Painting of two men in a city street early in the morning
Painting by Laurence E. Keefe


Larry Keefe has worked in and around the graphic arts his entire life, starting with classes at the Catholic University of America, a stint as a photojournalist after grad school, and marketing for the photo book publisher and archival framing and conservation pioneer Light Impressions. He turned knowledge he gained there into the authoritative Life of a Photograph, still a standard reference for conservation matting and framing.

His enthusiasm for watercolor painting goes back to the days when he first saw the work of Rochester master Ralph Avery on the covers of Readers Digest and realized you could make great art anywhere, even here in his home city. As he was wrapping up a career marketing industrial automation for international corporations, Keefe decided to return to his first love of watercolor painting.  Since then he has studied under noted Rochester artists Jeanne Lindsay, Dick Kane and Paul Allen Taylor in the Creative Workshop and attended numerous workshops.

He has exhibited in student shows at the Workshop and won awards at juried shows at locales such as the Bridge Gallery and the Rochester Art Club. Keefe has been accepted as a signature member of the Rochester Art Club and frequently attends the Tuesday Artist’s Breakfast Group.

Keefe’s work is primarily in landscapes; his other passion is racing a J22 sailboat on Canandaigua Lake, so much of his work depicts the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes. “It’s a moment of delight,” he says, “when a loaded brush touches the paper and somehow an image appears.” He is eager to share that magic with his students.