When it comes to her art, Ruby Silvious knows no bounds. Her work can be seen painted on a variety of surfaces. Those include anything from broken eggshells to wine corks. “I take everyday objects and turn them into canvases for art,” she once remarked in an interview with wmht. “It’s as simple as that.”
But it’s her miniature paintings and collages on used tea bags that turned this relatively unknown artist into a viral sensation. It all started on January 3, 2015, when she launched the 363 Days of Tea Project, a visual daily record of her impression of the moment, using the emptied-out tea bag as her canvas. Silvious kept her promise to herself and for the next 363 days, she altered teabags, creating a new work of art each and every day.
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, and Good Morning America. She was even featured in the internationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, her art is exhibited internationally and is featured in public and private collections. She is also 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).
“I want viewers to keep an open mind and think beyond the boundaries of what they may consider traditional art,” says Silvious. “In today’s throw-away culture, where we have immediate access to an abundance of materials and numerous mediums to choose from, all things become possible.”
Prepare to be inspired.
