About Me

Who the heck is Emily Silver...

Emily Silver is a native New Yorker, currently living in Queens, and working as a middle school art teacher in Harlem.

Silver has known she wanted to be a teacher since she was in art class in first grade, and her classmate sitting next to her asked for help with drawing their baby bird for a springtime painting.

The Structure of Silvers Life

I earned my BFA in k-12 Art Education and Studio for Interrelated Media from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Massart) in 2014, before moving back to NY. Over the next few years I brought my artist-educator skills to museums, galleries, schools, individuals homes, and most of all, an amazing summer camp in Maine. For 13 years and counting I have been working as a member of their art underground team. 8 of those years spent as the head of studio art, and since then I have been working as the arts director, leading a team of 10-12 young adults as they instruct their respective crafts. I am currently working towards my masters in the Art-ed grad program at Adelphi, while teaching 5-8 grade art at a charter school in Harlem, NY.

The Freedom of Silvers Life

When I am able to find the time between going to school and working, both full time, (I don't know how people with kids do this) I enjoy turning the living room of my little queens apartment into an inspirational studio space. Currently I have been pushing myself to work through the boxes of recyclable items I have been saving for years with the goals of creating an environmental centered series. I have yet to find one medium that has captured my whole heart and enjoy working through the wide range of materials I am lucky to have available to me.

About Silver Studios

How I got to where I am as an artist...

In first grade we were doing paintings of ducks with the start of spring. All my classmates sitting at my table asked me for help, and this was the first time I realized, maybe I am good at this art thing.
I start playing with leftover plastic bits from bottles, packages, etc. I built my first found object sculpture while hiding in the clothing rack of JC Pennys while my mom was shopping.
In 3rd grade I entered my school districts annual art competition titled “reflections”. There was a different theme each year and this year was “Imagine if:_____” and you had to fill in the blank. I created a chalk pastel drawing of a girl riding a horse (A hobby of mine at the time), with her shadow standing on the back. It was titled “Imagine if your shadow had a mind of their own.” I won first place in my category “3-4th grade drawings”
In middle school was the first time I was referred to as “the artist” of my friend group. It wasn’t because I was the best, there were quite a couple other artists in my group of friends. It was because I was rarely available to hang out after school because I was taking multiple after school art classes.
In 8th grade I joined stage crew and got my first taste at what would come to be a love of set design and installation art
In high school I worked on almost every set for each of the 2 shows we did each year. We spent so much time putting together and incredible set every time. Junior year we did Beauty and the Beast. The week before the show is referred to as Hell week, and one of those days we are excused from all classes to work on the show. This is on top of the hours we stay after school. We were a committed group that put on amazing shows. At the end of beauty and the beast, with the entire theater program backstage, we had our closing circle, and I had never felt prouder of being who I was as an artist and as a member of that community.
My art teacher, who had been with me from 8th grade throughout all of high school, helped me put together the portfolio for the only school I applied to: Massart. I got in.
While studying art education, I took a second major in SIM (Studio for interrelated Media). In this department I explore performance, installation, and curating. I got to explore creating different environments and how to take over a space.
I graduated and moved back to New York. My personal work took a dramatic dip in production and I focused so much of my time and energy on work and trying to figure out how to be an adult. My depression took over for many years and I found motivation very hard to find.
10 years later, I’m back in school working on my masters, and while working on a piece for a class- I accidentally created what I soon realized was my favorite piece of art I have ever created, and my motivation hasn’t left since it came back that day. It is the piece that comes as close as possible, to feeling like it says something meaningful, while also being interesting to look at, and most of all- it feels like me.