50 Artists: 50 Years of Art in Springfield
Celebrating arts and culture in our community
Featured in The Springfield Beacon (December 12, 2007)
By Austin Berger
For the Beacon
Sylvia CasillasOf Masks and Muses
At Nationalgeographic.com, they offer a service through their “Genographic Project.” For $99, they will trace your genetic lineage. This isn’t the genealogy type family tree thing. No, this service traces your ancestors back to the advent of civilizations. Ultimately, their [national geographic] data suggests that we all ultimately came from a group of African ancestors some 60,000 years back. Their data argues the point that there is some, even if only rudimentary, genetic link between all of us on the planet.
That may not be what some people like to hear, but for Sylvia Casillas, a 53-year-old from Springfield, it is an idea whose smell is redolent in her multi-media, which debuted last week at the Emerald Art Center. It begs the essential question: What mask are you wearing?
Inspiration to begin: One of her first ever memories was playing in the mud, very apropos considering her fondness for using clay. Her mother was an early influence for this Chicago native. Primarily a piano player, she would also break out the colored pencils for drawings. “She was good at drawing,” says Sylvia. “When she drew a face, they always had a persona to them.” Another of her first memories from an early age was being intrigued by the uncanny things in the world that could come to life; masks, statues, busts etc.. “I did always like puppets…they could take on a persona of their own.” Unlike many artists, she has a physical description of the wrestling opponent known as her muse. It looks like one of those tiny wooden mannequins.
Along with her husband, she went on vacations out to the Rogue Valley from time to time. Taking to the abundant mountains to hike, they moved out to Oregon after 20 years in Florida. She kept in touch with the arts: painting, singing, theater, sculptures, through classes at Lane Community College and University of Oregon. She would often take classes multiple times so she could keep working with the models. “The teacher finally came up to me and said that I didn’t have to take the classes…that I could just take it as independent study,” says Sylvia with a laugh.
Her Mentors: To list the number of people and classes she’s taken are countless, as are the numerous greats that have inspired her throughout her artistic career. But what has nurtured her inspiration for this particular show has been seven years in the making. In Fall of 2000, she and her husband were on vacation in Spain, set to embark on a day-trip to Morocco. This was a tense time with the USS Cole having just been attacked by a suicide bomber in Yemen. There were some concerns about going into the largely Muslim kingdom. But the tour guides knew the ropes, and they had planned this for a long time. They went and now the fruits of her trip are on display, showing the daily life of Moroccan people.
Quality of life in art: The benefits of art in Sylvia’s life goes far beyond the usual expressing of one’s self. "I like to stir the pot and make people think.” Her show at Emerald Art Center is aimed at what she has viewed as a universal commonality between humans that transcend time and substance. No matter where you come from or what religion you belong to, there is at least one thing we all have in common: “We all have souls,” says Sylvia, “Souls with borrowed bodies.” This, with the influence of her genographic test results, and the frequent wrestling with her muse has given her the insight to say with much vigor that we are more alike than we are different. In every society, the people conform to norms and behaviors.
“Everyone wears a mask,” according to Sylvia, “and the sooner we stop this worldwide masquerade ball and start approaching people with open minds as opposed to narrow ones, the better.”
Legacy as an artist: Quoting an old adage, Sylvia advises to “do what you love and the money will follow.” Sylvia says that anyone can do art if you have an interest in doing it, although it may take 20-30 years get somewhere. “Nobody tells you that,” laughs Sylvia. But her legacy is not to get other people into art. If that works, that’s fine. But what she really wants is people to start approaching things with open eyes, hearts, and minds -- to take off your mask.
What Mask Are You Wearing?” by Sylvia Casillas along with Carol Plaia’s “Origin, Mapping, and the Game of Life” and B.J. Burnett’s “Castles, Landscapes, Botanicals, and Architecture of Scotland and England” are on display at the Emerald Art Center, located at 5th and Main in Springfield, until December 28. A reception for the exhibits will take place this Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Bronze by Sylvia Casillas
_________________________________________________________________________________
About The Artist
Hometown: Chicago
Favorite subjects: People (faces in particular)
Favorite media: Clay, Pastels, Oil, Photography
Favorite place to do art: At home
Arts 0rganizations: Emerald Empire Arts Association
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Dance of Rhythmic Solitude" by Sylvia Casillas
