Caroline Grossman Art

2024
Media: Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel
Size: 24'' x 24'' (framed: 25'' x 25'' )

2024. Caran D'Ache water-soluble crayons on Clapbord panel. 36 H x 24 W (with frame: 25.25 H x 37.25)

2024. 21" H x 31" W x4" D

Mixed media: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons, recorded AAC buttons, ChuckIt!® ball, dog tags, Claybord panel with adhesive remnants

A year after Olivia’s lymphoma diagnosis, Mirepoix LLC’s beloved self-trained and self-appointed ‘lab’oratorian/service dog was still doing her best to take care of her people thanks to the wonderful support of her care team at Angell Animal Medical Center and ElleVet CBD CBDA mobility chews (a game-changer for her comfort and anxiety!) A champ through many rounds of chemo, we decided to stop when it affected her quality of life. Amazingly, her lymph nodes, which had been growing, reduced in size when the Mirepoix LLC team came together again for a late-December road trip south to visit grandma in NY, the de Jesus family in NJ, then all the way to Georgia. Unfortunately, they came back with a vengeance as soon as we returned home. How do you know it’s time? The only thing we knew for sure — we wanted her last memories to be joyous ones.

They were. For all of us. What a wonderful final day for our special girl, Olivia. Everyone thinks her dog is exceptional. Olivia moved people: “Your dog has such soulful eyes!” When we walked the streets of NYC, Olivia evoked smiles from movie stars and the dourest of curmudgeons. Strangers would pull treats out of pockets and ask permission to share. Mourning my shadow, (still expecting the bathroom door to burst open mid-pee) I tried to capture a bit of her spirit here on the remains of her AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) button board, which used to sit on our kitchen floor.

More about the piece:
The clayboard panel had been covered previously with adhesive-backed multi-colored hexagon-shaped felt tiles, which I had incised with circular cut-outs to hold Olivia’s 24 recorded buttons. When I removed the buttons and the dirty felt, the adhesive remained with bits of color, incising remnants, dust, and Olivia’s fur. Her dog tags are included, her current-favorite ChuckIt! ball (alas, one of her dog friends made off with her favorite-of-all-time, the one with the hole; although she was working hard on this one, she ran out of time), and four of her favorite buttons, Olivia and Cookie Please, with my voice, Tim and I love you, recorded by Tim and Joel, respectively. The working buttons are held on with Velcro so the batteries can be replaced.

More about Olivia’s last 24 hours:
Our 10-year-old neighbor Tim, who had come with his dad Wednesday January 3rd to say goodbye, hung out until dinner time. (It was a school night.) Thursday morning, January 4th, Joel (up from NJ), Olivia, and I went to the Robert Treat Paine Estate here in Waltham, where she played ball and keep-away for 45 minutes. Tired, she stopped, told us she was ready to go home, waited to be leashed and picked up her ball to carry it back to the car as usual. Just as we were about to leave, Olivia was over-the-moon to be reunited with her beloved former dog-walker Amer and his family — who arrived at the Paine Estate in time for pictures before coming back to the house, where my husband Andy was waiting for us.

It was O’s idea of heaven — exhausted and snoozing on our living room floor surrounding by HER people, there just for her! She’d stopped eating regular food the previous week, she even started turning her head to her favorite — Saint Rocco’s dog treats. But O being O, after Dr Kat Fruel the wonderful Lap of Love veterinarian gave her the sedation injection — she got up and went over to push Joel on his knee “button,” directing her gaze to the Saint Rocco’s cheeseburger bag next to him. She ate the few small pieces he gave her, then lay down happily and fell asleep before Dr. Kat administered the final injection. A perfect end for a perfect pup.

(See also portrait of Olivia sporting her Angell oncology scarf at the Paine Estate with Tim O, Boy! Happy Place! plus O’d to Joy, Boy!, O: I Like Ham. Meat! Do Something!, and The Dog Walker.)

