Silvia is an interdisciplinary Boston-based artist with roots in the Dominican Republic. Her work is informed by her own personal narratives and responds to her identities as an immigrant, educator, visual artist and designer. She is motivated by the power of the creative process as an agent for positive change. Her collaborative works with community partners and commissions include public art projects in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Lynn, Salem, Beverly, Danvers and Marblehead.
Silvia holds a BFA in Illustration from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design and has exhibited her work in solo and group shows including the Fitchburg Art Museum, Boston Children’s Museum and the New Hampshire Institute of Art.
She completed the first professionally commissioned mural on the Charles River Esplanade, and received a ‘Creative City’ grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts for Lemonade Stand an interactive art installation throughout the city of Boston in partnership with artist Elisa Hamilton. Through a Boston Foundation grant, Chavez was commissioned by the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4Si) to create a temporary public art installation called Color Up! in Dorchester, MA. The project invited the community to help design and apply temporary spray-painted patterns to surrounding areas of the Upham’s Corner train station as part of the Lighting The Line Project. Chavez received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant for her ‘Fresh Air: Portraits’ of Chelsea project; which explored the environmental and political aspects within air quality issues in Chelsea, MA and was also a finalist for the Brother Thomas Fellowship Award. Chavez served as a Steering Committee member for the City of Boston Mayor’s Office to help shape the Boston Creates cultural plan for the city.
Chavez is currently focused on murals and continues her studio art practice at the Atlantic Works Studios in East Boston.
In addition to her fine art practice, she is an award-winning design professional, working for over 16 years with high-profile companies and institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
