Born Auckland 1941, Sylvia Siddell is mostly a self-taught artist. In 1960 she married artist Peter Siddell. She exhibited regularly throughout New Zealand from 1975 onwards and her work is held in private and public collections in New Zealand and internationally. She won a Queen Elizabeth Arts Council Award in 1987.. She was appointed as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2002, in recognition of her services to painting. She passed away in 2011