Artist Statement

I am a visual artist working in painting, mural-making, and illustration. Much of my work is framed by my experience as an Afro-Caribbean woman living and working in Boston. Growing up in the Dominican Republic fed my appetite for bold color palettes and my interest in how our environment influences who we become. At the core of my practice is a desire to bring joy, connection, and agency to the places where my work lives.

As a muralist, my process is fueled by understanding a site's context and its relationship to how the public engages with that space. I strive for my work to be approachable and easily understood. My style is energetic, layering bright colors and graphic elements with realistically rendered focal areas. Content is often determined through a collective, neighborhood-based co-designing and re-envisioning space, which I consider part of my social practice.

My studio work provides a space for play and experimentation, allowing me to look inward to bring balance and create personal work.

Bio

Silvia Lopez Chavez is a Dominican-American artist whose community-centered murals form connections across disciplines and cultural boundaries. She uses joy as an act of resistance and celebration through her vibrant murals, and her work transforms urban spaces by honoring the identity of a place and its people.

In 2023 Silvia received the Common Good Awards from MassArt, The Boston Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship award and Amplify Latinx 100 award. Silvia is a Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and honored with a Leadership in Public Art Award by New England for the Arts in 2021. She recently completed art residencies at Mass MoCa, Haystack and Vermont Studio Center Commissions include the U.S. Chinese Embassy in Beijing, Google HQ in California, Peabody Essex Museum, SeaWalls Boston, MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern Universities. Silvia is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art & Design amd Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic. Silvia continues her studio practice at Atlantic Works Artist Studios in East Boston.

Resume available upon request.

Instagram: @silvialopezchavez

LinkedIn: @SilviaLopezChavez