After more than 30 years dedicated to running her business and raising her family, Silvia Ferreri is finally focusing on the passion she’s always harboured — her art.
That’s not to say she hasn’t already made a name for herself as an artist over the years, having painted countless murals in businesses, schools, and residential homes in Peterborough, and having shared her illustrations and paintings at shows in various cafes and galleries.
But now she is taking it one step further, focusing on her ever-changing inspirations and working towards some big plans, including launching a website with an online shop for customers to browse, creating a studio space and permanent gallery in which she can lead art classes, and hosting more open houses to interact with her audience.
“When I create for myself, I’m just tickled pink,” Ferreri says. “I just feel so rich. I’m 62 and I realize the older I get how absolutely splendid that is. Ten years ago, I may not have been saying these words.”
Growing up in Peterborough, Ferreri always had an interest in various forms of visual arts. The passion drove her to study fine arts at York University, but upon graduating in the mid-1980s, it was hard to find a job in the arts unless you were a graphic designer — which she was not and did not want to be.
So instead she moved back to Peterborough and, with her then-husband, the 28-year-old Ferreri opened a retail business called Pensieri Shoes (later rebranded as Blue Shoes Ptbo) and started a family.
A year into the store’s operation, Ferreri became acquainted with Clifford Dennis, a New York interior designer and artist who chose to retire in Peterborough. He pointed to the bare 54-foot wall in Pensieri Shoes and offered to help her with the mural she wanted to paint.
“It was very dramatic, but it was so cute, and I have such a great memory of it,” she notes, adding that he taught her a lot as they painted together. “And from there, it was lots of exposure, and I started getting some commission pieces.”
For years, Ferreri took on more commission pieces and projects, painting everything from ceilings and floors to doors and chairs.
Then, around 15 years ago, Ferreri felt she had more of a chance to freely explore her own ideas and creative visions.
“Once (my children) got older and we had employees in the store, I really had images in my mind that I needed out,” she explains, adding that she took the chance to pursue her own style, using acrylic paint on canvas instead.
“I always had my hand in art, but it’s changed. It’s so funny because I would paint 54 by 10 foot walls, and now I’m working on 11 by 14 inch paper.”
Though Ferreri says her art can be therapeutic when she’s facing hardship, she describes her style as “whimsical, light, and goofy.” She adds that she experiments with both realism and fantasy, depending on what appeals to her and inspires her in the moment. Her goal and largest motivator, however, is always sharing a bit of joy with her audience.
“If someone says to me ‘This made me smile’, I think that’s why I have this gift,” she explains. “Ultimately in life, aren’t we all seeking joy?”
When she first had the time to experiment with her own style, Facebook was still new and, when she started posting her paintings and artwork on the platform, she did not anticipate that her whole network would be looking at the work.
Not accustomed to sharing her work, Ferreri says she felt “panicked” in spite of the positive feedback she was receiving. She eventually came to realize social media was a good way for her to “test out the market.”
“This was like a gallery, but you don’t have to say a thing,” she says, adding that it made her think that perhaps she had an audience and her art could become more than a hobby. “The response from Facebook was so titillating for me.”
From there, Ferreri’s exposure began to grow as an artist independent of her mural work and she began painting upwards of two to three pieces per week. Over the more than a decade since, she has participated in shows at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club, Kawartha Arts Festival, Natas Café, and Pastry Peddler Café in Millbrook. She has also held small art classes out of her storefront.
With her children now young adults, Ferreri closed her shoe store in 2020 and, while she continues to work in orthopedics at Caravaggio Orthotics Clinic, she’s finally dedicating some time to her own artwork.
Occasionally she returns to her roots, painting murals as she recently did for her life coach Cora Whittington at Golden Pathways Retreat and B&B. Since the retreat is all about self-healing, she painted eagle wings for people to take photos in front of as a symbol of empowerment and strength.
While Ferreri maintains that she is still always nervous to do commission work rather than follow her own inspirations, she says she wanted to give back to Whittington because she was a huge help in giving her the confidence to pursue her passion.
“She was just a very small part of my life, but, in a way, a much bigger part,” Ferreri recalls. “She helped me cultivate the validity of the specialness that I have with this talent.”
Painting the mural had a huge influence on Ferreri as well, as she describes the time spent alone on Whittington’s 100-acre woodland property as “cathartic.”
“I’m in the woods and there’s no one around,” Ferreri says. “I’m all by myself, and I can’t tell you how inspired I was by just the simple blades of grass and leaves and how they flutter together. It is absolutely powerful. I’m so proud and I would leave there crying sometimes. It was that beautiful and impactful.”
After spending so much time on the property this summer, the artist began to see a nature motif weaved through her work which she had not anticipated or planned.
“I love nature — the cheekiness, the humour, the preciousness, and the things that we might just step over,” she says. “A lot of my art comes from that.”
With this new inspiration at hand, Ferreri has recently been exploring the use of coloured pencils a lot more than the acrylic paints that had been her main medium throughout the last several years.
“I love that I can sit in my bed with a goofy idea,” she says, explaining that the medium is much more accessible than painting which takes up a lot of space in her small home. “I just melt into it, and I find it really intimate and intimate for the viewer as well.”
Ferreri took the opportunity to share some of these new pieces at an open house she held out of her home this summer at the encouragement of her daughter, who showcased her own jewellery and crochet work at the event. Ferreri is in the process of planning more open houses as she develops a studio space and gallery where she can hold art lessons again. She will also be launching a proper website with an online store in the near future.
While Ferreri’s art style and inspirations are always fluid and constantly changing, she says no matter what inspired her in the moment, she’ll always remain grateful for the passions and talent she has been given.
“The older I get, the more appreciative I get because I just can’t imagine having a life without (art),” she notes. “If it’s God or a larger entity, I don’t know why they chose me, but I’m sure glad they did, because I just love it and I’m so appreciative.”
While Ferreri works on getting her website and online gallery up and active, customers can inquire about her work through private message on Facebook and Instagram.
