Ruby Silvious is internationally recognized for her miniature paintings and collages on the used tea bag. On January 3, 2015, she started a project called 363 Days of Tea, a visual daily record of her impression of the moment, using the emptied-out tea bag as her canvas, and altering it to create a new work of art every day for 363 days. She draws, paints, prints and collages moody, evocative and sometimes whimsical art on used teabag paper. She is the author of 363 Days of Tea: A Visual Journal on Used Teabags (Mascot Books, 2016), and Reclaimed Canvas: Reimagining the Familiar (Mascot Books, 2019). Ruby wants viewers to keep an open mind and think beyond the boundaries of what they may consider traditional art.
Her paintings on tea bags, some inspired by her travels around the world, have been featured in numerous publications including CNN Travel, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, North American Review, Good Morning America/ABC News, and the internationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Silvious was educated in the U.S. and Asia; she currently lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her art is exhibited internationally, and is featured in public and private collections.
b. 1957 Tacloban City, Philippines
2022 Marcher sur des Oefs
LM Studio, Hyères France
April 2-30, 2022
2021 The Art of Tea und Sonstiges
Künstlerhaus Hooksiel, Wangerland Germany
June 13-August 15, 2021
2020 Recycled and Refashioned: The Art of Ruby Silvious
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany NY
January 25-August 30, 2020
2018 Rocky Mountain Tea Festival, Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, Boulder CO, July 2018
2017 Printemps en Provence, LM Studio, Hyères France - May 2017
2016 363 Days of Tea, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY - Sept-Oct 2016
Reinterpreting Tradition, Studio Kura Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan - June 2016
Tea and Alchemy, Greene Arts, Catskill NY - Jan-March 2016
2014 Salvaged: Reimagining the Familiar, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY - Nov 2014
2022 Exposure, Ceres Gallery, 547 W 27 Street, New York, NY, Dec 5-10 2022
Passports, Albany Center Gallery, Albany, New York
August 2-20, 2022
2021 The Art of Seed, Walkill River School of Art
Walkill, NY, January 8 - February 28, 2021
2020 Ruby Silvious | Nancy Yoshii, Suffolk County Community College, Feb-Mar 2020
No Fabric, No Rules, Virginia Quilt Museum, Harrisonburg VA, Feb-July 2020
2019 Art Fair Asia Fukuoka 2019, Hotel Okura, Fukuoka Japan, Sept 6-9, 2019
ARTermative, Pop Up Show, Albany NY, Apr 5 2019
2018 Imagined, Antler Gallery, Portland OR - Aug-Sept 2018
Remembered, Paradigm Gallery+Studio, Philadelphia PA - Aug-Sept 2018
Tea Connecting Cultures, Mary Daly Art Gallery, Madison CT - August-Oct 2018
Le Bord, Red Truck Gallery, New Orleans, LA - May 2018
Art on Paper 2018, Pier 36, New York, NY - March 2018
DRAWING: Stretching the Line, The Art Gallery at North Hill, Needham MA - Jan-Feb 2018
2017 Flourish, Jaggedart, London UK - June-July 2017
Layers, Levels, Lines, Woodstock Art Exchange, West Hurley NY - Dec 2016 -Jan 2017
2016 Heroic Battles and Love... Anyway, Pick Love!, Fulton Gallery, Troy NY - May 2016
Dialogues, Atlantic Gallery, Chelsea NY - Jan 2016
2015 40 Years/40 Artists, Greene Arts, Catskill NY - Oct 2015
IAM Pocketsized, Islip Museum of Art, Islip NY - June-Sept 2015
Recycled Runway, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY - May 2015
REcycle, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn NY - May-June 2015
A Celebration of Birds, MAC650 Gallery, Middletown, CT - May 2015
Singular Impressions, The National Bottle Museum, Ballston Spa, NY - Feb - Apr 2015
2014 Over the Edge, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY - Oct 2014
