Laura Caffrey

When I was six, my family moved into the house where my grandmother grew up. The house: minimal electrical service, plumbing of a single cold-water tap and outhouse, and heat delivered by three coal stoves. The dark, unfinished basement stocked with mysterious medicinal preparations, rusty tools, buttons and bottle caps collected by my thrifty and resourceful ancestors. These bizarre old things were precious to me, but I didn’t yet see them as art supplies. I’d always dabbled in “making”, but didn’t think myself an artist just yet. I earned a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, taking exactly one studio art course.

In 1991, I began work as a picture framer, serving as production manager at Fine Art Services from 1995 - 2001. During this time, I began creating the pieces like those you see today. In 2005, I completed a MArch degree at UTSOA in Austin. After a summer documenting an archeological dig in Cyprus, I started my career as an architectural historian in post-Katrina Louisiana. In 2014, intrigued by self-employment, I started LC, L Do, a one-person handywoman service. Late in 2018, I returned to Fine Art Services as business manager, and in October 2020, became its proprietor.