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.

Every Thursday, kawarthaNOW publishes live music events at pubs and restaurants in Peterborough and the greater Kawarthas region based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, October 19 to Wednesday, October 25.

If you’re a pub or restaurant owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our nightlifeNOW editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com. For concerts and live music events at other venues, check out our Concerts & Live Music page.

With the exception of karaoke, we only list events with performing musicians. Venues may also host other events during the week (e.g., dancing, DJs, comedy shows).

From men and women to children and seniors, improv comedian Jennine Profeta believes there’s a place for everybody in comedy. That’s why she’s sharing her love of making people laugh by leading classes to nurture the next generation of comedians right here in the Kawarthas.

But, proving her passion for community-building extends beyond comedy, the Bobcaygeon performer can be spotted at plenty of local events, including leading line dancing classes and organizing “girls’ night in” game nights. Next week, she’ll even be getting dressed up to lead story time at the Bobcaygeon Public Library and the Thriller Dance Party at the Globus Theatre Box Office on October 21 as part of Harvest Haunt.

“I want to take what I have to offer and use it in the community,” says Profeta. “You can get very isolated up here, depending on where you live, so we’re all looking for connection and it’s great to see it happening.”

As for her own performances, Profeta is currently touring in Ontario with Girls Nite Out, her all-female ensemble of stand-up and improv comedians. Joined by Elvira Kurt, Karen Parkerl and Diana Frances, the group is making a stop at Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre on Saturday, November 4th for an already sold-out show.

Stopping at the theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn will mark a return to where the show — which features a rotating line-up of female cast members — was first born 16 years ago. Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic director Sarah Quick, a performer herself, came to Profeta with the idea to gather a group of these talented women in the community.

“It was one of those things when you hear something and just know you’ve been waiting your whole life to hear it,” Profeta says, adding that she may not have thought of it on her own. “These are unlike any other show that we do. There’s something very different about it.”

Though usually not a phrase to be taken literally, Profeta really had been waiting her whole life. While growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she looked up to the female comedians who were “taking charge” like Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers, and Carol Channing.

“They come from a time where guys ruled the roost and they had to play at a certain level to compete and be seen and they did it,” Profeta notes. “Through history, women have been able to use comedy to assert themselves — not in a negative way, but a very positive, very empowering way. I think I’ve always been drawn to that.”

Watching these women ultimately inspired and influenced Profeta to move to Toronto after studying theatre at the University of Winnipeg. The day after moving, she signed up for classes at Second City. Considering she met her husband and many of her friends within that first week of arriving, Profeta describes Second City as being her “home base ever since.”

Unlike a lot of the other improv comedians with whom she interacts and works, Profeta didn’t grow up with the “comedic flair” or innate funny bone as the class clown. Instead, she was more introverted, but had the right amount of dedication.

“I was just bullheaded about it,” she recalls. “I wanted to learn how to do improv even though I felt like I was terrible. I had a dream, but I didn’t think I would necessarily make it. I was just in love with this format, and I knew I needed to know how it worked. I think I’m only just starting to figure it out.”

It’s evident she figured it out a long time ago, spending years with Second City, where she even had the opportunity to entertain internationally on a cruise ship. For 12 months, Profeta and her husband Dave Pearce toured the world on the ship, with six months spent in the Caribbean and six months spent in Europe, where she performed to all kinds of crowds.

“There, you start learning about how comedy translates or doesn’t translate between different cultures,” the comedian explains. “It’s not just a language barrier. Some cultures like more physical comedy, whereas others rely on cerebral and witty stuff.”

Since then, Profeta has made acting appearances on television shows, films, and commercials for The Comedy Network, CBC, and NBC, including as a cast member on Howie Mandel’s Howie Do It.

An entertainer of many talents, Profeta has also been credited with writing awards shows and episodes of animated children’s shows for CBC, and has bylines in magazines like Chatelaine and Today’s Parent from her time spent as a freelance writer upon first moving to Toronto. Though it was her way to make some income while she was going to auditions, writing also became beneficial to her craft as a comedian.

“At Second City, you’re not just a comedic actor — you need to be a writer as well,” she explains. “I could see how the two were helping each other. Even with what I was doing in comedy would just feed into my writing, and I think helped me get more work because I was developing my voice.”

Finding your voice is one of the many things Profeta now teaches through her work as a theatre and improv facilitator based out of Bobcaygeon, where she moved with Pearce in 2016. After being introduced to the region by Quick and her husband, Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic producer James Barrett, and wanting to escape from Toronto to raise their son, Profeta and Pearce relocated without so much as a thought of what they would do for work.

Fortunately, the local theatre community was very welcoming and had a place for the duo.

“It’s great to see how many kids want to get involved,” Profeta says about Globus Theatre’s new School of Dramatic Art where she teaches. “Many of them are on the hockey teams and it’s cool to me that we don’t live in a community where you either do hockey or you do art. You can do both and there’s not a weirdness — there aren’t people picking on each other. So I really admire that families here are open to letting their kids try the art.”

Profeta adds the same goes for the large retirement community that exists within the region, who are only now getting the opportunity to experiment with their creative passions.

“People are just taking that dream from the past and blowing the dust off it and trying out this thing they’ve always wanted to do and to me that’s amazing,” she says. “That’s something they’ve just never had a chance to and, because there’s now this opportunity for them, they’re taking a risk and they’re finally doing it.”

Profeta is also facilitator for classes at Lakehurst Hall in Buckhorn and with Linda Kash’s Peterborough Academy of Performing Arts (PAPA) improv classes and camps.

“I’ve learned so much more about improv and comedy through watching and working with my students and, in particular, working with people that are starting off like I did,” she says. “They’re shy and don’t necessarily feel this is their gift or their talent, but they’re just drawn to it and they want to try it. It’s a great joy to work with them, because I see a lot of myself in them.”

While Profeta continues to share her passion and build the community around theatre, she and Pearce are regularly hosting improv shows in town at Bobcaygeon’s Just for the Halibut, where she’s determined to make people laugh.

“It’s all about nurturing that positive part of yourself, and the joy in yourself,” says Profeta. “We all have a lot of stuff to do deal with but if you can just laugh for 30 to 45 minutes a day, what a privilege that is.”