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Philadelphia-based portraitist Sylvia Castellanos emigrated to the United States from her native Cuba as a child in 1959. Drawing--and particularly executing people-- was an instinctive urge from childhood, and by her early teens she was regularly receiving modest commissions. Since then she has executed hundreds of portraits whose subjects range from Washington dignitaries to Central American campesinos. 2005 is proving to be an exciting year, with two important exhibitions already, including one at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Organization of American States.. Her adult life has been full of many activities, both inside and outside the art world. After obtaining a B.A. in Romance Languages from Emory & Henry College, Sylvia earned a Master’s degree and became a doctoral candidate at Princeton University. Moving to Washington, D.C. in the early seventies, for the remainder of the decade she combined holding the prestigious position of Research Director of the Senate Steering Committee with doing commissioned portraits for clients prominent on Capitol Hill, including several Senators and important Senate officials. Thus, at his request, she did a portrait of Strom Thurmond, who liked the result…but asked her to eliminate the wrinkles under the eyes. During that time also, a portrait she executed of Alexander Solzhenitsyn came to be in the collection of singer Pat Boone, who purchased it at an auction in which he served as Master of Ceremonies. Also during this period Sylvia was fortunate to do advanced work in portraiture with the successful Washington artist Danni Dawson, a protégé of the legendary Nelson Shanks of Philadelphia. In 1980 Sylvia moved to Guatemala City, Guatemala, initiating a long association with that region. She launched her career as a portraitist with a one-man exhibit at INGUAT, the state tourism office. This led to a thriving business. As a reflection of her success, in the early nineties she was honored to be asked by then-President Jorge Serrano to execute a portrait gallery of all past Guatemalan presidents (regrettably, insufficient funds made it impossible to execute the project). No less significantly, however, this period marked the beginning of a project that was to absorb her for a long number of years. In Guatemala she discovered the civilization of the modern-day Mayas. Against a backdrop of mountains and volcanoes, and impervious to European influences, the Indian inhabitants continue wearing their traditional garments, speaking their native Maya dialects, and following their ancestors' way of life. Fascinated both by their exotic appearance and the depth of their humanity, Sylvia embarked on a collection of portraits of the modern-day Mayas, intended as a picture essay of the nation’s character at the level of the common man. The collection of sixty-two black and white portraits, begun in the 1980s, was only completed in the year 2000. In 1992, the partially-completed collection came to the attention of U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Thomas Strooke and Mrs. Strooke, who invited Sylvia to do a showing at their private residence in Guatemala City for several hundred members of the government and the diplomatic corps, and private sector leaders. The setting of the residence rather than the public gallery created for that purpose was a conspicuous honor, as was Mrs. Strooke’s gesture, on the appointed evening, of taking down from the walls all her personal decorations, giving Sylvia a free hand to hang her own. Recognition in another sphere came in 1999, when Glencoe-McGraw-Hill chose one of the portraits for inclusion in Glencoe Literature: The Reader’s Choice: American Literature, a text distributed nationwide. She has discussed the portraits, too, on Latino television interview programs in Philadelphia and Boston. It is this collection which was honored with a highly successful exhibit at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., in June, 2005. In the recent past, Sylvia executed a portrait of Philadelphia City Council President, Anna Verna, the latest in a line of interesting commissions. Other recent projects include work for a top official of the International Monetary Fund, and an oil portrait of Count Florent Bogaerts, a United Nations Ambassador and a member of the European nobility. A passionate opera fan, Sylvia was gratified to paint in 2002 a portrait of Maestro Christopher Macatsoris, Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. The institution, one of the most prestigious opera conservatories in the country, presented the portrait to the Maestro at a twenty-fifth anniversary tribute gala event. Always seeking innovation, Sylvia embarked on a project of executing over a dozen large canvases in the style of European religious oil paintings in the styles of the 15th to 17th centuries. In July of this year, the collection was very successfully exhibited at Casa Santo Domingo, an extraordinary, converted 16th century monastery in Antigua, Guatemala. Plans are now underway to take the collection to other cities in Central America. A web site,http://www.sylviacastellanos.net, serves as an electronic art gallery displaying a large part of her work.. While the subjects and the moods of the pictures cover a broad stylistic range, the emphasis is always on exploring the subject’s mood with sensitivity and on capturing the person’s spirit. By preference, indeed, Sylvia has never strayed outside depicting people, a subject of endless fascination for her. E-mail Sylvia Castellanos through her representatives. |
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