This is not the first time immigration to the United States has been a divisive issue. In the run- up to World War Two, Hitler outlined his plan to rid the world of Jews. As a result, many were desperate to emigrate to this country. But they were not always allowed in. Millions of them died in concentration camps, but some, who were fortunate enough to find their way here, went on to tell their stories.
Frieda Howard was the seventh child of a Jewish family in 1930’s Germany. The only girl. The family favorite, she loved the arts and dreamed of becoming a dancer.
But when Hitler came to power the writing was on the wall for Jews and more restrictions were levied against the Jews and her parents could see it happening.”
Alan Graf, her nephew, says Frieda’s parents were murdered in the concentration camps, but she and one of her brothers ultimately made it to the U.S., to New York City and safety.
Like many who survived the Holocaust, Howard refused to talk about what happened. But she expressed her feelings in other ways.
“She had a house on Long Island, in Montauk, where she did her sculpture. And I remember, she was in her 80s and there she was, an 80-year-old with an arc welder and she’s just melting metal and I could just feel her rage. She just still had this incredible rage and anger from the Holocaust. .”
An exhibition of her work is on display at the Floyd Center for the Arts. Abstract pieces. Silent, yet they speak.
“It’s a bunch of pipes all in a row and they’re all chopped off at the top. And my aunt never really said to me, you know she never gave them a name or anything like that, but my first hit, when I first looked at them I said, ‘Jews in a cattle car being taken off to a concentration camp.”
Jackson Martin is a professor of sculpture at North Carolina University. He’s related to the family by marriage.
He says of the work, “It’s twisted metal. I mean when do we see twisted metal? Car, accidents, buildings where destruction is at the core of twisted metal. So when you see somebody purposely twist metal and exhibit it painful. It’s anguish. It’s raw emotion in artwork.”
He points out that Howards work is with found objects, discarded things she turned into Jewelry. A necklace made from an old circuit board, broken glass buffed to a high sheen, intricate inlays. They’re large, jaw dropping, clearly one of a kind creations, impossible to ignore. But Frieda Howard’s work never hung in major art museums.
Martin says,” I think she was less concerned with getting her name out there and more with just being more of a true artist. So in a way it’s more art therapy for her than it was anything else for her.”
Alan Graf says, “Art conveys things that words can’t; Emotions and visions and hallucinations and pain that words fall short of. And that’s what my aunt has left us."
Frieda Howard was 93 when she died in New York in 2013 Her nephew, Alan Graf wrote this song and played it at her funeral.
(ORIGINAL MUSIC/ Written by Alan Graf. Performed by Graf and Stella Trudell)
Frieda Howard was 94 when she died in New York in 2013? Her nephew, Alan Graf wrote a song about her and played it at her funeral.
The Frieda Howard Art Exhibit will be at the Floyd Center for the Arts until November 22nd.
For more information about The Floyd Center for the Arts: visit FloydArtCenter.org or call 540-745-2784. The Center is located at 220 Parkway Lane South in Floyd, ½ mile south of the stoplight on Route 8.
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