2023: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel Size: 36" H x 24" W; Framed: 39 5/8" H x 27 5/8" W

In 2021, Ethiopian veterinarian Dawit Shimelis Taye came to Waltham with his three daughters, left to right: Mezmura (or Kiah), Timbita (or Fifi), and Mariamawit (or Mari) — here on a World Bank scholarship to earn a master’s degree in public health at Brandeis University. Our dog Olivia and the girls found each other first. Then, the girls adopted my husband Andy as their U.S. ‘grandpa’ and the girls, with their beautiful, expressive eyes and radiant, mirthful personalities, have become a favorite subject of mine. The family expected to return home following Dawit’s graduation last spring but given the dire situation in Ethiopia, we are all thrilled and relieved that they have been able to remain in the U.S. legally under the Biden administration’s temporary protective status now that Dawit’s student visa has expired. (There have been heartbreaking reports of rapes, kidnappings, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s ongoing Civil War.)

The girls attend the public schools and are thriving here in Waltham. Coming from a land-locked country, this summer was their first ocean (or any other natural water body) experience. Andy took them on a whale watch out of Newburyport. (The inspiration for this piece.) Unlike many overscheduled American children today whose every playdate is parent initiated, bus pickup/drop-off monitored, and homework supervised — the sisters have largely relied on each other to gain their “sea legs” as they have learned to navigate their way in their new country. The Shimelis household operates much like my family’s did growing up: i.e., come home from school, go play, do your homework, help make dinner and clean up. It’s been remarkable to witness their growth (literal and figurative) over the last two years.

2023 Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

24” H x 20” W x 1.25” D; Framed: 25 H x 21 W x 2 D

2023: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on hardwood panel
36" H x 24" W; Framed: 37 1/8" H x 25 1/8" W

Funny, whip smart — full of hopes and dreams for the future (they told me all about them at the family gathering over Labor Day weekend) — my grandnieces Lila and Hazel pose for their annual stoop photos before leaving for their first day of kindergarten and third grade, respectively, at PS 39 in Brooklyn, NY. So why did tears of outrage and sadness win out over smiles when I opened the actual photos in our family share? Because my first thoughts were not of the girls’ exuberant stories about their new, “first day” clothes and excitement over reuniting with friends. Rather, it was of a recent conversation with an Ohio fabricator of custom laboratory furniture. Now leading the business founded by his father in 1956, market forces had led him to shift focus — not to home consumers, his passion play — but instead, where his company’s high-precision production expertise was needed most: to the manufacture of bulletproof doors, barriers, and safe rooms for schools, religious facilities, health clinics and hospitals.

In 2022, guns were the #1 cause of death of America’s children. And yet, instead of restricting access to weapons of war to keep our people safer, we ban books like the true story of two male penguins who make a family by hatching an egg together at the Central Park Zoo. The beaming girls of First Day Stoop Dreams come from four generations of activists. A veteran of countless demonstrations, first in a Snuggly, eventually graduating to a stroller — their mom Becca was singing “Union Maid” and other anthems of worker’s and civil rights before she was two. Yet because of recent Supreme Court decisions and gerrymandered election results, Hazel and Lila now have fewer rights than their older cousins. Their life could be in serious jeopardy should they eventually choose to attend school or work in a state that has restricted access to reproductive healthcare services or if they or whomever they love diverge from stereotypical cisgender norms. Votes do matter!

September 2022 — 24" H x 24" W x 2" D (with frame: 25 1/4" H x 25 1/4 W x 2 3/16" D); Caran D'Arche water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

In 2021, Ethiopian veterinarian Dawit Shimelis Taye came to Waltham with his three daughters, left to right: Timbita (or Fifi), Mezmura (or Kiah), and Mariamawit (or Mari) — here on a World Bank scholarship to earn a master’s degree in public health at Brandeis University. Our dog Olivia and the girls found each other first. Then, the girls adopted my husband Andy as their U.S. ‘grandpa’ and the girls, with their beautiful, expressive eyes and radiant, mirthful personalities, have become a favorite subject of mine. The family expected to return home following Dawit’s graduation last spring but given the dire situation in Ethiopia, we are all thrilled and relieved that they have been able to remain in the U.S. legally under the Biden administration’s temporary protective status now that Dawit’s student visa has expired. (There have been heartbreaking reports of rapes, kidnappings, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s ongoing Civil War.) The girls attend the public schools and are thriving here in Waltham.

