Art-making transforms my everyday experience into something more meaningful and it allows me to create freely. Time and place give way to bigger concerns, and I become transformed and renewed as I become absorbed in my work.

For me, art is a way of looking inward and at the same time connecting with the past. I have a deep respect for classical art, and seek to find the idealized forms that recur in nature and the man-made world. Archeology is also of interest because it suggests traces of previous life, and offers clues to our distant past.

The technique of using plaster to cover images as though they are buried within the earth is my way of representing archeology and its hidden treasures. Through my method, I hope to share my interest in hopes of discovering the secrets of past civilizations. It’s a way to understand the past and connect us to it. Jung’s philosophy of the collective unconscious, ie. experiencing ancestral memory, that of events and thoughts our ancestors experienced, is an ever-present underlying theme in my work.

I work in a variety of media, including photography, sculpture, oil painting and mixed media. My work is inspired by ancient and classical themes, as I seek to tie it with current methods and materials. With these interests in mind, much of my work references past culture and history, while presenting it in a unique and contemporary way.

sylvia vigliani working on sculpture

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2024                "Irish Landscapes, Mixed Media and Oils," An Beal Bocht Cafe, Bronx, NY
2023                 "Colliding Time and Space: Artifacts of the Past,"  Gallery 505, Riverdale, NY
1997                "Canyon de Chelly", Vermont Studio Cente", Johnson, Vt
1990                 “Planes and Figures,” 80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York, NY
1986                 “Progetti Astratti,” American Cultural Association of Turin,  Italy

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024                Upstream Gallery, "Drawn From Life," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2024                Upstream Gallery, "Paperworks," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2024                One Art Space, "NAWA 135th Anniversary Annual Members Exhibition," NY, NY
2024               Vanda Gallery, "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories," New Rochelle, NY
2024               Upstream Gallery, "Ordinary and Extraordinary, Photography" Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2024               Upstream Gallery, "Enduring 30th Anniversary Small Works Show," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2023                Upstream Gallery, "Enigma, 2023 Annual Juried Show," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2023                Gallery 18 at the Y, “Then, Now, When,” Riverdale, NY
2023                Upstream Gallery, "Small Works, 2023 Annual Juried Show," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2023                Gallery 18 at the Y, “Them Apples,” Riverdale, Riverdale, NY
2022                New York Botanical Garden "Around the Table: Stories of the Foods we Love," Bronx, NY 
2022                 Riverfront Art Gallery, "The In-Between Spaces," Yonkers, NY
2022                Riverfront Art Gallery, "Memento Mori," Yonkers, NY
2022                Christ Church, "Sacred Sites," Riverdale, NY 
2021                Upstream Gallery, "Drawn from Life," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2021                Official invitee for participation in Venice Biennale's 6th Edition of "Personal Structures" Venice, Italy
2021                Upstream Gallery, "Imagination is your Freedom," Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
2019                 Pelham Art Center, "Faculty Exhibition," 2019 Pelham, NY
2019                 Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, "A Feast for the Eyes,” Bronx, NY
2018                 Riverfront Art Gallery, "Unsettled," Yonkers, NY
2018                 Blue Door Gallery, “Women by Women,”Yonkers, NY
2018                 Upstream Gallery,  “Photography Takes Over-2018,”Hastings-On-Hudson, NY
2017                 Riverfront Art Gallery,  "Yonkers Artist Showcase," Yonkers, NY
2017                 Pelham Art Center, "Faculty and Student Showcase 2017," Pelham, NY  
2017                 Blue Door Gallery, “Flights of Fancy,” Yonkers, NY
2017                 Blue Door Gallery, “The Alternate Self,” Yonkers, NY
2017                 Upstream Gallery “Photography Takes Over-2017” Hastings-On-Hudson, NY
2017                 Blue Door Gallery, “9th BDAC Artist-Member Juried Exhibition,” Yonkers, NY
2016                 Bronx River Arts Center, "Works In Progress" Rex Hall Bronx, NY
2016                 Upstream Gallery “Paperworks”  Hastings-On-Hudson, NY
2016                 Blue Door Gallery, “Assemblage & Collage,” Yonkers, NY
2016                 Upstream Gallery “Photography Takes Over-2016”  Hastings-On-Hudson, NY             
2016                 Gallery 66  Social Experiment-- “A Survey of Regional Artists”, Cold Spring, NY
2016                 Blue Door Gallery, “8th BDAC Artist-Member Juried Exhibition,” Yonkers, NY
2014                 Andrew Freedman Home, “Bronx Documentary Art Project,“ Bronx, NY
2013                 Art Workshop International, "Selected Works" Assisi, Italy
2006                 Skopelos Foundation for the Arts, "Embryo Series" Skopelos, Greece
2004                 University Council for Art Education PHOTOvision The Camera Club NY
2003                 University Council for Art Education RETROvision Office of Manhattan Borough President NY, NY
2002                 University Council for Art Education Art As Antidote Macy Gallery NY, NY
2002                 Upstream Gallery  Small Works Show, Dobbs Ferry, NY
2001                 Rivertown Arts Council Artists' Open Studio Tour  Dobbs Ferry, NY
2000                 Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, “The Sixth Annual Venice Exhibition” NY, NY
1999                 Upstream Gallery, “Sixth Annual Juried Small Works Show”, Dobbs Ferry, NY
1998                 Rye Arts Center, “Teacher-Artist/Artist-Teacher”, Rye, NY
1998                 Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, “The Fourth Annual Venice Exhibition” NY, NY
1995                 IUAV Tolentini,  “NYU Venice 1995”  Venice, Italy
1995                  The Upstairs Gallery, “Autumn Selections,” Essex, NY
1995                  Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, “ The Venetian Experience 1975-95”   NY, NY
1994                 Taos Institute of Art, “Wax Works,” Taos, NM
1993                  Palazzo Pemma,  “NYU Venice 1993”  Venice, Italy
1993                  The Crystal Quilt, ” Women's Ways of Seeing”   NY, NY
1992                 Art School of The Aegean, “Selected Works”   Samos, Greece
1991                  Instituto Statale D'Arte, “ NYU Venice 1991”  Venice, Italy
1989                 Palazzo Pemma, “NYU Venice 1989” Venice, Italy
1988                 Palazzo Pemma, “NYU Venice 1988” Venice, Italy
1983                 Manhattanville College,  “Summer in Crete”  Rethymnon, Crete

