Now that February has arrived, it’s been a lovely change to emerge from January’s hibernation to spend time catching up with friends and getting out and about to see art beyond my studio walls.
Susan, detail ©2026 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor and Graphite on paper, 16.5″ x 18″ Drawing alongside like-minded souls is such a pleasure. Last week our model brought her fiddle and played while we drew/painted her. It was the essence of community.
Last week, three of us went to AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH where we caught a terrific “two-fer”.
First was Eva Sturm-Gross’s exhibition “Beasts of Eden”.
The Watchers, Eva Sturm-Gross, Carved basswood
Representing a fragmented symbolic world, her sculptural and printed pieces refer to Biblical narratives expressed through the animals that dwell near her childhood home in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Thief, Eva Sturm-Gross, Carved basswood, Relief print, Gold leaf and beeswax on paper
She often merges reality with myth.
Behold, Eva Sturm-Gross, Carved basswood, Relief print and beeswax on paper
According to the gallery notes, animal-headed figures are a common motif in medieval Jewish aesthetic culture. Sturm-Gross uses that device to convey a sense of the sacred found within the local landscape.
What Does the Lover Want From Love, Eva Sturm-Gross, Carved basswood, Relief print and beeswax on paper
This quality in her work speaks directly and convincingly to those of us who also find ourselves living in daily pace with the land and the creatures who surround us.
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Juni Van Dyke, These Beautiful Hands: A Tribute to Our Elders
Next, I felt a huge sense of connection with Juni Van Dyke’s installation “These Beautiful Hands: A Tribute to Our Elders”. Similar to my Full Bloom series of stitched portraits, her pieces directly challenge this country’s sadly all-too common attitude that value and beauty are diminished with age.
Juni Van Dyke, Plaster cast hands and hand-made paper: “Handholding. You do a lot of that when you raise children. When my daughter was eight and in the hospital with appendicitis, she held my hand and begged me not to leave. ‘When are you coming back?’ she pleaded. Now, somedays here (in the nursing home) I sit by my window and I know exactly how she felt.”
This series of cast-plaster hands, in conjunction with brief anecdotes gleaned in conversation during the casting process, represent, in Van Dyke’s words, a soul and a life well-lived.
Juni Van Dyke, Plaster cast hands and hand-made paper: “Heaven and Hell. I don’t care if there is or there isn’t. I’ve been through hell. Heaven is where I am right now. My doctor says ‘Keep doing whatever you’re doing’. I drink vinegar and pickle juice every day. I’m old and I feel great!”
Accompanying her installation of hands and quotes are a series of small oil paintings that Van Dyke created as a gesture of gratitude to the elderly — made for and about people she has known and loved, and for those who participated in her Beautiful Hands project.
Juni Van Dyke, The Gratitude Series, oil on board
Both exhibits are only open through February 14th, so you’d better hurry if you want to go.
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Finally, I have a must-see documentary recommendation.
Porcelain War, which can be streamed on PBS (expiring on March 1), is an incredibly moving portrayal of three artists who have chosen to remain in Ukraine “armed with their art, their cameras, and for the first time in their lives, their guns. A stunning tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, embodying the enduring hope and passion of ordinary people living through extraordinary circumstances.”
Here’s a link to the trailer.
I can’t use enough superlatives about this stunning piece. It is gorgeously filmed, absolutely heart-rending, yet simultaneously uplifting. Don’t miss it!