As a co-founding member of the historic Deaf Art Movement (DAM) of the 1960s that came before the Deaf View/Image Art movement(De’VIA) in 1989, I have fought for recognition, equality and social justice for the Deaf artist community — and have also advocated for the inclusion of Deaf Art in the museum/gallery world and in academia.
My visual arts background is varied: graphic design, illustration, logo design, Deaftoons and art direction. After working as a book cover designer/art director for publishers in Manhattan, I moved back to my hometown of Seattle in 1991 and created my most iconic Deaf Pop Art work.
My work can be found in public and private art collections in the United States and abroad. In 2017, a major retrospective of my lifetime work was held at RIT/NTID’s Dyer Arts Center in Rochester, NY. An artist biography titled ANN SILVER: Deaf Artist Series captures my life and work as a pioneering artivist.
Jim Van Manen and I met in 2011 and established Silver Moon Brand, our graphic art collaboration. Our combined artistic forces extend the base of my groundbreaking art on aspects of Deaf identity, Deaf culture and ASL.
“No matter how you look at it – protest art, political satire, victim or graphic wit – I do not shy away from ethical questions or controversy. Having fused scholarship, creativity and sociopolitical philosophy, I truly believe that my being Deaf-with-a-capital-D gives me a greater visual acuity which in turn affects my work, artistic and otherwise. Deaf Art is my soul, my heart, my conscience.”
From: Deaf Way II Featured Visual Artists Reproduced with permission.
