Philadelphia-based portraitist Sylvia Castellanos, who emigrated to the United States from her native Cuba as a child, has executed hundreds of portraits and figurative works whose subjects range from Washington dignitaries to Central American campesinos.

Her life has been full of many activities, both inside and outside the art world. After earning a graduate degree from Princeton University, she moved to Washington, D.C. in the early seventies. For the remainder of the decade she combined holding a prestigious position in the Senate with doing commissioned portraits for clients prominent on Capitol Hill, including several Senators and important Senate officials.

In 1980 Sylvia moved to Guatemala City, Guatemala. This period marked the beginning of a project related to the indigenous population that would absorb her for a long number of years. Fascinated by their appearance and garments, Sylvia embarked on a collection of 62 portraits of the modern-day Mayas, intended as a picture essay of the nation’s character at the level of the common man. This collection was honored by an exhibit at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Guatemala, and it was also shown at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. Invitations to exhibit in this historic building are extended only to leading artists from countries in the Americas.

Sylvia is now active in the geographic area from Washington, D.C. in the south to New York in the north, with her home in Philadelphia as a halfway point. At present, much of her time is spent on figurative paintings, where her background is evident in her choice of subject matter, which is frequently Hispanic and almost always international.

She displays her figurative paintings at various juried exhibits throughout the year, principally in New York City, where she has participated in shows sponsored by such prestigious organizations as the Salmagundi Club and the American Artists Professional League. The latter presented its 2008 Julia Castro Award to one of her paintings. In Philadelphia she is involved in the activities and exhibits of the renowned Philadelphia Sketch Club, the first organization of artists to be founded in the United States.

Active in portrait work as well, her commissions in Philadelphia include a painting of Philadelphia City Council President, Anna Verna, which was presented to this dignitary by the American Academy for the Sacred Arts. A portrait she executed of the late Pope John Paul II is on an indefinite loan to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., where she also regularly participates in exhibits.

A web site, http://www.sylviacastellanos.com, serves as an electronic art gallery displaying a large part of her work. While the subjects and the moods of the pictures cover a broad stylistic range, the emphasis is always on exploring the subject’s mood with sensitivity and on capturing the person’s spirit.