The ceramics and drawings of Sylvia Fragoso exude a vitality, sincerity and reverence that reflect the deep care that went into their creation, and the many years that the artist has single-mindedly dedicated to her craft.
Sylvia started making art in her early twenties after joining NIAD. Over the last thirty years she has produced hundreds of clay sculptures: spiritually-inspired monuments that possess a humble beauty and strange power; mysterious clusters with crucifixes atop them that testify to her devout Catholicism, and crumbling towers, some with spiky projections jutting out from their thickly glazed exteriors.
Likewise, her drawings are striking in their originality and conviction, evincing a brilliantly intuitive grasp of color and design. These mesmerizing abstractions and swirling striations – sometimes embedded with religious symbols – pulsate with color and energy, like mosaics that have burst open into hallucinatory vortices.
Sylvia has exhibited globally at numerous galleries and art fairs, and her work resides in many private collections.
// Sylvia’s available work //
exhibition history
Waking, Breathing, Making! organized by Laura Kamian McDermott // NAID Online Exhibition // February 2023
Holiday Gift Guide // “Between Worlds” organized by Joey Enos // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2022
Making in Color organized by Edwige Charlot // NIAD Online Exhibition // November 2022
Crossover: Cedars of Marin + NIAD // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // November 2022
All That Is Solid Becomes Vapor ,organized by Emily Chao // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2022
A Stick In The Snow organized by Joanna and Milo Moyer-Battick // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2022
Follow the String, organized by Emma Spertus, Julio Rodriguez, Felicia Griffin, Dorian Reid, and Kiesha White // MarinMOCA, Novato, CA // October 2022
Living forces, organized by Fernanda Martinez // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2022
A New Geometry, organized by e bond // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2022
Color as Energy Field, organized by Chinzalée Sonami // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2022
Saves Nine, organized by Megan Kiskaddon // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2022
In Love., organized by Meg Pohlod // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2022
Luxe, Calme et Volupté, organized by Lou Mo // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2022
Auctionauts // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2022
WIN WIN 10 Silent Auction Preview Exhibition // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // February 2022
Voice Inside, organized by Sunila Bajracharya // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2022
Relics for the Future, curated by Jessica Snow // NIAD Galleries // January 2022
Menagerie on 23rd Street, organized by Prajakti Jayavant // NIAD Windows Exhibition // December 2021
Closing Of The Year // curated by Jean McElvane NIAD Windows 2020
Fiberful // organized By Cynthia Ona Innis NIAD Art Center 2019
Pink Moon, River Walk: Austin Eddy & Sylvia Fragoso // Left Field Gallery Los Osos 2019
Have/Hold // organized by Julia Schwartz NIAD Art Center 2019
CE x CG X NIAD // Minnesota Street Projects San Francisco 2019
Butterfly, Sugar // organized by Bonanza NIAD Art Center 2019
Hailing From Parts Unknown // organized By Curtis Turner NIAD Art Center 2019
Pots // Adams And Ollman Portland Oregon 2019
Redefining Contemporary Art // organized by Courtney Eldridge Depot Steamboat Springs 2019
Where They Want To Go // organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler NIAD Art Center 2019
It’s Complicated // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2018
The Genre Leaps // organized by Margaret Tedesco NIAD Art Center 2018
Cyrano // organized By Em Kettner NIAD Art Center 2018
Woven, Mixed, Tied, and Attached: Fiber As Message // organized By Ramekon O’Arwisters NIAD Art Center 2018
Quest: A Collection // organized by Rhea Fontaine NIAD Art Center 2018
Indeterminate Space // organized by Anthony Piñata NIAD Art Center 2018
Sylvia Fragoso // Good Luck Gallery 2017
The Witnesses // organized by Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker NIAD Art Center 2017
Affinity // organized by Tim Buckwalter Museum of Northern California Art Chico 2017
I Heart TL // organized by David Pagel Claremont Graduate University Claremont 2017
Spring/ Summer Exhibition // organized by Arianne Gelardin PARLOR San Francisco 2017
Sylvia Fragoso // NIAD Art Center 2017
Curious Weave // organized by Ramekon O’Arwisters NIAD Art Center 2016
Cities In Mind // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2016
Pillow Fight! // NIAD Art Center 2016
Celebrating A Vision: Art & Disability // San Francisco International Airport Terminal Three 2016
Hold Onto Your Structures : The Ceramics of Sylvia Fragoso // NIAD Art Center 2016
Absence of Deliberate Silence // organized by Lacey Haslam NIAD Art Center 2015
Wrapped Up In You: NIAD’s Quilts // NIAD Art Center 2015
Telling It Slant // organized by Courtney Eldridge Richmond Art Center 2015
Assemble: A NIAD Art Center Project With Nina Zurier // organized by Nina Zurier NIAD Art Center 2015
Making Friends // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2015
Visions et Créations Dissidents Musée de la Création Franche // Bégles 2014
The Wild Bunch // NIAD Art Center 2014
City In Motion // NIAD Art Center 2014
Outsider Art Inside The Beltway // Art Enables Washington DC 2013
Yes To The Dress Pop-Up Shop // organized by Peter Gravener NIAD Art Center 2013
Mud, Honey // NIAD Art Center 2013
Diamond Dogs Pet Supply // NIAD Art Center 2013
You Are Here // organized by Robert Wuilfe NIAD Art Center 2013
Holiday Pop Up Shop And Lounge // NIAD Art Center 2012
..We Can Do It! // Hurwich Library, Alliant University San Francisco 2015
recent press
Nat. Brut: I, Too, Like Purple (May 2017)
Savant Garde: Wisdom Beyond Words: The Art of Sylvia Fragoso (July 2015)
Making Handmade Books Blog: Telling It Slant (July 2015)