As I sit here at my desk and look out the window, I feel like I’m in a crow’s nest. I can see the top of our blooming magnolia and the many leaf buds that have started to pop almost overnight on the deciduous trees. It’s an indication of the steady progress we are making, despite the fact that it’s still necessary to wear several cozy layers both indoors and out.
Chickadees reliably take up residence each year in the purple-roofed birdhouse (just to the left of the magnolia) that is a spot of color throughout the year.
A sense of metamorphosis is filtering through to the studio as well. Although not technically difficult to execute, my latest house piece has taken much longer to come together than it should have, perhaps a symptom that I need to switch gears for the time being.
How fortunate for me that my father gave me two miter vises from his workshop when he and my mother were clearing out their house to move to smaller digs.
With spring’s arrival and the ever-widening spread of vaccinations, COVID is loosening its grip here in Vermont. The resulting sense of liberation calls for change, prodding me to explore other ideas that have been brewing on the proverbial back burner for a while now.
I used the same dye bath for both the raw silk that covers the tiny house and the organza that is yet to be stretched over the medium-sized house frame. Since the dye itself becomes progressively weaker with each dip, I was able to get the medium value of blue I was going for — dark enough to show through the final layer of undyed organza, but not so dark as to obscure the smaller house within it.
“Every Day The Same” became the working title for this piece long before it was anything but a fleeting idea in my sketchbook. As the weeks of winter wore on, my routine was just that — a predictable daily schedule with little variation, signifying both the safety and the tedium of a habitual existence. Can you relate?
Various stages of house building. The smallest is finished, the medium one is painted and ready for the organza panels to be sewn together and stretched over it, and the large frame is still raw wood, ready for its first coat of paint.
Concentric houses represent both the overall repetition of that routine, as well as the layers of self that many of us have become better acquainted with in our isolation. That said, in the absence of life’s usual interruptions, this has also been a time of unparalleled richness, allowing for much learning, growth and productivity. I feel this piece can be viewed in two ways depending on your perspective: as a moving inward toward a greater remove, or as an expansion outward in an expression of evolution.
Every Day The Same 2021 © Elizabeth Fram
Hard as it is for me to believe, this is the 18th in my COVID house series. Beginning with “Relative Distance”, the invitational piece created for the Sheltering in Place project at the Highland Center for the Arts last summer, little did I realize how that piece would spur a series that would carry me through the many months to follow.
Every Day The Same 2021 © Elizabeth Fram, Hand-dyed silk & wood, 9″H x 6.5″W x 6.5″D
This series has been an undertaking of a specific point in time, lending a sense of solace and of connection during a period when both were sorely needed. I don’t think it’s being overly dramatic to say that that is the power of art.
✷
I’m pleased to share that my piece “The Secrets She Keeps” (detail in the banner above) was selected to be part of the Surface Design Association’s exhibition The Bones of Building, curated by Mo Kelman. The show can be viewed online. As noted in its introduction, the structural “bones” of the 20 pieces exhibited are evident, such that they provide not only the physical architecture of the work, but are central to the expressive nature of each piece.
✷
Symbolism and its use by artists to convey underlying messages is always intriguing, which is why this article from The Guardian caught my eye last weekend. It discusses how clues left by portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger have led art historian Franny Moyle to suspect that a painting long-thought to have been of Henry VIII’s wife Catherine Howard, may actually depict his wife Anne of Cleves.
Moyle’s research on the subject will be featured in her new book The King’s Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein. While the book won’t be released here in the US until October 5, 2021, you can listen to a preview — 5 excerpts read from it on “Book of the Week” on the BBC Sounds podcast this week. Episodes will be available for 30 days from the first day of broadcast.
✷
Instagram of the Week
Dionée © Benoît Averly
Benoît Averly aptly describes his sculpture as a mixture of texture, repetitive patterns, simple shapes and quiet balance — all qualities I find irresistible.
This post moved me to tears this morning. Every day is the same, yet so much has happened within these little houses and the blue and white combination seems just right. I am so grateful for the voice of wisdom, community and connection that speaks through your art, for your friendship, and the beautiful and poignant way in which you see the world. I so look forward to seeing you and your art again in person!
PS. I also love the Shadowed Tree series…stark beauty yet heartwarming. Same type of juxtaposition.
Thank you so much for sharing this Adrianna – it still takes my breath away when I realize that the pandemic has affected every single human on earth and that in many ways our experiences are similar, while also being so entirely individual. Being able to share my thoughts and ideas through this blog, and to receive replies like yours, has certainly made my experience a little less lonely. I hope it has done the same for others. See you soon!
I celebrate with you both this run of stunning art you’ve revealed and the opening of our houses to a larger world. Your vision is so inspiring and the craft used to bring it to life so full of care and intention. Thank you for sharing your process and results. We hope to see you soon!
Thanks for following along so closely with me, John. Your kind words are a lift! I’ll be 2 weeks out from my 2nd shot on Tuesday – so let’s make a plan!
When I look at the blue piece, I notice that each layer makes it harder to see the inner house, or to perceive what is going on. I feel this relates so well to the experience of Covid. We have all been isolated even though we have tried various ways to stay connected. It is very difficult to see, understand or respond to our friends when we don’t really know what’s going on in their “house”. Our normal daily lives give us so many seemingly insignificant points of contact, and it has become very evident just how important these physical contacts are. Just a glance at a friend in the grocery store can tell so much! On the other hand, the ability to look out from the inner house, though obscured, is not as severely impacted due to our ability to receive news and make contact through the wonders of modern technology. Beautiful piece, Betsy. Love the simplicity and clean lines. Very though provoking piece!
Your responses are always so insightful Judy – I really appreciate your (very true) interpretation! I trust we’ll all be coming further out of our shells soon; thank goodness for the vaccine and warmer temps.
Congratulations on the SDA show! It is a beautiful show. My friend Joan Diamond is also in that show.
Your new piece is really so beautiful. I admire the way you learned how to build the wooden structures.
All of the pieces in that series have presented you with challenges that have been so well resolved.
Judy
Thanks Judy – you’re very kind! Joan’s piece is beautiful and I really enjoyed her accompanying statement. Have the 2 of you thought of exhibiting together? That piece of hers would work beautifully in tandem with your new 3-D wall pieces – the translucence a great foil for your strong shapes/structure & colors. Plus, you both reference networks of dwellings in diverse, yet such compatible ways.