Upon meeting Ora Markstein - as big as a minute, with grandmotherly concern for a cold visitor on a snowy day, one would not grasp the commanding talent behind that sweet smile.

Ms. Markstein, 83, is an accomplished sculptor, whose works are on display at the Art Gallery of Hamilton's Atelier: Ora Markstein, which runs until April 27.

Each one of Ms. Markstein's sculptures is carved by hand, formed from blocks of soapstone, marble and alabaster in every imaginable colour.

Born and raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in a town near Budapest, Hungary, Ms. Markstein studied drawing and painting. When she was 15, the Holocaust began. She had met her fianc just weeks before the men were taken away for slave labour.

Ms. Markstein, her sister and parents, as well as her fiance, Francis survived the war. At least 35 other relatives died, including uncles, aunts and young cousins.

A survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Ms. Markstein returned to Hungary and reunited with Francis on Sept. 15, 1945. They were married 10 days later.

"It was the poorest wedding I've ever attended. And it was mine," Ms. Markstein says.

The town's synagogue was destroyed after the Nazis kept their horses there and the Jewish community was virtually wiped out. The wedding took place in an old aged home with cake and wine and a challah baked by Ms. Markstein's mother.

"Who cared at that time. It did not bother anyone," Ms. Markstein said. "What bothered us was that there were no Jews. It did not make our marriage less happy. It all doesn't matter in the long run."

In 1946, the Marksteins travelled in an illegal transport organized by the Jewish Agency to a UN sponsored refugee camp in Germany, where Ms. Markstein gave birth to their son, Igor.

A year later, the Marksteins travelled to France and back to Hungary. They left again for Israel in 1949.

"We lived in utter poverty. We had no electricity for six years," Markstein says.

But Ms. Markstein found a teacher and learned how to sculpt in clay and plaster.

After Igor moved to Illinois in the early 1970s, Ora and Francis moved to Montreal in 1974.

"I felt I needed some peaceful years. I started to carve stone here. I couldn't have done it anywhere else," she said.

In Montreal, Ms. Markstein received a scholarship to an art school. Her instructor saw her talent immediately.

"You don't need me. Just work," he said.

Francis was also an artist. He wrote poetry and translated classic works in languages including English, French, German, Hungarian, Hebrew, Italian and Spanish. He found employment in Hamilton as a teacher at Beth Jacob Synagogue's afternoon school and the couple moved there in 1975.

Ms. Markstein soon had an exhibit at the Jewish Community Centre. Many others followed, including two one-man shows in the 1980s at the McMaster Hospital gallery.

In 1991, Francis died and Ms. Markstein did not sculpt for two years. She eventually realized she couldn't live without it.

"I had to. There was no use to punish myself. It did not bring back my husband," she said.

In 2006, Sara Knelman, the Art Gallery of Hamilton's curator of contemporary art, met Ms. Markstein and visited her studio.

The literature for Ms. Markstein's current show says her work often describes the pain of death and loss. "More often, though, she counters with explorations of love and spiritual renewal."

The works explore her expression of three themes of love, loss and renewal.

"I think she is an exceptional sculptor, regardless of her biography, she is exceptional," Ms. Knelman said.

"She has a beautiful classical style, which sometimes moves into a more abstract, almost deco style of sculpture. She finds life in these slabs and creates an emotional tension in the works and a kind of purity that comes through."

In her home filled with sculptures and her own drawings and paintings, Ms. Markstein can't wait for spring, so she can return to her outdoor studio.

"It's like an obsession. You have a drive, you feel you have to do it. You just have to," she said. "It's a dusty dirty job. It's physically demanding. But what I get out of it, gives me so much pleasure. I forget about the dust, the dirt and everything else."

Ms. Markstein insists as long as you are in good health, age should not slow you down.

"I am just as interested in everything as I was 50 years ago. I am not going to sit down and stop.

"Life is hard. Some are harder than others. Our background is not normal, but life is still beautiful."

Atelier: Ora Markstein runs until April 27, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, noon to 7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays, noon to 9 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W. Cost, adults, $12, students and seniors, $10, children (six to 17), $5, five and under, free. AGH members, free.