Left side, meet right brain.

Framing is where art and science come together.

We make beautiful things and we’re also good at math.  We know our color wheel and chemistry too!

We get to be around art all day and we often make our customer’s day when they see their completed project.  It’s often an emotional piece we’ve worked on. 

  • A portrait of a pet or family member that passed.

  • A deeply meaningful memento from someone’s childhood. 

  • A drawing by a favorite uncle (we have a surprising number of clients with extremely talented uncles)

What masterpiece do will you bring to us next?

Stop by the shop and start the process!

Any of these guys sound familiar?

  • Your piece was framed poorly in the past and now there is fading or damage/it fell or broke/was stored improperly/dog stepped on it, etc. etc. We’ve seen (almost) all of it. We aren’t scared!

  • Need the certain art supplies you need yesterday and want to browse in person.

    And last but not least, our personal favorite: You prefer to shop local, not at giant online retailers. Well, you’re in the exact right spot. Come into the shop and bring us whatever you’ve been procrastinating about framing. We’re ready!

  • Are you not the best at decorating your home so you’re super hesitant to commit to framing something? (We’re here to make it easy and dare we say FUN-and we’ve also been doing it most of our lives so you’ll be in good hands!)

  • You’re afraid that it’s too expensive.  The truth? It can be very expensive sometimes, but often doesn't have to be.  

  • It’s a gift and you’re super nervous to commit to a design for someone else (we have workarounds!).

What you really need to know about us?

We’re professionals and have a sterling reputation to live up to with every piece we frame.

Meet The Frame Dames Team

  • The Frame Dames began in 2011 but the story starts way before that in old downtown St. Johnsbury.

    In our county seat's heyday there once was a store named Ben Franklin, that you might compare to a (gasp) Michaels today (they’re kind of a 4 letter word in our industry). When those all closed up the owners opened their own similar store that also included a custom frame shop.

    I began managing that frame shop for the Welch family at Uniquity around 2000.

    I have a background in photography and woodworking and ALSO a degree in Environmental Science and Masters Degree in Environmental Law, too.

    When it was time for the Welch’s to retire Sarah and I struck out on our own as The Frame Dames. Sarah has since moved on but I’m still here along with the other Dames continuing to frame art and hard at work in our final location on Railroad Street.

  • Like… I LOVE animals. We had 5 pets (3 dogs and 2 cats) up until a month ago when we had to say goodbye to our old dog Lobo. Our dogs are all Malamutes. Lobo was an old boy, rescued from Queens, NY. He was a giant goofy curmudgeon that I loved dearly and miss terribly. Our next one, Bear, is also a giant Malamute. Like really giant! 170 pounds anyway. He’s all floof. This past year we got our first non-rescue Malamute, an adorable little girl named Cash (named after the Rock of Cashel in Ireland, not after Johnny).

    I got a BS in environmental science and after opening The Frame Dames I got a masters degree in environmental law. Until the pandemic i worked in both framing and environmental law but chose to slow down post covid and focus on the frameshop. While I’ve gone off in other directions in life I have always wound up circling back to framing.

    TFD is in our 3rd and FINAL location. Moving sucks and moving a business sucks even more. In 2019 a building back on the other side of Railroad Street went up for sale. It had been a locally owned pharmacy for as long as I could remember and I was super sad to see it close up but it was a perfect fit for the shop.

    The pharmacist, Carol, was very enthusiastic to sell to a woman owned business and very encouraging throughout the whole renovation process. We love our forever home and Yay! No rent to pay!

  • Flatlander turned Vermonter and all around eccentric. I’ve dedicated my life to the fine art of Fine Art.

    In the past ten years I’ve tried almost every media there is out there and I settled into design and printmaking.

  • I collect dead media and useless facts.

  • You might recognize Alison from the coolest gift shop in town, Art & Joy. We borrow this busy lady to help with running the shop between owning her own business and working on getting her MFA in ceramics in order to enhance her undergrad degree from RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). She’s a great asset to our team with her extensive background in art and design.

  • She’s lived in the Middle East and her son is about to go to University in London.

    Alison enjoys looking at art, talking about art, and making art. Just don’t ask her to do any cooking, she’s the first to admit she doesn’t cook.

  • Hi! My name is Andrea and I enjoy cozying up at home with herbal tea, writing inspirational messages on rocks, and yoga.

    JUST KIDDING! I don’t like any of these things. What I like is art and framing!

    I’ve been a professional framer and designer at TFD for six years. My background is in art and design and amongst other things I’ve been a Children’s Librarian, a buyer for a large craft store chain in New England and I remain a visual artist and painter.

    What I do enjoy is helping people to get their art and memorabilia to look super cool and be well protected. I enjoy learning all the latest techniques to achieve the same. Seeing the art that comes through our doors is definitely the highlight of my work day.

  • I also love corgis, pet grooming videos, my own dog and cat, my family and slightly sparkling Portuguese rose’. Not necessarily in that order.

  • Ann and I both got our start in photography and framing having attended Hallmark Institute of Photography back in the 90’s. After years of owning a photography studio I now own a landscape design company and also frame during my off season.

  • In my spare time I’ve become obsessed with oil painting and will hole up for days at my camp on the bog painting everything from blueberries to bulldogs.

    I collect rescue dogs with 4 at home right now. I’m always looking for number 5. Scratch that, found number 5, but 4 of them are pretty small.

  • Say hi to Brett on Saturdays as this is his first job. He’s attending the St Johnsbury academy with a major interest in fine art and design. We can’t wait to see what he does after graduation.

  • Ask him about his cat Emily.

“Recently I contacted The Frame Dames in St. Johnsbury to hang a very sentimental and emotional piece for my family and myself … it was a very large and heavy piece, which I did not feel comfortable hanging myself. We made an appointment to have The Frame Dames come to the house and do the job.

They showed up on time with all the tools necessary to do the job. They treated me and the piece with such respect, professionalism and courtesy I could not believe.

Thank you Frame Dames for such a “neighborly” treatment.”

— Mike

Scenes from the Shop