Included in Galatea Fine Arts “Let There Be Light” exhibition, sponsored by Newton Open Studios, December 1 through December 31, 2023.

March 2021

2022 Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

24” H x 18” W x 1/8” D; Framed: 27 1/2” H x 21 5/18” W x 1 5/8” D

In 2021, Ethiopian veterinarian Dawit Shimelis Taye came to Waltham with his three daughters — here on a World Bank scholarship to earn a master’s degree in public health at Brandeis University. Our dog Olivia and the girls found each other first. Then, the girls adopted my husband Andy as their U.S. ‘grandpa’ and the girls, with their beautiful, expressive eyes and radiant, mirthful personalities, have become a favorite subject of mine. The family expected to return home following Dawit’s graduation last spring but given the dire situation in Ethiopia, we are all thrilled and relieved that they have been able to remain in the U.S. legally under the Biden administration’s temporary protective status now that Dawit’s student visa has expired. (There have been heartbreaking reports of rapes, kidnappings, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s ongoing Civil War.) The girls attend the public schools and are thriving here in Waltham.

Curiosities abound in America for the Shimelis family. School crossing guards?! Amazing! Teachers don’t use switches for wrong answers or fidgety children. (The girls wouldn’t be at risk for that anyway — they're model students, but still, it delights them because it's different and extraordinary, like so many other things about their new environment.) Costco! Imagine what it’s like riding in that super-sized shopping cart, shelves stocked ladder-high with goods, while red-aproned hosts offer cups of processed food to taste. An awesome wonderland for then six-year-old Mari, an Ethiopian child, in her first visit. THIS is America. Endless novelties and possibilities. (Why does that shopping cart look so like prison bars to me?)

Included in Bromfield Gallery’s “Fluid Borders” exhibition, August 2 to 20, 2023

February, 2022 — 24” H x 36” W x 1/8 DFramed: 27” x 39” x 1 1/2 D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

In 2021, Ethiopian veterinarian Dawit Shimelis Taye came to Waltham with his three daughters, left to right: Mezmura (or Kiah), Timbita (or Fifi), and Mariamawit (or Mari) — here on a World Bank scholarship to earn a master’s degree in public health at Brandeis University. Our dog Olivia and the girls found each other first. Then, the girls adopted my husband Andy as their U.S. ‘grandpa’ and the girls, with their beautiful, expressive eyes and radiant, mirthful personalities, have become a favorite subject of mine. The family expected to return home following Dawit’s graduation last spring but given the dire situation in Ethiopia, we are all thrilled and relieved that they have been able to remain in the U.S. legally under the Biden administration’s temporary protective status now that Dawit’s student visa has expired. (There have been heartbreaking reports of rapes, kidnappings, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s ongoing Civil War.) The girls attend the public schools and are thriving here in Waltham.

My husband Andy was excited to take Kiah, Fifi, and Mari to one of our go-to dining establishments — Habesha Restaurant in Malden. It did not disappoint. The girls were thrilled to get a taste of their familiar homeland food, delighted that their Grandpa Andy relished it as much as they did. The Ethiopian staff greeted the girls with hugs and excited conversation as soon as they walked in the door, recognizing them instantly as “family.” No introductions or explanations necessary. They welcomed Andy with open arms too. We are all One. Yes. Families biological and families found.

