Andover Native Justine Silva To Compete On New Making It Season

ANDOVER, MA — When Justine Silva was a student at Andover High, her art teacher Ed Parker told her that while it might seem impossible, she should never feel bad about trying to make a carer out of art. When she studied illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and then put her design and crafting knowledge into practice as an artist for Anthropologie stores, she kept his message in mind. Starting Dec. 2, she will be using that mindset, and the skills she learned beginning in Andover schools, on national television, as a contestant on season two of NBC's Making It.

Making It is a crafting competition show, hosted by Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, of Parks and Recreation. The second season increases the cast size from eight to ten contestants, who are evaluated by the judges Dayna Isom Johnson and Simon Doonan. The second season will air at 10 p.m. on Dec. 2-5, Dec. 9, and Dec. 10, with a two-hour finale at 9 p.m. on Dec. 11.

"The projects are kind of across the board — there's no one material or skill," Silva said. "It's all about taking what you've learned and things you've used in the past, and that all started with when I ventured into art at Andover High."

Silva explained that in Andover she took all sorts of arts classes, including photography, ceramics and illustration, before specializing in illustration at MassArt. She never ended up working as an illustrator though, instead doing work in all sorts of mediums as an artist for the clothing retailer Anthropologie.

"I was building large scale installations for window displays, which gave me experience with a lot of materials," she said. "I'm a maker, but I basically make with anything I can get my hands on."

As a store artist in Boston and around New England, she had to be prepared to work with anything, she said.

"They'd say, we need you to build a chandelier out of zip ties, can you do it? Or, we got a ton of socks in this week, can you build a shelving unit that shows off the socks?" she explained.

Silva lived in Andover her whole life, attending the public schools, before she left for college in 2008. Her parents still live in town, and are excited about her being on the show, she said. Neither are artists, though her mom quilts, she said. (Silva also shouted out the Ultimate Perk, on Main Street, where she worked for "a long time.")

She can't say anything about how the competition went, but said it was an awesome experience.

"I think it was really unique to be in a timed environment where you're making things. You can't self-doubt, you don't have time to self-doubt. You have to just make a decision, and do it, to the best of your abilities," she said.

"So many people have reached out to me, from high school or from my past," Silva said. "The support that I've gotten is just overwhelming. It's so excited to go into this and experience it with everybody who I've crossed paths with."

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.