Okmulgee instructor Kelly Kerr's photographs on exhibit

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

View exhibit slideshow... 

(April 30, 2008    Okmulgee, OK) – A photography exhibit by award-winning photographer Kelly Kerr will be held May 1 through June 27 at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology – Okmulgee in the Conoco Gallery in the Student Union.  A reception will be held at 7 p.m. on opening day, May 1, and is open to the public.  The photographs depict life in Oklahoma, people’s emotions and life situations.

Until last year, Kerr was an award-winning newspaper photographer.  Then he decided to share his award-winning photography talents to teach students in the photography program at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology – Okmulgee in the Visual Communications Division.

Before taking the faculty position with OSU, Kerr was a photographer for the Tulsa World, the Fort Smith Southwest Times Record and the Duncan Banner newspapers.  He recently published a book of his photography entitled “Oklahoma Revisited – Out of the Way Faces and Places.”  It has become a bestseller and will be available for purchase and signing at the reception.

Kerr grew up in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, graduating from Ada High School and Oklahoma State University.  He earned a degree in business, expecting to work for his family’s small oil field manufacturing company, but instead turned his passion and talent for photography into a career.

Kerr’s photography exhibit will include color and black-and-white photographs depicting life in Oklahoma and people’s emotions and life situations.  The photos in the exhibit were selected from his book and from those he shot during his career with the Tulsa World.

Mary Dickson, Visual Communications Division Chair, says Kelly’s photographs depict the real people and places of Oklahoma.  “Anyone who has an interest in seeing the personal side of Oklahoma’s rich culture should visit Kelly’s exhibit. He continues our tradition of hiring Oklahoma’s outstanding photographers as faculty.”

The exhibit will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  For more information, call the Visual Communications Division Office at 918-293-5050.