Elizabeth Fram’s practice incorporates embroidery, drawn and painted imagery and resist dyeing, sometimes separately, more often in combination. She graduated with a degree in Art from Middlebury College in Vermont and studied watercolor with Karen Guzak in Seattle, WA.
In her search to find an art form that would mesh well with the demands of raising a young family, motherhood ushered Fram back to sewing, a skill learned in her youth. Beginning with art quilts, she soon started integrating unexpected materials and exploring multi-media processes. Pushing boundaries through experimentation is a mainstay of her practice, while stitching in one form or another remains the constant. Since 2015, regular sketching has become an indispensable discipline, ultimately leading to a fusion between drawn/painted imagery and textile techniques.
Fram has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the “Rijswijk Textile Biennial” in The Netherlands. Her artwork is included in private collections in the US and Europe. It has appeared and been written about in numerous publications, including TextileArt around the World by Ellen Bakker, the Dutch magazine Textiel Plus, and in the Surface Design Journal exhibition “From Confrontation to Catharsis, SDA International Exhibition in Print”. She is an Art in Embassies artist with work chosen to hang in the US Embassies in Riga, Latvia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Fram continues to maintain Eye of the Needle, a blog she began in 2014. It not only provides a regular window into her studio practice but is also a means for sharing the questions and insights spurred by her art reading and the exhibitions she attends.
Born and raised on the coast of Maine, Fram’s aesthetic has been shaped by her travels to Asia and Europe in tandem with having lived in Hawaii, San Francisco, and Washington state. She returned to the Green Mountains of Vermont in 2009 and maintains a studio in her home in Waterbury Center.
B: Portland, ME
Lives & works in Waterbury Center, VT
EDUCATION & TRAINING
2012 North Country Studio Workshops: Drawing with Gerald Auten, Bennington, VT
2011 Shibori Dyeing Techniques with Glennis Dolce, online instruction
1981 Graphic Design, Portland School of Art, Portland, ME
1976-80 BA with Honors, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Full Bloom, Satellite Gallery, Lyndonville, VT
2018 Being Home, Kendal Galley, Hanover NH
Drawing Threads: Conversations Between Line & Stitch, Emile A. Gruppe Gallery, Jericho, VT
2015 COLOR | stories, The White Meetinghouse, Waterbury, VT
Listening to the Moon, East Gallery Hartness Library, Randolph, VT
2013 Reading Between the Lines, Seminary Art Center Gallery, Waterbury Center, VT
2010 Translations, Langman Gallery, Willow Grove, PA
2004 Work in Transition, Pennswood Village Art Gallery, Newtown, PA
2000 Through the Eye of the Needle, Pennswood Village Art Gallery, Newtown, PA
SELECT TWO-PERSON AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Marked, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
2025 Holding – Mementos Kept, Memories Kindled, Art at the Kent, Calais, VT
Silver Lining, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
Where’s My Hat? Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
2024 Visions of Totality, Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, VT, invitational
Up & Down, In & Out: Embroidery and its Kin, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
Trichromancy, Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph VT
Waterlogged, but Red Hot, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
2023 Who Are We? Pieces of the Identity Puzzle, The Satellite Gallery, Lyndonville, VT
Beacon of Light, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
SHE, Art Fluent Online Art Gallery
Transformation: Material, Environment, Us, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
2022 Celebrate!, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
Tucked In: Resilience in Small Moments, Emile A. Gruppe Gallery, Jericho, VT
Transitions / SDA Vermont Show, Axel’s Gallery, Waterbury, VT
Winter Magic, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA, Online exhibition
Face It, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
2021 From Confrontation to Catharsis, SDA International Exhibition in Print, Surface Design Journal, Fall 2021
Hidden Messages: Old and New, Chandler Gallery, Rochester, VT
The Bones of Building, (online exhibition) Surface Design Association, Online exhibition
Unmasked: Artful Responses to the Pandemic, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT
