BIO

Stephanie Silver is a Miami-born and based visual artist whose work centers on abstracted elements of the built environment and sculptural compositions that reflect on the relationship of regional specificity and human relationships and joy. Rooted in a deep connection to the city she grew up in, her practice explores what is lost when historic, creative structures are replaced by homogenous, profit-driven development. Her work is characterized by saturated color palettes, hand-built forms, and materials such as ceramics, wood, and paint. These elements come together in compositions that evoke fragments of our built environment—often ornamental or idiosyncratic details—reimagined in sculptural form. While Silver began her practice creating small, highly realistic recreations of local architecture, it has since evolved into a more expressive, abstract language that responds to the changing built environment of cities all over the United States. She draws visual and conceptual inspiration from neighborhoods where regional design, specificity, and cultural flair are increasingly under threat. Her research considers what happens to communities when the connection to their environments is lost. This shift has made her work feel more urgent and more connected to a broader conversation about the aesthetics of development, the myth of progress, and the systems that determine which histories are preserved—and which are forgotten. Silver’s work has been exhibited at venues including Oolite Arts, Satellite Art Show, the Doral Contemporary Art Museum, and the Kovens Cultural Art Series. She has been earned awards such as the Ratcliffe Institute of Art and Design Fellowship and III Points Artist Grant. In addition to studio work, Silver is actively involved in the Miami arts community working as a teaching artist at the Bass Museum and illustrator for local publication The Islandia Journal. Silver’s work invites viewers to slow down and consider the spaces they move through each day—what they remember, what they overlook, and what has quietly disappeared. By reconstructing and honoring the visual language of buildings at risk, she aims to challenge dominant ideas of progress and make space for cultural specificity, memory, imagination, and joy.