Cathy O’Keefe

Story, November 2023:

My mother was an artist. She could do just about anything. She had no training, she was a natural painter, photographer, ceramics artist, writer, and crafts person. When she was dying in a nursing home and nearly blind, I gave her some enlarged photos of my work from a solo show I was having. Unbeknownst to me, she showed these pieces to everyone who came into the room. When asked was I as good as she, without hesitation, she stated that I was better. This meant so much to me. Right to the end, she supported my work as an artist.

My father also supported me emotionally, but there were a few bumps in the road. He insisted that I major in nursing at college. Of course, I wanted to be an art major. But I acquiesced because I wanted a college degree and couldn’t see any other way to achieve this at the time. But I took a drawing and painting course while at Georgetown. When I brought my work home to the house I shared with four other women, they all said: “I think you’ve missed your calling.”

Years later, my father and I drove to Kent, CT to see my first juried group exhibition. As we were winding our way through the bucolic countryside, he said: “There aren’t too many moments in life like this.” I’ll never forget it, especially after the conflicts we had in the past.

After college, I reluctantly worked as a nurse for six months before throwing in the towel. I moved back to my parents’ house in Woodbury, CT and established a studio over the garage. I started going to drawing sessions at the Washington Depot and painting in oils and pastels. I attended a wonderful painting class at the Mattituck Museum in Waterbury. This is the same museum that has my grandfather’s airplane parts invention that he developed at Scoville’s which significantly helped the war effort during World War II. He had a sixth-grade education and was a brilliant creative.

About a year later, I moved to New Haven and took a couple of courses at the Creative Arts Workshop and continued to paint on my own. I married and became a stepmother. I used to create art projects for my stepchildren, and I kept a large supply of art materials for the three of us. One day, I painted a large picture in watercolors while my husband watched. He was astonished and from that point forward encouraged me to pursue art.

But I was faced with demanding financial circumstances which led me to graduate school at Yale and later to a long career as a writer and editor. During this time, I attended a few courses at the New York Art Students League and Pratt and established a studio in the second bedroom of our apartment.  Finally, I had had enough. I quit my last job and began a professional career as an artist and have never looked back.

My work is abstract expressionism. I came to this naturally. After drawing, painting, and sculpting from a representational perspective, I quickly transitioned. I learned primarily by doing and observing and studying others. My work has evolved and changed regularly over a period of 15 years. Now I am working on a large series of paintings which I think speak to one another. It is the first time that I have put together a cohesive whole large collection. Going back 35 years ago, I painted a path in East Rock Park in New Haven. I later painted another path in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. Several years after that, I painted an abstract path. But whereas the previous paths disappeared into the distance, this path moved horizontally, like it was going someplace. Most recently, my path forms circles in all my paintings. I think I have found my path at last.