Denise's Journey

"The artists vocation is to send light into the human heart." George Sand

This page is a glimmer of Denise's art
and a few of her activities over the years as her life as an artist.

I am an artist.

Not because I chose this path,
but because it has always been
the ground beneath my feet.

Before I ever made art,
art was already making me.

It lives in the way I see,
the way I wonder,
the way I move through the world.

I am not an artist because I create.
I create because I am an artist.

It is my nature,
my essence,
the quiet current that runs beneath
every thought and every breath.

To be an artist is to see what some overlook,
to find beauty in the ordinary,
possibility in the unfinished,
and light in the smallest fracture.

Art is not something outside of me.
It is the language of my soul,
the rhythm of my spirit,
the way I make sense of the world ...
and dream
of what it might yet become.

Denise Silva
2026


This is a High School Photo of Denise
painting a mural for the school.

"Art is a product of my soul, but it is, in the measure that it is love".
Liliana Cosi’

Denise received her B.A. from U.C. Davis, her M.A., Creative Arts from Purdue University and her M.F.A, Department of Art and Design from the University of Illinois.

In college Denise created life size sculptures, paintings, graphics and photography. Here are a few of her sculptures and drawings

Over the years, Denise has taught art at a variety of schools, including Marist College in New York.
She has led numerous art workshops, professional seminars, and lectures, including presentations on Art and Spirituality and The Vocation and Social Responsibility of the Artist.

Her work has been featured in more than 30 exhibitions, and her artwork is held in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

For 18 years, Denise served as Director of the Ave Art Center at Mariapolis Luminosa in Hyde Park. She also coordinated Artists for a United World, a traveling benefit exhibition that began in 1985. The exhibition featured the work of fifty artists from around the world, including Robert Dash, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Jane Freilicher, Daragh Park, and Fairfield Porter.

Denise's honors and awards include lifetime membership in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation, as well as grants from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) and S.C.E.R.I.

Throughout the years Denise has designed and painted several large murals, for public auditoriums, and theater stages and private murals in residences in New York and New Jersey.

Upper left: Three dimensional mural at the Mariaplois Luminosa Auditorium, Hyde Park, N.Y.
( Oil and mixed media).
Approximately 15 feet by 34 feet. Painted in 2000

Below: Private residence mural in New Jersey.
Painted in 2002

Printed Artist Work
Denise Silva's graphic work through the years has included everything from business cards and stationery to brochures, calendars, cards, advertisements, newsletters, and wedding invitations.
Her illustrations have been published in numerous magazines, including Living City Magazine ,as well as three books, and a cookbook.
She has developed original logos and designs for companies, both large and small as well as non profit agencies, including AT&T's Quality Design, EOS Finish Line, Inc., the Focolare Movement, Dutchess County Interfaith, Volunteer Center of Sonoma County and the Human Race.

Artist's Statement

To read Denise's Artist Statement click here

To contact Denise

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