The late Larry Field Tack, Class of 1921, made his living in the printing business, but his true passion was art.
“He was always doodling,” says Elaine Tack, his granddaughter. “He would carry a camera around his neck in a brown leather case and take photos of things he would later paint.”
A trustee emeritus, Tack founded Canfield & Tack printing company in Rochester, N.Y., in 1926 and painted as a hobby. After his death in 1981, his family discovered a trove of his textured, scenic oil paintings in his basement studio; his work had never been exhibited or sold.
That changed in July, when 18 of Tack’s paintings, donated by Elaine, were part of a month-long exhibition at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton, N.Y. Proceeds from the exhibition will support arts programming at the center — a fitting tribute, she says. “I decided the best way to let Papa Larry’s gift of art live on was to sell [his paintings] for the benefit of future budding artists.”