BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
EXHIBITIONS
COLLECTORS
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Steven Silverleaf was born in 1954 and grew up between New York City, Athens, Greece, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “My childhood was filled with stories about special places and different times. Myths, allegories, and poetry dominated the household on a daily basis.” Silverleaf attended the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee during the 1970s, where he studied painting and drawing. He was active in the local art, poetry, and experimental theater scene in Milwaukee. In the mid-1980s he returned to North Carolina, living in the mountains and on the coast before becoming a leading figure in the “Triangle” (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) art community. Silverleaf now maintains a studio in Chapel Hill. BACK TO TOP Artist's Statement I consider myself a painter and collage artist. I see the two as overlapping and having a lot of the same concerns yet differing in how one approaches the supports (canvas, paper, etc). People ask me why I like dance so much and I try to answer that the painter is a kind of a dancer, with the surface of the canvas and the reach of his/her arm. Painting and drawing become a choreography. Composing collage is a very exciting way to make art. Collage seems to me to be such an apt metaphor about life itself. Layers of thought and memory and, in the case of how I work, a choice between gaining what is seen and what is hidden. I work with color as a poetry of place and time and mood or feeling. My large colorful collages take me, transport me, to another place. BACK TO TOP Exhibitions Solo Exhibitions Brooklyn Fire Proof, New York, NY 2006 Tyndall Galleries, Durham, NC, 2006, 2000, 1996 Hugh Mangum Museum, Durham, NC, 2000 Braddigans Gallery, Hillsborough, NC, 1999 Water Street Gallery, Prairie Du Sac, WI, 1998 Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 1997 No Fo Gallery, Wilmington, NC, 1997 Arete Gallery, Durham, NC, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1992 The Artery Gallery, Greensboro, NC, 1996, 1994, 1990, 1988, 1986 Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC, 1995 Durham Technical College, Durham, NC, 1992 Steven Silverleaf has been in numerous juried shows, judged by some of the leading figures of art in America. These include Dore Ashton, abstract expressionist art critic; Michael Shapiro, curator, San Francisco Museum of Art; Janey Saley Dickson, curator, Yale University; Jack Flemming, director, SECCA; and Marla Prathers, curator, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. He has been in juried shows judged by artists such as Wolf Kahn, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitsky, and Robert Ryman. Group Exhibitions Racine Center, Wilmington, NC, 2006 Toyama Art Center, Toyama, Japan, 2000 North Carolina Museum of Art, 1999 Tyndall Galleries, Durham, NC, 1998 Meredith College, Raleigh, NC, 1999, 1998 Art Space, Raleigh, NC, 1997 Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC, (juried shows) 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC, (invitational shows) 1990-1998 Wake Visual Arts Association, Raleigh, NC, 1995, 1996 Parents Foundation, New Haven, CT, 1995 Winston Salem Associated Arts, Winston-Salem, NC, 1993, 1995, 1996 Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC, 1995, 1997 Commercial Exhibitions Aurora Restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC Bakus Restaurant and Wine Bar, Durham, NC Nana’s Restaurant, Durham, NC Red Hat, Inc., Raleigh, NC 3 Cups, Chapel Hill, NC Gallery Affiliations The Artery Gallery, Greensboro, NC Judy Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, NC Robert Kiddman Gallery, Birmingham, MI Racine Center, Wilmington, NC Tyndall Galleries, Durham, NC BACK TO TOP Individuals Lex Alexander Evelyn Bloch & Bill Neal Tom and Vivian Burhman Daniel & Julie Bradford Don Defeo Mark Edwards Jane Eiseley Dr. Jim & Jane Finch John & Sara Haw Rebecca Hix Scott Howel The Estate of Elizabeth Lentz Pam Mears Lisa & Rob Morton David and Adele Roth Mike & Nancy Thurston Bryce Reynolds Doug & Joan Seifert Nat Sutton Corporate Collections American Dance Festival Central Carolina Bank Duke University Medical Center Duke University Durham Regional Hospital GlaxoSmithKline IBM Jewelsmith, Linda McGill Minata Jewelers, Linda Kornburg Northern Telecom Organon Teknika SunTrust Bank Wachovia Bank NA UNC Hospital Public and Private Commissions Durham Regional Hospital GlaxoSmithKline Dr. Allen Sundin UNC Hospital Alluring colors and expressive combinations of abstract images make Steven Silverleaf’s collages especially appealing. Seen as a group, his work takes the viewer into the realm of an artist who sees beyond everyday reality. —Ellen Levin, art historian and critic, Exhibit Catalog, Durham Art Guild 46th Annual Juried Art Show Silverleaf’s paintings are lusty, gutsy and full of brilliant color. The artist is a poetic romantic… —Blue Greenberg, art critic, [Durham] Herald-Sun ssilverleaf@mindspring.com · 980 Hillsborough Rd. · Chapel Hill, NC 27516 |