2020 Wild Things, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA, Online exhibition
DWELL, Grange Hall Cultural Center, Waterbury Center, VT
2020 South End Art Hop Juried Show, South End Arts + Business Assoc., Online exhibition
the Sheltering in Place project, Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, VT
Threads of Truth, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
Botanical Blitz, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
Threaded: Contemporary Fiber in New England, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
2019 Body Beautiful, Grange Hall Cultural Center, Waterbury Center, VT
Rijswijk Textile Biennial, Museum Rijswijk, Rijswijk, Netherlands
The Dialects of Line, Color, and Texture, Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, VT
2018 Reverence to the Thread, Lewis Gallery, Portland Public Library, Portland, ME
2017 Fabric of Our Lives, Grange Hall Cultural Center, Waterbury Center, VT
Selvedge, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME
Wild Fibers, Emile A. Gruppe Gallery, Jericho, VT
Fiber Expressions, University of Vermont Living/Learning Center Gallery, Burlington, VT
2016 Surface Expressions, Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, VT
Visionary Conspiracy, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
Material Matters, Frog Hollow VT State Craft Center, Burlington, VT
Intimacy + Materiality, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
Salvage, Chandler Gallery, Randolph, VT
2015 Interpreting the Surface, Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery, Shelburne, VT
National Fiber Directions, Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
2014 The Founder’s Collection, Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts, Chester, VT
Finding a Common Thread, Chandler Gallery, Randolph, VT
Tangents: Fiber Diversified, Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT
In Our Element: Expressions of Color and Texture, Emile A. Gruppe Gallery, Jericho, VT
2013 The Art of the Quilt, Mellwood Art Center, Louisville, KY
Small Expressions, Fine Line Creative Arts Center, Saint Charles, IL
Form, Not Function, Carnegie Center for Art & History, New Albany, IN
Intertwined, Festival of the Arts Gallery, Waitsfield, VT
2012 The Uncommon Thread, Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts, Chester, VT
Here Comes the Sun, Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery, Shelburne, VT
Cut and Paste, S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, Burlington, VT
Refuse / re-seen, Some Things Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
2011 Women’s Work: The Visual Art of Vermont’s Women, T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT
No Boundaries in Fiber, Rae Harrell Gallery, Hinesburg, VT
2010 Good Fibrations, T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT
2009 30th Juried Show, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
On the Fringe of Fiber, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Second Skin: Fabric to Fashion, Textiles to Tattoos, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
2008 ThreadlLines 2008, Missouri State University Art + Design Gallery, Springfield, MO
Seeing is Believing, Bucks County Community College ArtMobile, Bucks County, PA
2007 Art Quilts Lowell 2007, The Brush Art Gallery, Lowell, MA
2006 European Edition – Changing the World, Val D'Argent, Sainte Marie aux Mines, Alsace, France
Exposed! Contemporary Art Quilts at Noho, Noho Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Fine Art Quilts 2005, Jay Etkin Gallery, Memphis, TN
A Tribute to Fiber Art, APEX Gallery, Washington DC
2004 New Artists New Works, West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park, Stowe, VT
2003 Fine Craft Show, Gallery of Fine Art, Newtown, PA
Wish You Were Here - The Postcard Show, Mixed Media Gallery, Doylestown, PA
2002 Elizabeth W. Fram / Jill Biros, Cultural Arts in Progress! Gallery, Yardley, PA
2000 Frida Kahlo Juried Theme Exhibit, Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
COLLECTIONS
High Meadows Fund, Burlington, VT
Various private collectors in the USA, England, and The Netherlands
COMMISSIONS
2022 Kiersten Dieterle, Denton TX
2014 Katy Goldschmidt, Hanover, NH
HONORS & RESIDENCIES
2023 Honorable Mention Award, Teravarna Art Gallery “6th Portrait” art competition
2019 “Passages, One” selected for US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Art in Embassies Program
2018 Vermont Artists’ Week Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2016 “That First Peony” selected for US Embassy in Riga, Latvia, Art in Embassies Program
