Her studio is located in Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center on the Lower East Side where she is surrounded by art and culture. During the spring, Coffey teaches art in Chicago where she is a professor of painting at Chicago Institute of Art. In addition to portraiture, Coffey paints night landscapes. Currently, she is involved in putting together a book of these night paintings. The book, she says, is “a small meditation on night” to which writers have contributed their words as a companion to the paintings. In the current political climate, Coffey says she has a difficult time orienting her work. She is determined to paint her way until she finds what’s next. […]