Biography
David Keefe is an award-winning artist, educator, activist, organizer, and administrator who works in a connective arts practice as an artist, educator, and researcher to discover commonalities between communities through craft and artmaking workshops. He was awarded the Open Society Foundation’s 2019 Securing Open Societies Fellowship for his work in connective practice and arts in health.
David is currently the Board President and co-founder of Frontline Arts, a nonprofit that connects communities by supporting socially engaged art practices rooted in printmaking and papermaking. He is also the co-founder of Frontline Arts’ flagship program, Frontline Paper (formerly known as Combat Paper NJ), which connects veterans and nonveterans together through workshops that teach the craft of making paper from military uniforms. Dave has over 15 years of experience in the arts as a developer, curator, organizer, facilitator and consultant on over 400 art projects, exhibitions, and events all over the country, while holding many roles within non-profit industry, from grass roots organizer to Executive Director to Board President.
Additionally, for the last 10 years Dave has been an Adjunct Professor of Art at Montclair State University where he has taught painting, papermaking and printmaking, and a course on the social practice of storytelling and community building through participatory craft, specifically for veterans and non-veterans-- the only of its kind in the country.
Dave is also the Senior Assistant Dean of Student Veteran Initiatives at Columbia University’s School of General Studies since 2015, where he has centralized resources and developed programs around academic support, health and wellness and community-building initiatives for the undergraduate student veteran body. In addition, Dave also advises and coaches “non-traditional” students with a transformative advising approach, and also develops progressive models of student affairs support and the transitional journey through higher education.
Dave holds a MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University, 2020 (currently pursuing an interdisciplinary track toward a Doctorate.) a Master of Fine Arts degree from Montclair State University, 2009, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware, 2003.
From 2001 to 2009, he served in the United States Marine Corps, and from 2006 to 2007 he completed a tour of combat duty in Iraq as a riverine scout (infantry).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Professor of Art 2009 - present
Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
Develop and teach the art/art in health courses “Craft as Connective Practice,” “Crafting Commonality,” and "’Combat Paper’ for Veterans” for undergraduate and graduate students
Teach Papermaking, Silk Screen, Painting I, Independent Study for undergrad and grad art students
In-person and Online Seminar Sessions Instructor 2019 - 2021
Columbia University, New York, NY
Develop and teach Online/in-person seminar sessions in Narrative Medicine based in writing, literature, and art history to Premed, First Year, and Post baccalaureate Pre health graduate students
Other Teaching
Instructor, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME 2013 - 2019
Visiting Artist, University of Delaware, Newark, DE Apr 2019
Visiting Lecturer, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ Feb 2017
Visiting Artist, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY Mar 2014
Visiting Artist, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ Oct 2014
Visiting Instructor, Warren Community College, Warren, NJ Oct 2013
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Strategic Advisor, Arts in Health and Community Building 2018 - present
New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Maine, and National
Securing Open Societies Fellow 2019 - present
Open Society Foundations, New York, NY
President of the Board of Trustees/Co-Founder 2018 - present
Frontline Arts, Branchburg, NJ
Senior Assistant Dean of Students Aug 2015 - present
Columbia University School of General Studies, New York, NY
Executive Director, Program Director, Education Director, Co-Founder 2011 - 2018
Frontline Arts/Printmaking Center of New Jersey, Branchburg, NJ
Sergeant 2001 - 2009
United States Marine Corps
EDUCATION
MS in Narrative Medicine May 2020
School of Professional Studies, Columbia University, NY
MFA in Studio Art May 2009
Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
BFA in Studio Art, Minor in Art History Dec 2003
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
*Doctoral Degree currently in the planning stages
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
Power of the Collective, Frontline Arts 10th Anniversary, Frontline Arts, Branchburg, NJ 2021
Veteran, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 2019
Veterans Art Triennial, National Veterans Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Veteran Art, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL
Veteran | Artist, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME 2018
A New Century of War, FA Gallery, Branchburg, NJ 2017
Combat Paper NJ, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY 2016
David Keefe - SOLO Show - Portsmouth Cultural Art Center, Portsmouth, VA
Combat Paper NJ, Bernstein Gallery, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Veteran Dream Project, The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
David Keefe - SOLO SHOW – Warren County Community College, Sept, Phillipsburg, NJ 2015
Beyond the Uniform, Art 101, Brooklyn, NY
Year of the Veteran, The Art League and Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA 2014
Surrealism and War, National Veterans Museum, Chicago, Il
The Art of Conflict, Noyes Museum, Stockton College, Stockton, NJ 2013
War Torn, Gallery U, Montclair, NJ 2012
Arts, Military, + Healing, The Corcoran Art Gallery, Corcoran Art, Washington D.C.
SELECT WRITINGS/PUBLICATIONS
Craft as Connective Practice, Open Society Foundations, To be published
Building a Capacity for Veteran Transition, Columbia News, Nov 2021
Crafting Commonality, Gallery & Studio, Mar 2021
I used to believe, but now I know, Warrior Writer’s 4th Anthology, May 2014
Rasul, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, Feb 2013
NOTABLE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Presenter, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 2019
Panelist, Veteran Transition, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 2018
Keynote Speaker, National Consortium for Creative Place-makers, NJIT, Jersey City, NJ 2017
Panelist, Craft and Social Practice, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington DC 2016
Visiting Speaker, Art Forum, Montclair State University 2016
Keynote Speaker, UCDA National Conference, Louisville, KY 2014
Presenter, Coming Home Project, Monmouth University, Monmouth, NJ 2013
Breakout Presenter Demystifying PTSD, Monmouth University, Monmouth, NJ 2012
SELECT PRESS
Voices, Open Society Foundations, Using Crafts to Find Common Ground Oct 2021
SPS News, David Keefe: Iraq Veteran, Transformational Artist, Narrative Medicine 2019
On the Frontlines of Art, Art and Design News June 2016
State of the Arts, NJN, The Fog of War Feb 2015
PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Combat Paper NJ special 2012
NOTABLE AWARDS
Community Service and Social Justice Award, Printmaking Center of New Jersey 2015
Impact 100 Garden State Award 2014
Krider Prize from the University College Designers Association (UCDA) 2013