For Meals And Masterpieces!

Pam Hosker and Manny Silva stand above just some of Silva's artwork. These pieces were drawn on home-delivered meal plastic foam containers.

“Not bad for an amateur,” said 88-year-old Manny Silva, as he watched his daughter flip through an old sketchbook of his artwork. The pages are filled with creative, colorful, and detailed drawings that include landscapes, holiday scenes, scenic views, and caricatures. “Yeah, right. An amateur. Sure, Dad,” Silva’s daughter, Pamela Hosker, laughed.

Silva’s artistic talent, seemingly beyond that of an amateur, shows up on more than just the pages of a simple sketchbook. He sees art everywhere and draws on whatever paper-like surface is available around the house. Most recently, he has started using MVES home-delivered meal containers as canvases on which he creates his very own masterpieces! He cuts the sides off the plastic foam containers to create a flat surface and then reinforces the surface by stacking several pieces behind the first piece. Silva used to return the containers to his home-delivered meals driver so that they could be recycled. He has since decided that he would rather recycle them in his own way—by making them into art.

“This one is for my granddaughter because she loves the Red Sox,” Silva said, pointing to a creation featuring Wally the Green Monster, the Red Sox’s loveable mascot. Next to Wally is a container displaying a butterfly, and another graced with an antique car. There’s an angel, a clown, a lighthouse, and 30 or so other scenes and characters lined up neatly on Silva’s dining room table. There used to be more, but Hosker explained that her father invites most of his guests to take one as a parting gift after a visit.

Silva’s art can be found on other unlikely items like napkins, paper plates, and on blank areas of magazine pages! “When I was growing up, I’d be flipping through a magazine and find one of Dad’s drawings on a blank space of some advertisement,” Hosker said. “Or, I’d find a crumpled-up napkin with some amazing drawing on it!”

When Silva was a boy, his teachers encouraged him to seek training to enhance his artistic gift. “It’s always just been a hobby,” said Silva. “I should have been an artist, but I never went to school for it.” Silva completed the eighth grade and then quit school after attending just one day of high school. “School just wasn’t for me,” he explained.

Even though he decided to cut his formal education short at age 16, Silva found success in life. He went on to become an apprentice at a leather tannery, which he eventually took over and ran for 40 years. He also married, had a daughter, and earned a purple heart when he was wounded in Germany during World War II.

After learning that MVES will be hosting its annual Senior Fine Art Show on September 27, Silva is considering entering a couple of his sketches. Silva and Hosker are in agreement that this is a great opportunity for Silva to share his art with the community. The Senior Fine Art Show is for artists 60 and over who live in Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham or Wakefield. Artists interested in participating in the art show can choose a maximum of two pieces of art to submit to MVES. Click here for more details.
 
As Silva and his daughter look through his art to determine which pieces they should submit for the art show, Silva comes across a piece that he hadn’t seen in awhile. “Wow! I did that? I had forgotten about that one!” But, it’s obvious that his daughter is his biggest admirer when, holding up one of his pieces at arm’s length, Hosker comments, “Dad, I could frame this if it wasn’t on a paper plate!”

Please click here to see some of Silva's artwork.