Early life and education
Silvey was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1887. As a child, she regularly enjoyed the company of wild animals where she would sew clothing for them to the dismay of her mother. Growing up, she spent her days working on art and practicing violin, and on her sixteenth birthday she enrolled in the Ontario College of Art & Design University. During school she focused on commercial art studies and enjoyed theater. After she'd graduated in 1907, she worked in corporate advertising.
In 1914, she moved to New York City where she studied at the Arts Students League and the Roerich Academy of Arts. Her career continued in New York where she became highly respected within the local scene.
Career
Slivey's professional career began with her traveling to Italy in 1921 to work with Swiss-novelist Carl Spitteler for his short story Two Little Misogynists, she later returned to Italy via France in 1930 for Gertrude Linnell's historical documentation novel Behind the Battlements.
In the 1930s, Silvey's career took off as she contributed her illustrative skills into children's literature. This is seen in her work with British author D. K. Broster for her Jacobite Trilogy series, and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series. By 1931, she was a member of the Society of Illustrators committee and acted as a judge for open illustration exhibition contests.
In 1934, Slivey began to work with American zoologist Raymond Ditmars, who she claims welcomed her to the world of natural history illustrators, due to this collaboration she worked more specifically in the field.
In the latter half of her life during the 1950s, she focused on working on the "First Book" series, which surveyed the history of certain animals and hobbies of mundane life. Slivey most often worked with the American author and librarian Jannette May Lucas, and the publishing house J.B. Lippincott Company.
