• Staff writer Encore, . . .A Fine Painter Shows At City Hall, Summer 1994
• Wulff, Jane Elder Washington magazine, Palettes of the Palouse, July/August 1987
• Reynolds, Dawn Lewiston Morning Tribune, Self-Portraits, January 1987
• Staff writer Pullman Herald, Peace Prize Raises Voices Against War,” March 1986
• Watkinson, Patricia Art Journal, Mount St. Helens: An Artistic Aftermath, Fall 1984

Publications

• Art Auctions: To Donate or Not to Donate, Art Talk Column, Eureka Times Standard, May 27, 2006
• Arts Everyday, monthly column, The Ferndale Enterprise, 2003-present

Professional Experience

Teaching

• 2007-present Associate Faculty in Drawing & Painting / College of the Redwoods, Eureka, CA
• 2009, ‘10 Lecturer in Drawing / HSU, Arcata, CA
• 2008, ‘01 Instructor / Watercolor Workshop / Sierra Nevada College, NV
• 2005-’07 Contract Art Instructor / Ferndale Elementary School, , CA
• 1998-‘03 Contract Artist / Pelican Bay State Prison, Crescent City, CA
• 1994-‘98 Instructor / Drawing & Painting / Western Nevada Community College & its Prison Program / Carson City, NV
• 1995 Nevada Arts in Education In-Service Co-Leader / Nevada Arts Council, Elko, NV
• 1994-‘95 Art Instructor / Kingsbury Middle School, Zephyr Cove, NV
• 1993 Instructor / Watercolor & Design / Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, WA
• 1981-88 Coordinator & Instructor for Program in Graphic Design & Illustration / Department of Fine Arts, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
• 1982 Instructor of Watercolor / Pullman Parks & Recreation, Pullman, WA
• 1982 Instructor of Drawing in Nature / Elderhostel, WSU, Pullman, WA
• 1979 Instructor of Scientific Illustration / UC Extension, San Francisco

Teaching Residencies

• 1994–‘11 Artist-in-Residence / Roster Artist for Nevada Arts Council A-I-R Program
• 2003 Artist-in-Residence / Arts Everyday at Ferndale Elementary, Ferndale, CA
• 1998–‘99 Artist-in-Residence / Rio Dell Elementary, Art Line, HSU, Arcata, CA
• 1990–‘92 Artist-in-Residence / Washington State Arts Commission A-I-R Program

Volunteer & Community Work

• 2000–’04 Art and the Twelve Steps Group Leader / Eureka, CA
• 2000–’04 Emily Silver, Volunteer & Community Work, continued
• 2000-‘04 Arts Everyday / founder & president / youth arts programming, Ferndale, CA
• 2001 Consultant / landscape design / Wells Family Resource Center, Wells, NV
• 1994 Art Instructor & Mentor / Scarselli Elementary School, Gardnerville, NV
• 1992.93 Art Facilitator / Pioneer Center North / addiction treatment center, WA

Design Experience

• 1975-94 Principal / Emily Silver Illustration & Design and Silver Fine Book Design
• 1979-80 Senior Graphic Designer of Publications / Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA
• 1973-75 Graphic Designer / William O’Brien, Roy Ritola, Inc., San Francsico, CA
• 1973 Art Director / Moorhead Marketing, Palo Alto, CA
• 1973 Intern / Ira Stone Advertising, Palo Alto, CA

Other Professional Activities

Curatorial

• Nine Square Grid / Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2005)
• Art and Recovery / Ink People, Eureka, CA (2002)
• Cairns, Quilts, Contact / Ink People, Eureka, CA (1999)

Inmate Art Exhibitions:

• Inside Out / Western Nevada Community College, Carson City, NV
• Razor Wire Workshop Exhibition / Sun Mountain Gallery, Virginia City, NV (co-curator) (1995)

Workshops

• Continuing Watercolor / Silver Studio, Ferndale, CA (2011)
• Arts All Ways Conferences / Nevada Arts Council, NV (1997, 1998)
• China Springs / Zephyr Cove, NV (1995)
  
• Sierra Arts Foundation / Reno, NV (1995)
• Very Special Arts Nevada / Reno, NV (1994)

Lectures

• “Plein Aire Painting” / Fortuna Arts Council, Fortuna, CA (2011)
• "Art for Peace” / Sane Peace Forum, Pullman, WA (1988)

Current Memberships

• Rostered Artist / Nevada Arts Council, Arts in Education
• College Art Association
• Humboldt Arts Council, Eureka, CA
• Sierra Arts Foundation, Reno, NV
• Ink People Center for the Arts, Eureka, CA
• Desert Survivors
• Nevada Rock Art Foundation

Community Leadership

• Member, Russ Park Committee / Ferndale Town Council
• President, Arts Everyday, Ferndale, CA (current)
  Board Member, Scotia Band Board of Directors (2006-2008)
• Secretary, Pullman Main Street Design Team, Pullman, WA (1986-1988)