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2023       Vellum Magazine #27 Spring www.VellumArtzine.com
2016       Blue Door Gallery Quarterly Journal, “Outside, Inside:Self  Examination,” Vol. 2.1    Fall/Winter
1996        “Significance of The Opening,”  NYU  Project Thesis
1995       “1975-95 Works in Progress,”  NYU Venice, Italy

GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES


NYBG "Art of the Table: Stories of the Food We Love" NY, NY 2022
BRAC Artist Grant, Rex Hall "Works in Progress" 2016
Studio di Marmo Sem Ghelardini, Pietrasanta, Italy August 1984
Vermont Studio Center, Residency in Sculpture, August 1997
Master Workshop Southampton College Southampton, NY 1998
Burren College of Art, Residency Ballyvaughan, Ireland August 2000
Burren College of Art, Residency Ballyvaughan, Ireland August 2004
Santa Reparata Artist Residency Florence, Italy 2005
 
COLLECTIONS

Bronx River Art Center Art of the Table, Bronx, NY
Marriott Hotel, Hutchinson Metro Center, Bronx, NY
Mrs. Leanne Weissler, New York, NY
Mr. Tibor Csetneki, Budapest, Hungary
Dr. & Mrs. David Clive, Holliston, MA
Dr. & Mrs. David Clark, Barrington, RI
Mr. Enrico de Paris, Turin, Italy
Mr. & Mrs. Eugenio Montanino, Turin, Italy
 

EDUCATION

2015                 Art Students League  NY, NY
2011-2015        New York Academy of Art  NY, NY
2003                 Hunter College Advanced Certificate, Supervision & Administration
1996                 New York University Advanced Professional Certificate, Arts &  Humanities       
1990                 New York University  MA Studio Art
1982                 Accademia Di Belle Arti Turin, Italy
1974                 Brandeis University BA Magna Cum Laude

EXPERIENCE

1990- 2015  Eastchester Public Schools Eastchester, NY, Art Teacher 6-12/Art Dept Chair
1986-90       Rye Country Day School Rye, NY, Art Teacher 9-12
1985-86       American Community School London, England, Art Teacher K-12
1981-85       American Cultural Association of Turin, Italy, Art Teacher K-12
1980-81       Internationale Schule Hamburg, Germany, Art Teacher 7-12
1974-80      Selected Public Schools throughout the US