About the Artist

Maureen O’Keefe is a portrait and figure painter living and

working in mid-western Ohio.  The process for Maureen's current body of work involves a return to the blind-contour drawing that is taught in beginning art classes. The artist never lifts the pencil from the surface and never looks at the drawing; only at the subject. Once a line drawing is finished, she has a template for a finished work.  Her work investigates identities and belonging, often in a religious or spiritual context.

Maureen received her BFA in Fine Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2005.  She has shown work in seven states in both group and solo exhibitions, and is a current member of the cooperative Dutoit Gallery in Dayton, Ohio. Maureen is a recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for FY2019.  She is employed at Edison State Community College as an adjunct instructor in the art department.

Artist’s Statement

I am always looking for beauty in imperfection, and to find the sacred in secular life.

My newest work explores concepts of goodness, value, and worth. It asks, what does it mean to be a good person? Do people have intrinsic value? They are questions I have asked myself over and over and over again. The area in which we live, the traditions with which we are raised, the expectations of society all put pressures on us to behave and present ourselves in specific ways.  But what happens if these expectations don’t fit us? Are we still good people?