A painting hung near the entrance to the Vermont Statehouse cafeteria titled “Love Note to Montpelier.” Recently moved to the Vermont State Archives, this whimsical artwork, gifted to the city by local artist Liz Le Serviget in 2019, depicts the Statehouse bustling with activity. A musical ensemble performs on the steps. Their conductor points to an airplane pulling a heart-filled banner proclaiming “Montpelier.” People and dogs practice yoga. Protesters rally for gender equality. A large dinosaur encourages kids to recycle. Legislators, draped across windowsills, take naps. There are also nods to Montpelier’s unique traditions: the Valentine Phantom and All Species Day. Surveying the activities below, a living statue of Ceres (goddess of agriculture and motherhood) stands atop the golden dome, holding a baguette in one hand and some greens in the other. Things one might observe in Montpelier over the course of a year, condensed into a single moment on a crisp fall day.
Born in the Bronx near Fordham University, Le Serviget says she didn’t fit in with others. She preferred to do crafts alone and play with stuffed animals. She also had a vivid imagination with dreamlike qualities.
“I knew when I was a little girl that if I stared long enough at a picture, it would start to move, and it did!” she says.
Arranging her stuffed animals on chairs, these companions spoke to her. She would spend hours teaching, nurturing, and drawing them (activities Le Serviget would perform throughout her life as a teacher and artist). In retrospect, Le Serviget acknowledges, “Growing up in a solitary way helped nurture my creativity and was truly a blessing.”
Another favorite pastime was leafing through her mother’s magazines, which became her window to the world.
“Seeing those pictures, I always knew there was something more,” she says. Little did she know then how far she would go.
Though always an A student, Le Serviget was often disciplined for daydreaming in class. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in medical studies and minored in French, then went on to Hofstra University for graduate studies.
While at Hofstra, fate played a role when Le Serviget was told her French was abominable and that she needed to go to France to improve it, “So I spent that summer at the University of Caen in Normandy,” she says.
Her course completed, with one week left before her flight back to the States, she took a train to the beachside town of Biarritz, where she first met her future husband in a restaurant. “I realized he was shyer than I,” she says. “I fell in love with him at that moment.”
Elizabeth and Yves François Le Serviget were married in 1965 and lived in Paris. Unbeknownst to the young couple at the time, Yves sustained radiation exposure working at a research lab in France. Their marriage was short-lived; he passed away from cancer eight years later.
Wanting to give something back to France on behalf of her late husband, Le Serviget moved to the rural village of Rambucourt to teach English at a school run by nuns. “It was somber, nothing like Provence where I hoped to be placed,” she said. After three years, it was time to move on.
Between painting and teaching, Le Serviget traveled far. She toured the British Isles (where she researched crop circles), Switzerland, Austria, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa.
“I loved South Africa! Especially Namibia, the dunes, and the animals,” she says.
She also traveled to Egypt (where she meditated in the Great Pyramid of Giza), Israel, Spain, and Morocco, which she found inspirational.
“Morocco, the colors, the spices! And the desert, I loved the vastness of the desert, it’s timeless,” she muses.
After spending several years on Cape Cod, Mass., and in Woodstock, New York, Le Serviget moved to Vermont.
“I had this feeling Vermont was special,” she says. “There’s something very healing about Vermont. It spoke to me.”
She purchased a farmhouse in Stowe where she ran a bed and breakfast, teahouse/art gallery, and a neighborhood co-op where she sold baguettes and fresh vegetables.
Today, Le Serviget’s studio is in Montpelier. Along with being a shop and gallery, this is where she teaches and paints. Canvases, replete with goddesses, plants, and fanciful animals — all displayed in bright colors — are in every nook and cranny. Many incorporate themes of her travels. A little table that looks like it’s set for a tea party has various handmade puppets.
“This is where I teach people French, both children and adults,” she says. “I’ve loved puppets ever since I was a child, so I use them when I teach. They make my students feel comfortable learning a new language.”
Le Serviget’s Inky Dinky Oinkink Art Studio is located in the Center for Arts and Learning on Barre Street in Montpelier. All are welcome to visit.
