Esmeralda Silva is an artist who enjoys the process of making art and exploring the qualities of a specific material. Silva has primarily worked in painting, drawing, fiber and ceramics, with an eye towards expanding her jewelry-making practice in the future.
Silva wants to make art to cheer people up. Her favorite symbols are the heart and home, sharing “It’s nice to draw a house.” Sometimes her landscapes include self portraits and sometimes the female figures are from her imagination—she doesn’t always have a person in mind. She is interested in making people in doll form too, an approach she learned from former NIAD Studio Facilitator Maria Guzmán Capron.
A sense of fun and an element of play are intrinsic to Silva’s work. She likes to play around and just see what she can make, rather than having a formal plan laid out for a work beforehand. Large scale work is interesting to Silva since there’s “more space to create,” according to her. Additionally, Silva has shared that NIAD Studio Facilitator Andres Cisneros-Galindo has been supportive in her practice, saying that most importantly he makes her laugh.
Silva is frequently inspired by the beauty of nature and animals in her work, often depicting gardens, birds, butterflies and horses. She admires how calm and beautiful horses are and would one day like to learn to ride them.
// Esmeralda’s available work //
recent exhibition history
Untangling Webs: A Journey In Abstract Textiles, organized by Alexander Hernandez // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2023
an echo carries texture // organized by Steph Kudisch // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2023
Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD // Oakland Museum of California // May 2023
What a Wonderful World! // An Exhibition in the Office Suite of Mayor Eduardo Martinez // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2023
Waking, Breathing, Making! organized by Laura Kamian McDermott // NAID Online Exhibition // February 2023
Larger Than Life: S/Heroes, GOATs, and Other Legends organized by Zoya Kocur // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2023
I Dreamt the Sun Was in My Bed Organized By SF State University’s Fall 2022 Exhibition Design Class // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2022
NIAD is for music lovers organized by Xiomara Rosales // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2022
What’s Cookin’?! ,organized by Terri Moore // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // November 2022
All That Is Solid Becomes Vapor organized by Emily Chao // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2022
I Wanna See All My Friends At Once, organized by Cone Shape Top // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2022
Face In the Crowd, organized by René Smith // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2022
I Belong to Myself, organized by Maria Seda-Reeder // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2022
NIAD Art Center x Mills Building // Mills Building, San Francisco // February – June 2022
WIN WIN 10 Silent Auction Preview Exhibition // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // February 2022
A Year Through the Windows: A Retrospective of NIAD’s 2021 Windows Exhibitions // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2021
Turn To Stone, organized by Em Kettner // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // 2019
Where They Want To Go, organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // January 2019
Exquisite Corpse: CG x CE x NIAD // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // November 2018
Give A Little Take A Little: Real Time & Space at NIAD, organized By Lexa Walsh // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // 2018