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025 Alice Dodge, Memory Palace, Seven Days, September 17, 2025
Mary Gow, Barre’s ‘Silver Lining’: SPA celebrates 25 years, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, Mar. 22, 2025
Alice Dodge, Studio Place Arts in Barre Celebrates Its Silver Anniversary, Seven Days, March 19, 2025
2024 Pamela Polston, Darned Tough, Seven Days, April 10, 2024
Mary Gow, ’Visions of Totality’: Vermont Artists Anticipate the Eclipse, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, April 6, 2024
2022 Pamela Polston, Heady Stuff, Seven Days, February 23, 2022
2021 Keidra Daniels Navaroli, Guest Editor Statement: From Confrontation to Catharsis, Surface Design Journal, Fall 2021
Kevin O’Connor, Vermont’s art world finds ally in US ambassador to Cambodia, VT Digger, April 12, 2021
B. Amore, Unmasked: Artful Responses to the Pandemic, Art New England, March/April 2021
2020 United States Embassy Phnom Penh Art in Embassies Exhibition, Art in Embassies U.S. Dept. of State, Nov 2020
Mary Gow, ‘Sheltering in Place’: Vermont Artists Respond Personally, The Times Argus, July 18, 2020
New Directions, edited by Martha Sielman, Schiffer Publishing, 2020
2019 Anne Klooosterboer & Frank van der Ploeg, 2019 Textile Biennial Rijswijk, Museum Rijswijk, ©2019
Dorothé Swinkels, Blikvangers (Eyecatchers), Textiel Plus, May 23, 2019
Mary Gow, The Dialects of Line, Color, and Texture, The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, Apr 20, 2019
2018 Quiet Moment, Art Quilting Studio, Stampington & Company, Winter 2018, Vol.10, Issue 1
2017 United States Embassy Riga Art in Embassies Exhibition, Art in Embassies U.S. Dept. of State, September 2017
2016 Victoria Crain, ‘Surface Expressions’ Explorations in Fiber Art’, The Rutland Herald, Nov 17, 2016
Material Matters, Frog Hollow Craft Association, Inc, ©2016
Mary Gow, A Cut Above: The Diverse Arts of Fabric, The Times Argus, Mar 24, 2016
2014 TextileArt around the world, by Ellen Bakker, Textile-link ©2014
2013 Quilt Essential, byErin Burke Harris, Stash Books, ©2013
HGA’s Small Expressions 2013, Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, Fall 2013, Issue 176
Form, Not Function - Quilt Art at the Carnegie 2004-2013, Carnegie Center for Art & History ©2013
Sandra Sider, Thoughts from the President, SAQA Journal, Summer 2013
2010 Victoria Donohoe, Rich Texture in Textiles, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 2010
2008 Threadlines 2008, CD-ROM
2006 Lois Martin, In Review: Exposed! Contemporary Art Quilts, Surface Design Journal, Fall 2006
Ed McCormack, Exposing the Significance of Contemporary Art Quilts in Noho Gallery Exhibition," Gallery & Studio, Feb/Mar 2006.
2005 Fine Art Quilts 2005, Delta Fiberart Studio, LLC, ©2005
Exposed! Contemporary Art Quilts, Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. ©2005
Fabric Art Gallery, by Nancy Javier, Leisure Arts Publications, ©2005
Gwen Shrift, Layers of Meaning, Bucks County Courier Times, Jan 15, 2005
2004 Valerie Reed, Expressing Life’s Textures, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct 24, 2004
2003 Amy Brummer, The Gift of Art, TIMEOFF Bucks County, Dec 12, 2003
2002 Jodi Thompson, Finding Balance, TIMEOFF Bucks County, Feb 22, 2002
2000 Lori Cole, Love’s Labors Found, TIMEOFF Bucks County, Dec 29, 2000
Theodora Paul, Contemporary Art Quilts at the Pennswood Art Gallery, The ADVANCE, Dec 7, 2000
WEB PUBLICATIONS
2022 Elizabeth Fram, Tucked-In: Resilience in Small Moments, Surface Design Association Blog, Aug 26, 2022
2021 Elizabeth Fram, In The Studio, Surface Design Association Blog, March 17, 2021
2018 Beatrijs Sterk, 2019 Rijswijk Textile Biennial, Textile Forum Blog, May 4, 2019
2018 Elizabeth Fram, Paying Attention, HAND/EYE Magazine, Dec 5, 2018
2017 Fiber Friday Roundup: Nature, Wonder, Growth, Surface Design Association Blog, Aug 25, 2017.
2014 - Present
Elizabeth Fram, Through the Eye of the Needle, bi-weekly blog
2014 Elizabeth Fram, Enrich Your Studio Practice, Fiber Art Now Blog, Aug 14, 2014
Elizabeth Fram, SOFA Chicago 2014, Surface Design Association Vermont Chapter Blog, Nov 16, 2014
2013 Elizabeth Fram, Making Art out of Trash, Earth Day Carol Blog, Apr 19, 2013
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Surface Design Association
2022 – 23 New England Regional Newsletter Committee
Vermont Chapter, SDA
2021 – 22 Newsletter Editor
2015 - 22 Blog Administrator
2013 - 15 Exhibition Committee
Across Roads Center for the Arts, Waterbury, VT
2016 - 18 Advisory Board
2012 - 16 Board of Directors, Secretary
2014 - 16 Newsletter Editor
Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA)
2012 Juried Artist Review Committee