Elinor Sue Randall died on July 8, 2023, after a long struggle with dementia. Randy (as she was always known) was born in Norwalk, Conn., on July 3, 1932, to David Judson Randall (1902-1957) and Mary Leslie Fuller Randall (1908-2000) and was the oldest of three children. As a child, horses became her closest companions and the subjects of her art throughout her life. Randy attended the Waldorf High Mowing School, which had a profound influence on her, and it’s where she met many lifelong friends, including Sarah Keeney, brother of her future husband.
In 1953, she married James Hervey Keeney and moved to Madison, Wis., where their two children, Benjamin (1953) and Dorigen (1955), were born. She attended the University of Wisconsin and studied art with Marshall Glasier, who became her most important mentor and a cherished friend. Marshall was a longtime student of George Grosz.
In 1958, the Keeney family moved to New York City, where Randy continued her art studies at the Art Students League and where she studied with Grosz. After moves to New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York City, the family moved to Detroit in 1964, where Randy received a BFA from Wayne State University. Her drawings illustrated many articles in magazines, including New Politics.
It was at Wayne State that Randy found her medium of intaglio printmaking and the joy of working together with a group of other artists. As those closest to her know, Randy never liked to do anything alone, even art. In 1969, the family moved to Peacham, Vt. In Peacham, she adopted 10 starving horses, which she rehabilitated. These abused animals were her perfect artistic subjects. Randy used horses extensively as metaphors in her prints, especially as a metaphor for the role of women in society.
Following her divorce from Keeney in 1974 and after sojourns in West Virginia, Newfoundland, Wisconsin and Detroit, Randy moved to Oakland, Calif. Her time in California was one of her most productive periods and where she produced many of her finest prints. She instructed at the Graphics Arts Workshop until 1992. Randy also worked at the Golden Gate Field racetrack and used this experience extensively in her work. During this period, Randy compiled an oral history of members of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) — featuring transcripts of such luminaries as Harry Bridges and Stan Weir — and which is housed at the Bancroft Library at the University of California.
In California, Randy met and fell in love with the Scottish poet, Leonard George Irving. They shared an appreciation of language, literature and history and loved any chance for a celebratory feast. They collaborated on the publication of four collections of his poetry, including Farewell Dundrennan, which was published in 1987. They lived together in the Oakland flats in the shadow of the Bay Bridge until moving to a hill farm in Marshfield, Vt., in 1991. Len died in 2016.
Randy established a fine arts press in Vermont, the Rung Rim Press, and joined Two Rivers Printmaking in White River Junction. Exhibitions of her work span four decades and several continents and include group shows, as well as solo exhibitions. Her most serious work was in intaglio—especially etchings and monoprints—in which she explored the darker sides of society and the human experience. She also worked in watercolor to produce evocative landscapes that captured the essence of place. However, it was in her pen and ink drawings of animals that her sense of humor and whimsy were best expressed. A retrospective of her work in intaglio is currently on display at Studio Place Arts in Barre, Vt., through August 18.
Wherever she lived, Randy created a community of friends, abundant gardens and a menagerie of animals. In many ways, her relationship with her animals was the key to her spirit and her extraordinary creative output. The chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, the dogs and cats, and, most of all, her beloved horses were the real taproot of her life. She had an infectious laugh, a generous nature and never missed the opportunity to have a party. Her spontaneous spirit, her courage, irreverence and love of the ridiculous brought people together.
She is survived by her two children, Benjamin Keeney and Dorigen Keeney, and many friends. She was buried on her farm in Marshfield, next to Len and her horse Hannah.
If you wish to honor her, send money to an animal rescue organization or throw a dinner party, or both.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2023.