05/06/2026
As a part of our Local Digital Art program, we are excited to highlight the incredibly talented Elizabeth Oberman, the master behind Planning the Future.
"As a watercolor artist, I consider myself a genre painter. I am drawn to everyday moments and the small stories they tell, the quiet intimacy of shared time, and the beauty in ordinary gestures. While I enjoy capturing a likeness, I strive to reveal something deeper: a subject’s spirit, a glimpse of character, or the beginning of a narrative. I believe painting allows us to look inward, to see ourselves and each other more clearly. My painting, Planning the Future shows three children seated on rocky ground at a music festival in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. It was inspired by a moment when two young Black children ran together, full of energy and imagination. A white boy joined them, and the three played happily, instinctively accepting one another. They grew tired and settled onto the ground, drawing in the dirt and talking in that quiet, serious way only children can. I do not know what they were planning, but in that moment, they were equals, collaborators, and dreamers. They gave me hope. Planning the Future reflects that moment. An ordinary interaction that, to me, speaks deeply to the ideals of liberty, equality, justice, and self-determination. These principles, foundational to the American Revolution, remain aspirational 250 years later. I see these children quietly living those ideals not through grand gestures, but through simple, honest connection. In a time when we continue to wrestle with the meaning and application of liberty and equality, Planning the Future invites viewers to reflect on how those ideals are expressed in daily life.”
