ALRKeaton - Bio/CV

Photograph. The artist is seated at a drawing board, inking a comics page. The artist has short, dirty-blonde hair, white skin, glasses, a green and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The wall past the drawing board is covered with various flyers, postcards, works in progress, etc. A white, plastic shelving unit full of books sits just past the artist.

Artist. Writer. Creator of comics. Snuggler of cats.

Althea Levin Rieff Keaton (A. L. R. Keaton) was born in 1984 and raised in the woods of downstate New York. They are a genderqueer/nonbinary trans (they/them/theirs) writer and artist working in a variety of media, including printmaking, drawing, comics, digital art, and animation. They currently work as a freelance arts educator at Workshop13 and ArtSpace and as a graphic designer and media marketer for Workshop13.

Contact me to commission works (fine art, illustration, book covers, and more): alrkeaton@gmail.com

Education

2016-2019: MFA in Studio Arts, University of Massachusetts Amherst

2004-2007: BFA in Visual Art, Purchase College State University of New York, School of Art and Design

Publications

2020: Compilation, Chaos Theory Zine

2020: Compilation, Heroes Need Masks

2017 – Present: Solo, Existence Stories

2015 – Present: Solo, From the Heart

2014: Compilation, The Wanderer Project Book

2006 – 2007: Compilations, Poor Choice (annual)

2003 – 2009: Compilations, Yuri Monogatari (annual)

Select Exhibition/Convention History

2023: Group, 2nd Annual Show Your Pride, ArtWorks Gallery. Juror: Yo Ahn Han.

2023: Group, Altered Reality, ArtWorks Gallery. Juror: Vernita Nemec.

2023: Group, 2nd Annual Celebrating the Figure, ArtWorks Gallery. Juror: Susan Montgomery.

Award: Best Mixed Media

2023: Group, Red, ArtWorks Gallery. Juror: Nayana LaFond.

Award: Honorable Mention

2023: Group, The Fine Art & Craft of Fiber, ArtWorks Gallery. Jurors: Amy Genser and Katherine McClelland.

2022: Group, 2nd Annual LAVA Film Festival: In Reel Life, LAVA Center

Award: Best Animation

2022: Group, Black & White, ArtWorks Gallery. Jurors: Kara Bigda and Susan Tilton Pecora.

2022: Group, Show Your Pride, ArtWorks Gallery. Jurors: Vick Quezada and Cynthia Consentino.

Award: Best Interpretation and Clarity of Theme

2022: Group, Celebrating the Figure, ArtWorks Gallery. Jurors: Roc Goudreau and Gary Lippincott.

2020: Group, Found Family, Queerly Collective (digital)

2020: Group, Post Pause, Easthampton City Arts (digital)

2020: Group, The Future Show, Student Union Web Gallery (digital)

2020: Convention, FalCon, W.E.B. Du Bois Library (digital)

2019: Convention, Comics Fest, Flywheel Arts Collective

2019: Solo, Existence Stories, Nacul Center

2019: Convention, FalCon, W.E.B. Du Bois Library

2019: Group, LGBTQ+ Art Show, Student Union Art Gallery

2018: Group, Altar/Alter, Herter Art Gallery

2018: Convention, Comics Fest, Flywheel Arts Collective

2018: Group, We Grow Accustomed to the Dark, Herter Art Gallery (curator, Omid Shekari)

2018: Group, Ghosted, Herter Art Gallery (curator, Leah Triplett Harrington)

2018: Convention, Pioneer Valley Zine Fest, Flywheel Arts Collective

2017: Group, Covalence, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry

2017: Convention, Pioneer Valley Zine Fest, Flywheel Arts Collective

2017: Group, Zines as Creative Resistance, The Graduate Center Library

2016: Group, Collaborative Aggregates and UMass Art Department Student Scholarship Exhibition, Lee Edwards Gallery

2009: Convention, Yuri Monogatari 6 launch

2008: Group, Pink and Bent, Leslie/Lohman Gallery

2007: Group, H-Street Art Show, SUNY Purchase

Teaching experience

2021-Present: ArtSpace, Independent Contractor/Arts Instructor

2020-Present: Workshop 13, Independent Contractor/Arts Instructor

2020: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Adjunct Professor

2016-2019: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Graduate Assistant

Public Art Projects

2022-2023: Design Team, Action: A History of Florence, Depot Ave Florence MA

2021: Lead, Butterflies Over Belchertown, Main St Belchertown MA

2021-2022: Participant, Dog Park Mural, Ware Dog Park Ware MA

2021: Lead, Love Is Love Is, Main St Northampton MA

2020: Participant, Ware It's At, Main St Ware MA

2019: Participant, Seasons of Growth, Northampton Bike Trail Northampton MA