Artist Alumni Series “Through the Lens” – Exhibit 2

This exhibit, curated by Tracie Heller, is a collection of photographic images of endless tracts of dirt stretching toward horizons set amidst the exquisite drama of tropical skies. Silvia has turned her camera lens to a scene so common the brain has learned to erase; the omnipresent barren acres of earth awaiting construction of highways, shopping malls, office parks and subdivisions. Stripped of vegetation and other identifying content, the photographs contain an ambiguous sense of time and place. Her work leaves the viewer with a sense of discovery and a wonderment of what was and what will be.

Silvia was born in Havana, Cuba, and currently lives in Hollywood, Florida. She earned her MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, and her BFA degree from Barry University, where she is now Chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Professor of Photography. Having exhibited her hand colored photographs since 1978, Silvia’s work has gained national and international attention and has been included in prestigious exhibitions and collections, as well as publications. Her major awards include the SouthernArts Federation/NEA Regional VisualArts Fellowship Grant and the South Florida Cultural Consortium Grant, as well as a Miami Dade Art in Public Places commission for the Deering Estate in Miami, Florida.

About Tracie Heller, Curator:

Tracie Heller started working at Barry University in Fall 2008, after teaching at the University of South Alabama. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Photography. Tracie grew up in the open spaces of the American South: Alabama, South Carolina, and Northwest Florida. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, AL, and her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, NY.

Exhibiting since 2000, Tracie has garnered national attention to her black and white photographs, most recently covered in wax encaustic She has participated in numerous solo, juried and invitational exhibitions in locations such as San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Minneapolis, MN, New Orleans, LA, Fort Collins, CO, Monterey, CA, Omaha, NE, Fort Walton Beach, FL, Niceville, FL, Mobile, AL, Savannah, GA and Austin, TX.

Tracie Heller’s awards and grants include in 2010 an Honorable Mention in the Professional Women Photographers’ 35th Anniversary International Call for Entry, the Florida Artist Enhancement Grant in both 2007 and 2008, an Artist Residency at Caldera in Sisters, OR in 2005, an Artist Residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE and the Bemis Artist Fellowship Stipend in 2004.