EveNSteve are extremely pleased to announce that their artwork “My Dear Grace” has been acquired by the collection of the State of Vermont in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Calvin Coolidge’s swearing in as President of the United States.

“We’re delighted to have EveNSteve join the Vermont State collection,” says Vermont State Curator David Schutz. “Their artwork elicits deep meaning from the thoughtful juxtaposition of imagery and words, and asks us to consider the unknown and forgotten pieces of history in ways that are both playful and profound.”

EveNSteve is the creative partnership of author Eve O. Schaub and artist Stephen Schaub, residents of Pawlet, Vermont.

“It is an enormous honor,” Eve Schaub says. “The Vermont State collection represents a wealth of artistic practice from throughout our state’s history. We could not be more proud for our work to be in such company.”

Entitled “My Dear Grace,” the four panel artwork features imagery from the Calvin Coolidge homestead at Plymouth Notch, Vermont and is hand-inscribed with excerpts from letters written by a young Calvin Coolidge to his sweetheart and future wife, Grace Goodhue. The original letters are part of the collection of the Vermont Historical Society. 

“This artwork is all about bringing history into the creative conversation and reminding us that history is never a singular narrative, but multi-dimensional,” explains Stephen Schaub. “In this artwork we see a very different side of the 30^th president and Vermont’s famously ‘Silent Cal.’”

During their year and a half courtship Calvin Coolidge and his future wife wrote one another very often, sometimes as much as ten times a month, even though they lived across the street from one another. The letters reveal the strict social protocols of the time, as well as a different, more personal side of the future president. He teases Grace about her love for strawberry shortcake, he tells her he is lonesome for her and that he misses her “cross look.” And did you know that our 30th president was fond of little black bears?

The department of the Vermont State Curator plans for the works to be displayed in the State House at a future date. To see other examples of artwork and short films by EveNSteve visit evensteve.com.