Included in Cambridge Art Association’s 2023 Emerging Artist juried exhibit , July 13 through August 4, 2023

2023 Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on gesso-board wood panels

Media: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on gesso-board cradled panel
Size: 12" H x 12" W
Year: 2023

She used to wear her hair longer, and often pulled back — that’s when the Ruth Bader Ginsberg doppelganger comments were legion. While my nearly 92-year-old mom, Alberta N. Grossman, may share some physical similarities in coloring, stature, and bearing with the Notorious RBG — for me, it’s more her presence. Once 5 ft 4, now barely 5 ft tall, ANG is a towering, wonder woman force of nature. In the 1960s, she was a Civil Rights activist, advocating for the integration of housing and education in Connecticut. In an era when few white suburban women worked outside the home, she was determined to set an example for her three daughters and her husband. Some of my earliest, persistent memories are of her fierce hugs while she sent me off hiccup crying to a sleepover at a kindergarten friend’s house — or sleepaway camp at age seven, while telling me how important it was that both of us learn to be grownups, which meant being independent of each other. Unlike many of my friends’ parents — she and my dad clearly adored, supported, and inspired each other. Ours was the ‘cool house’, where children’s involvement and opinions were valued. But a common refrain along with those hugs was that women’s lives should not just revolve around their husbands and children; my sisters and I needed to have careers and interests of our own. She earned her master’s degree and started as a special education teacher while I was in elementary school. She earned her Ph.D. in her forties and spent the subsequent decades as a professor of writing, teaching new immigrants and other non-native speakers of English how they can better use their own voices to help them realize their life goals. Now, five years after my dad’s death of Parkinson’s and cancer, with minimal vision due to glaucoma and macular degeneration and a “word-retrieval problem” from primary progressive aphasia, she remains fiercely determined “to be a grownup” and an example for her progeny. So, she works regularly with a trainer, PT, and speech therapist — and takes multi-mile walks from her Greenwich Village apartment through Union Square Park or to doctor’s appointments when weather permits (and sometimes when it doesn’t) — resolute in her effort to raise her heart rate and “protect her brain.”

Media: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on gesso-board cradled panel
Size: 16" H x 12" W
Year: 2023

She used to wear her hair longer, and often pulled back — that’s when the Ruth Bader Ginsberg doppelganger comments were legion. While my nearly 92-year-old mom, Alberta N. Grossman, may share some physical similarities in coloring, stature, and bearing with the Notorious RBG — for me, it’s more her presence. Once 5 ft 4, now barely 5 ft tall, ANG is a towering, wonder woman force of nature. Five years after my dad’s death of Parkinson’s and cancer, with minimal vision due to glaucoma and macular degeneration, and a “word-retrieval problem” from primary progressive aphasia — my nearly 92-year-old mom remains fiercely determined “to be a grownup” and an example for her progeny. Her research has stressed the importance of exercise, fresh air, and nature. (Not to mention, it makes her feel better to get out and see “her magnificent gardens.”) So, she works regularly with a trainer, PT, and speech therapist — and takes mile-long walks from her Greenwich Village apartment through Union Square Park or to and from doctor’s appointments when weather permits (and sometimes when it doesn’t) — resolute in her effort to raise her heart rate and “protect her brain.” A Mount Sinai vascular cardiologist told us he almost ran out to fire his technician when he saw the steep incline and other treadmill settings — are you crazy? — that’s a 91-year-old woman! He told us in his 20-plus years of practice she had out-performed everyone ages 75 and up. My mask-wearing mom scoffed. “Tell them it’s all about breathing. I could have done longer, had I been able to breathe better.”

