Today we’d like to introduce you to Silvia Felizia.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story starts in Argentina, where I was born and raised. I studied Graphic Design in Buenos Aires and worked in the industry as a freelance artist until the mid-nineties when my husband, our infant daughter, and I moved to Texas. It was a big change for all of us: a new language and a new country, far from our family and friends.
Our second daughter was born two years later, and I became a full-time mom who started self-educating in the visual arts. That was when I started to paint.
Later, our life brought us to Asia and Europe where I continued to be a full-time mother and wife, but never stopped working in art and studying.
While living in Bangkok, I also began teaching others, especially women like myself who pursued their passion for art on top of all the other responsibilities in their day-to-day life. During those years I shared my time between my family and the studio, sometimes feeling I could only do a little of everything.
Years ago, I returned to Texas. With my two daughters already grown up, it was easier to focus all of the energy on my career and myself.
I always knew I wanted to have children, and I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I couldn’t be happier: I have two incredibly talented young daughters, and my art career is growing more than ever.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was — and still is — a long journey, with ups and downs. Years ago the challenge was to find a balance between career and motherhood. And because I was not looking for a perfect life, I had freedom that I wouldn’t have if I was looking for perfection. I just did what I thought was best, and it worked out.
Right now my biggest challenge is finding a gallerist and curator from Houston that believes in me and my art and is willing to start working with me.
I have the privilege of having collectors from all around the world, from countries like Turkey, Egypt, Spain, France, Saudi Arabia, among others, but I want to work more locally in the United States.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a visual artist. My art is abstract and conceptual: all my pieces have a story that can be related to political and social issues, crisis, beliefs, and even desires. They are inspired by memories of my past in my home country, my present as an immigrant, the experiences I have been exposed to, and everything that surrounds me.
I paint what is happening in the world, all the beauty and all the horror, but always celebrating life, my own life and the life of others. That is why my work is vibrant and colorful.
I am very happy and grateful that in the last years, I have been published in specialized art magazines in the United Kingdom, Germany and in the United States. And this summer my work will be published in a book in Spain and in October in the Czech Republic. All that is giving me visibility I didn’t have before.
And soon a new book “Art Folio 2022” is featuring my work. And that book is from Texas!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
If I look back to my life and the life of my family, we started taking risks from the moment we left our home country. And now I am a full-time artist at an age when many women retire. I do not know if that is a risk, what I do know is that that is a privilege.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://silviafelizia.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/silviafelizia
