Jay Sylvester
Jay Sylvester spent his youth exploring the forests and fields of New England, assembling complicated, mildly dangerous forts and secret shelters for his friends. This primitive world-building set him on an artistic path that would bear fruit years later. Studying at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in the 80s, he shifted his focus to the urban landscape around him, finding inspiration and materials in the cast-off ephemera and detritus of the city.
Coming full circle, Sylvester now lives and works in rural Long Island, NY and the deserts of California where he sources materials and inspiration during meditative walks through nature. The artist’s practice and product continually reference the timeless existential complexity of the relationship between man and the surrounding natural world: the love and the struggle, the dynamics of survival, the tension between oneness and separateness, and the endless beauty and overwhelming grandeur of it.
Born in Methuen, Massachusetts, 1963
He currently resides and works in Bellport, NY and Palm Springs, CA
Education
BFA, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, 1985
Group exhibitions
2026
Changing Terrain: Regional Artists Interpret Our Landscape, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
The Bird Song Project, East End Arts Council + North Fork Audobon Society, Greenport, NY
Art Omi Open Studios, Art Omi, Ghent NY
A Woven World, BCMT Gallery, Kingston, NY
Interwoven: Everything Is Connected to Everything, Dernier Cri Gallery, New York, NY
Solastalgia, Kippi Leonard Gallery, Palm Springs, CA Petite, BCMT Gallery, Kingston, NY
Driven to Transform, Art All Ways at The Vista Library, Vista, CA
100 Pieces, Steelhead, Santa Monica, CA
2025
Out of The Shadows, Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
Entangled, 11 West Gallery, East End Arts Council, Riverhead, NY
Sculpture on the Trail, CEED, Brookhaven, NY
Nature ArtNOW, Art Gotham, New York, NY
The Love Letter Show, The Rusha & Co. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Artists & Objects, Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Museum Gallery, Bellport, NY
The Limits of Control, Kippi Leonard Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2024
Desert Noir, Kippi Leonard Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
100 Pieces, Steelhead, Santa Monica, CA
Visual Poetry + Color, Ferarri Gallery, Dallas, TX
Sculpture on the Trail, CEED, Brookhaven, NY
2023
100 Pieces, Steelhead, Santa Monica, CA
Sculpture on the Trail, CEED, Brookhaven, NY
Fractals and Figures, The NYC Culture Club, New York, NY
2022
Earth / Sea / Sky, The Sticks & Stones Gallery, Amagansett, NY
Sculpture on the Trail, CEED, Brookhaven, NY
2019
An Artist’s Place, Marquee Projects, Bellport, NY
MvVO Art Show, New York, NY
The 81st Artists Exhibition, Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
100 Pieces, Steelhead, Santa Monica, CA
Slide Slam, The PAC Gallery, Patchogue, NY
Collections
Jay Sylvester is collected by various private collectors and public companies in the U.S.
Recognition
2026 Artist in Residence, Art Omi
2026 Milton & Sally Avery Art Foundation Fellow 2023 Saint-Gaudens Fellowship nominee
Professional contributions
2026 Visiting Artist, Brookhaven School District
2025 Visiting Artist, South Country Education Fund
2024 Visiting Artist, Post-Morrow Foundation
Press
Cultured magazine, September, 2025 Collector Questionare with Francis J. Greenburger https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2025/09/12/art-collector-francis-j-greenburger-omi-awards/
Collections
Jay Sylvester is collected by various private collectors and public companies in the U.S.
Represented by
BCMT Gallery, Kingston NY www.blackcreekmt.com