Title: Notorious ANG Series: O, We’re Exercising Now? I’ll Help
Media: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on gesso board cradled panel
Size: 11" H x 14" W
Year: 2023

She used to wear her hair longer, and often pulled back — that’s when the Ruth Bader Ginsberg doppelganger comments were legion. While my nearly 92-year-old mom, Alberta N. Grossman, may share some physical similarities in coloring, stature, and bearing with the Notorious RBG — for me, it’s more her presence. Once 5 ft 4, now barely 5 ft tall, ANG is a towering, wonder woman force of nature. A self-appointed service animal, my dog Olivia takes special care of her grandma Boots, and mom adores her. (Never one to use endearments or “pet” names, I have caught my mom calling Olivia ‘sweetheart’ and ‘dear’ on several occasions.) Whenever we visit, Olivia stays close — lying just behind her chair or under her desk while mom works at her computer — or “helping” as mom settles down on her mat to exercise.

Included in Bromfield Gallery “Smallish Works” juried exhibition of New England Artists, November 29 through December 17, 2023

2023: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel Size: 24" H x 36" W; Framed: 27" H x 39" W

An empath, Olivia was a self-appointed service dog with an affinity for boys. Her favorites were my business partner Joel and “Olivia’s other boyfriend” (his words), formerly Tessa, now, Tim. Witnessing Tessa’s transition to Tim has been like watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis. Olivia had NO problem with the name change. I know now that she ALWAYS recognized Tim for who he is — a boy whom she adores! The current cynical political climate infuriates and terrifies me. The ACLU is tracking 496 anti-LGBTQ bills in 47 states introduced during the 2023 legislative session. These bills endanger children like Tim as well as those of us who love and support him in growing up happy, healthy, and strong so he can realize his dreams and fulfill his true potential. When Olivia went through chemo for lymphoma, Tim helped support her, as she has supported him. We spend as much time as possible playing ball and inhaling the sights, sounds, and wonderful smells of the Paine Estate near our home in Waltham — O’s Happy Place — HEAVEN! when Tim joined.

2023: Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel
Size: 18" H x 24" W x 1/8” D; Framed: 21" H x 27 " W x 3/4” D

I typically work from a compilation of photographs and my imagination. A self-appointed service dog, Olivia takes special care of her grandma Boots and my mom adores her — so no portrait of my mom and her progeny would be complete without her. But Olivia wasn’t actually at my sister’s place with our 91-year-old mom, grand nieces, and nephew when the series of family photos that inspired this portrait were taken. Nor was I. We joined remotely at times. The new normal, as they say. Olivia pines for actual contact.

2021

24” H x 36” W x 1/8” DFramed: 261/8” H x 38 1/8” W x 11/4” D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

Collection of the de Jesus family, Bridgewater, NJ

When my business partner Joel’s father “Pops” Benedicto died, his wife Evelyn’s brother, Fra Uncle Ben, a Jesuit priest in his 90s, who lives in the Philippines, led the funeral mass. Joel was the Zoom master, from NJ, with attendees from all over the world (Evelyn and Joel’s brothers and sisters were in Nevada — third down. Olivia and I are the second down). The theme song was the instrumental version of Pop’s favorite song: “If I were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof.” Magical. A very rich life indeed.

2022. 36" H x 24" W x 1/8" D; Framed: 40 3/4" H x 28 1/2" W x 1 3/8" D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

An empath, my dog Olivia is a self-appointed service dog with an affinity for boys. Her favorites are my business partner Joel and “Olivia’s other boyfriend” (his words), formerly Tessa, now, Tim. Witnessing Tessa to Tim has been like watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis. (Tim helped me pick which haircut photos to base this portrait from.)

Olivia had NO problem with the switch-over. I know now that she has ALWAYS recognized Tim for who he is — a boy whom she adores!

The current cynical political climate infuriates and terrifies me. As of March 31, 2023, 46 states have introduced more than 650 anti-LGBTQ bills, according to the Movement Advancement Project. These bills endanger children like Tim, as well as those of us who love and support him in growing up happy, healthy, and strong so he can realize his dreams and fulfill his potential.