Re-made and Recycled, Washington Artworks, Rockville MD - Aug-Sept 2014
Ronda Limpia (Recycled Exhibit), Palacio de Congresos, Malaga, Spain-May 2014
2013 Revealed: Masks & Totems, Phoenix Center of the Arts, Phoenix, AZ - December 2013
2012 Japanese Influence: Layer and Line, Albany Center Gallery, Albany NY - Sept 2012
Fence Show: The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy NY - June 2012
Creative Sojourn in Italy: Il Bisonte per lo studio dell'arte grafika, Florence Italy - June 2012
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
National Geographic Kids, Fall 2022
Times Union (Albany NY), August
North American Review, Summer 2021
KURIER Frezeit (Austria), May
Cosmopolitan China, April
The Little Davinci (Taiwan), April
BLUE Issue 6 (Turkey), April
Dein Spiegel, March
Daphne's Diary (Netherlands), Issue No. 3
2020
Times Union (Entertainment section), April
Airbnb Magazine, March
FEMME ACTUELLE Jeux DÉLICES, January
Chronogram, November
Daphne's Diary, Sept-Dec, pages 30-33
TOPYS China, Jan 2019, Diary on a Tea Bag, pages 83-85
The Afterlife of Discarded Objects, Memory and Forgetting in a Culture of Waste, by Andrei Guruianu and Natalia Andrievskikh (Parlor Press), pgs 184-185
2018
FLOW (Dutch quarterly crafts magazine): Tea Tales, Winter 2018
Opalus (Canadian Fashion & Fine Art Magazine), Oct (6-pg feature)
Reclaim Magazine (UK Interiors publication), Oct (7-page feature)
Das Magazin (German Art & Design Magazine), Apr-May (8-pg feature)
La Stampa (Italian newspaper), Jan-front page, Culture Section
Vida Simples (Brazilian Art & Design Magazine): Doses de cha e arte, Ana Holanda, March
2017
Ada (Sri Lanka Magazine): Ruby Silvious adds a new meaning to the tea bag, Nov
Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine: Artist Profile, July-August
KoffieTcacao Magazine (Dutch): arTea, Summer
Khaleej Times (Dubai, UAE): Why these Artists Don’t Toss Damp Teabags in the Trash, Apr
The Daily Gazette: Artist Gives Recycling a New Meaning, Apr 2017
T Spain: The New York Times Style Magazine, Mar 2017
Emotion Magazine (Germany): Neue Kleider für alte Beutel, Feb 2017
2016
Beyond Paper: The Art of a Tea Bag, Sept 2016
Tea Journey Magazine: Teabags too Charming to Compost, Sept 2016
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, June 8, 2016
Organic Hudson Valley Magazine: Creating Art Out Using Repurposed Materials, May-June, 2016
Disney Malaysia: Lukisan Atas Uncang Teh, May 2016
Hudson Valley Almanac Weekly: The Art of Tea (cover story), Jan 2016
Arts Alive: Tea & Alchemy, Jan 2016
Chronogram, Jan 2016
Magazine S: (S. Korea) Upcycling for a Better World, Jan 2016
2015
The Guardian UK: Storm in a Teabag, Nov 2015
Metro Holland: Deze kunst is helemaal my cup of tea, Nov 2015
Metro International Russia, Nov 2015
7Days (Dutch Newspaper): 363 dagen theezakjeskunst, Nov 2015
Recycleopedia: Artist uses Discarded Tea Bags and Egg Shells as Blank Canvasses, Feb 2015
Magazin für Restkultur: Kunst – mit ohne Müll, Jan 2015
2014
Times Union: Sculpture in the Streets, May 2014
2012
Times Union: Exhibit Showcases Japanese Influence on Three Capitol Region Artists, Sept 2012
2011
Hudson Valley Magazine: Polly’s Picks, Feb 2011
AWARDS
2015 Third Place: Tiger Lily, Art Exhibeo Magazine Summer Palette Art Competition
2015 Director's Choice Award: Swirls, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, NY
2011 First Place: Direct Mail Category, Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), Chicago IL
Künstlerhaus Hooksiel, Wangerland, Germany 2021
Mudhouse Residency, Agios Ioannis, Greece 2019LM Studio Artist in Residence, Hyères, France 2017
Studio Kura Artist in Residence, Fukuoka, Japan 2016
Palazzo Rinaldi Artist in Residence, Noepoli, Italy 2015
Sage College, Albany NY, Graphic Design, 2006