2019. 48” H x 36” W x 1 1/2” D Framed: 52” H x 40” W x 1 3/8" D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons and antique silk petticoat on cradled Claybord panel

When photos of my grand niece Ada dancing at the 2019 Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum popped up on our family share, the joy and exuberance was exactly what I needed. Still raw from my dad’s death, now I was mourning the loss of my childhood home. The only reasonable offer my mom had received for it was from a developer. The house, old-growth trees and perennial gardens — site to three weddings (mine, my sister’s’, and Ada’s parents) — all razed for a McMansion.

Ada’s red dress in the piece is mom’s red silk taffeta petticoat that I rediscovered in a restored antique trunk full of my dress-up clothes that I inherited when my mom sold the house. It was one of my favorites as a child. I spent endless hours playing dress up, singing and dancing with my cousins. (Just as Ada does now). I remember that red silk taffeta was THE BEST for swishing and twirling. I LOVED the sound of it. How it made me feel. How it caught the light.

I still do.

September 2022

30” H x 24” W x 4” D

Shadow box collage: metal leaf; antique buttons, & twenties-era patented "Trillium Silk Underthings" on silk mat board in constructed box with gilt frame

My husband Andy’s grandmother was the youngest of five girls — the Silver sisters — Esther, Pauline, Dora, Sally, and Natalie. Only Sally and Natalie married. Pauline and Dora were inseparable, lived and traveled together. Pauline worked as a bookkeeper at a furrier, who gave her beautiful silk undergarment and intricately embroidered kid gloves to add to the sisters’ collection, which they stowed carefully away in drawers along with a lifetimes’ worth of their buttons (and dreams?). Andy snatched the can of buttons from the “discard” pile when he was helping his parents pack up their Boca Raton, Florida, home prior to a move into an assisted living facility — knowing that I would find treasure in his mother’s trash. From D&P’s Brooklyn apartment to his parents’ houses in Syosset, then Millneck Long Island through their move to Boca — Over nearly one hundred years those buttons traveled — finally to me in Waltham, happily reunited to shimmy and shine forever where they belong among silver, gold, and bronze and patented Trillium Silk Underthings.

December 2021 — 24” H x 18” W x 1/8” D; Caran D’Arche water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

Collection of Evelyn de Jesus, Henderson, NV

Speak to Art. Your heart speaks back. Since my father died, my mother gets great comfort first thing when she wakes up and last thing at night — talking to or yelling at the big photo of my dad that now hangs on the wall opposite her bed. That’s what I wanted to do for my business partner Joel’s mom after her husband Bogie died. I didn’t know this was his favorite hat when I chose to put him in it. The background is Hawaii — a favorite spot. Evelyn “Abbie” yells at him every day. She says it helps.

24" H x 24" W x 2" D

Caran D’Arche water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

Collection of Alberta N. Grossman, New York City, NY

December 2020
Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on hardwood panel
24” H x 24” W x 2” D; Framed: 25 1/4" H x 25 1/4 W x 2 3/16" D

My dog Olivia was an empath and self-appointed service dog with an affinity for boys. Her favorites were my business partner Joel and “Olivia’s other boyfriend” (Tim's words), our neighbor — formerly Tessa, now, Tim. They had a special way of communicating. During the 2020 COVID lockdown, Olivia and I looked forward to daily walks, teach-an-old-dog-new-trick sessions and art projects with then firstgrader Tessa. Full of worries, treats, and music, Tess talked. We listened.

Reading was challenging at first, so Tess practiced on us — Green Eggs and Ham, a favorite. Tess always wore a mask to protect us.

Ted Cruz also read Green Eggs and Ham — on the Senate floor as part of despicable antics to abolish The Affordable Care Act. He and others challenged COVID protections.

Now they're banning books, and in 2023, 46 states introduced more than 650 anti-LGBTQ bills, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Olivia started talking in 2020 too. With recordable buttons and herding eyes. I heard O's calls to action. MEAT! (A favorite button.) But I FELT O’s instinctive plea as she locks eyes: DO SOMETHING! It takes a village. We ALL must work to protect this child and children like them.

December 2017. 24” H x 36” W x 1 1/2” D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

Collection of Charles River Community Health, Allston, MA

Inspired by my father’s 1970s in a project in the Philippines, where he used popular radio soap operas to get important public health nutrition messages to people;

Created from a series of photos that I took at 2009 lead screening events we held with the NJ Department of Health at minor league baseball games between the Camden Riversharks and Newark Bears . I embedded subtle lead poisoning prevention and other public health messaging in the art.

December 2021 — 36” H x 48” W x 2” D (with frame 39” H x 50” W x 3” D); Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

A 10-legged sing-along, left to right: Olivia, Mariamawit (or Mari), Timbita (or Fifi), and Mezmura (or Kiah). In 2021, Ethiopian veterinarian Dawit Shimelis Taye came to Waltham with his three daughters— here on a World Bank scholarship to earn a master’s degree in public health at Brandeis University. Our dog Olivia was thrilled to find three eager playmates on her regular walk to the schoolyard with my husband Andy. The girls, with their beautiful, expressive eyes and radiant, mirthful personalities, have become a favorite subject of mine. The family expected to return home following Dawit’s graduation but given the dire situation in Ethiopia, we are all thrilled and relieved that they have been able to remain in the U.S. legally under the Biden administration’s temporary protective status now that Dawit’s student visa has expired. (There have been heartbreaking reports of rapes, kidnappings, and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia’s ongoing Civil War.) The girls attend the public schools and are thriving here in Waltham.

2017 — Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on clapboard panel. Collection of Charles River Community Health, Waltham

October 2018. Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayon on Clapboard panel, 36” H x 48” W x 2” D

Collection of Charles River Community Health, Allston

When I start. I can’t stop. Vaguely numb from my dad’s death the previous March. He was in my head and heart as I worked on this raging through the Kavanaugh hearings while enmeshed in 80 years’ worth of his papers that I was organizing into 42 boxes for Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

I typically draw from a compilation of photographs for my works. My choice of subjects was no accident.

from left to right of my dad (former president of PBS and NBC News) great grandfather to Ada, on the lap of my brother-in-law Sandy, former Chief of Civil Rights Litigation at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of NY

Dad is why we have televised Senate hearings in the first place. Horrified and somehow relieved that my dad wasn’t around to witness how many of his predictions had come true. Looking through the in-process photos — it’s fascinating. Talk to art. It talks back.

September 2019. 36” H x 72” W x 2½” D

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on wood panel

Collection of the de Jesus family, Bridgewater, NJ

After my father’s death, when my mom ended up selling my childhood home in Westport, CT, to my immense relief, the antique dining room furniture that I loved so much (see Shakin Shimmy Shiva) found a new home in Bridgewater, NJ. She had thought about selling it but decided instead to she give it as a thank you to my dog Olivia’s “boyfriend” (my business partner Joel) and his wife Patricia. She is enormously grateful for all that Joel does for her. He’s her confidant, her 24/7 on-call IT, radio, TV repairman, explainer and daughter (me)-wrangler. I call Joel mom’s Filipino son. If my grandma Rose were alive, she’d call him a mensch.

According to Joel, “every good Filipino must have a Last Supper in the dining room.” So, he commissioned one from me. Because he has a sardonic relationship with his Catholic faith (as I do with my Jewish one) — I created a de Jesus family adaptation with a Grossman-Greene family Seder table, including for example, a feminist orange on the Seder plate, children's Haggadah, “Cheesust Christ!” cheese plate, along with favorite de Jesus cocktails, and other items representing our Mirepoix travels. Olivia sprawls center stage at Joel and Jesus’s feet.

From left to right: Bartholomew = brother Jeff; James, son of Alphaeus = brother Ben; Andrew = sister-in-law Kelly; Judas Iscariot = brother-in-law Mike; Peter = Pops (Benedicto/Bogie); John = Joel; Jesus = my husband’s Andy’s Orthodox Jewish cousin Justin (an inadvertent likeness); Thomas = Mother (Evelyn/Abbie); James the Greater = Patricia; Philip = sister Jenny; Matthew = sister Jessica; Jude Thaddeus = brother-in-law Dave; Simon the Zealot = sister-in-law Marissa.

January 2018

Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

In the collection of Charles River Community Health, Waltham, MA

August 2020

September 2020

February 2019
Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord.
30" H x 36" W; Framed: 34 ½" H x 40 ½" W x 1 1 /2" D
I'm fascinated by gesture and the interplay of light, dark, and color — (sunshine often hides as much as shadows reveal) and relationships among families — both biological and found. Similarly, particularly since my father’s death in 2018, I’m drawn to the complex feeling and revelatory moments that emerge during important family rites — weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies or traditions. Every happy occasion also becomes a painful reminder of those we’ve lost — literally or figuratively, and visa versa. In this case, the occasion was the second wedding of the father of my daughter Sarah ’s fiancé, Louis, who’s mom died when he was eight. Mary Pappas, beloved “yaya” (grandma) of Louis, is in the foreground of the Greek Orthodox church in Oakland, California, Sarah in the background — watching during photo sessions.  Mary’s husband “papou” (grandpa)  — was at a nursing home back in Baltimore — too frail following a stroke to travel to his son’s wedding.

October 2018 to January 2019. 36” H x 48” W x 2” D; Framed: 38” H x 50” W x 2 1/2” D

Caran D’Ache water-soluble crayons on Claybord panel

Non-practicing Jews (except a strong focus on food, family, education, and “tzedakah” ― a commitment to philanthropy and social justice), our Grossman-style shiva was a one-day, joyous celebration of dad. My daughter Sarah, hair flying; brother-in-law Andy, suave moves near the couch; sisters Susan, keeping Ada safe from falling — and Jenny, in from the kitchen. But can we really protect this next generation?

This dining room and house — now gone. A McMansion in its place. The piece, started days post Kavanaugh confirmation. Horrified yet relieved my dad wasn’t there to witness how his predictions about news and politics would play out (Larry Grossman former president of PBS, NBC News, writer, and journalism theorist) — he's why we have televised Senate hearings in the first place.

My mom often complains that the people she knows in my art are typically “much prettier” than how I depict them. We have hundreds of gorgeous photos in the family share — selfies de-blemished with ready-made filters. I’m not interested in “duplicating” an actual snapshot. I work from a compilation of photos and imagination to capture the spirit of the moment. For me, beauty lies in the interactions, movement, light, shadow — relationships.

September 2019

Bridgewater, NJ middle school formal decoupage mask

Collection of the de Jesus family

September 2019

Bridgewater, NJ middle school formal decoupage mask

Collection of the de Jesus family

November 2014

2007

24 1/4” H x 32” W x 2 1 /2 D

Antique leather glove collage sewed on embossed paper-covered mat board in gilded frame

My husband Andy grandmother was the youngest of five girls – the Silver sisters -- Esther, Pauline, Dora, Sally, and Natalie. Only Sally and Natalie married. Pauline and Dora were inseparable, lived and traveled together. Pauline worked as a bookkeeper at a furrier, who gave her beautiful silk undergarment and intricately embroidered kid gloves to add to the sisters’ collection, which they stowed carefully away in drawers along with a lifetimes’ worth of their buttons (and dreams?)

October 2012

January 2015

January 2015

October 2012

November 2014

December 2014

November 2014

November 2014

November 2014

November 2014

Fall 2012

Fall 2012

January 2015

April 2015 — Caran D’Arche water-soluble crayon on panel

Bather — Shower

“Bronzed” finished clay

Famed illustrator Jack Davis (Mad Magazine, etc.) did this wonderful portrait of my dad in 1966, as he was leaving his position as NBC’s VP of national advertising and promotion.