By Barbara
Baker
As a new school year opens at
Northeastern Junior College, so does a new year of art exhibits on display in
the Peter L. Youngers Fine Art Gallery in E.S. French Hall. A solid line up of
good artistic talent will make its way to Sterling from Denver and other
destination. To open this year’s gallery schedule, a beautiful display of
photography by Andrew Kelley of Denver is now on display.
An outdoor photographer
specializing in images of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Kelley’s share
with the viewer how he sees the world; what he finds striking, powerful,
evocative, or interesting. In his words, he describes sharing the sense of
wonder from a late-afternoon
thunderstorm on the shortgrass prairie, a
flock of snow geese flying out of the dawn color at Bosque del
Apache, or the morning light silhouetting a
flock of sandhill cranes at Monte Vista. In short, he
says, his work is meant to speak to his audience and say, “This is what moves me
about the world, and here’s why.” His photography has been featured in
magazines around the world. Kelley, who is the brother of Nate Kelley who is the
sports medicine program director at Northeastern and the athletic trainer on
duty for NJC athletics, is a Colorado native and a longtime resident of
Denver.
“I grew up photographing in
Rocky Mountain National Park and the Rockies with my dad,” he says. “I’ve spent
countless days hiking and camping in the mountains and the marvelous,
unpopulated prairies in northern Colorado. Though it sounds ever-so-slightly
dorky, my now-wife and I even went on dates to Rocky Mountain National Park. We
would buy dinner in Estes Park, and then drive into Horseshoe Park to watch the
sunset and the elk. When I started ‘serious’ photography, I naturally gravitated
to photographing the same animals and landscapes that I grew up
enjoying.”
Andrew Kelley says that
because he photographs the natural world, authenticity is critical to what he
does. “However, I am not
a documentary photographer,” he explains. “That means that I will work with
an image to ensure that it captures the world the way I see it — my reaction to
the scene — and not the way that the camera sees it. I would never alter the
natural history of a photograph or make it inauthentic. I want to show something
about my reaction to the world, not make digital photo art.” This artist’s work
has been on display and sold at a number of galleries in Colorado this year
including ones in Castle Rock, Denver, Evergreen, Boulder, Frisco, Breckenridge
and Monte Vista. His show here in Sterling features about 20 pieces. He has an
excellent website at http://www.andrewkelley.net/
Shows in the Peter L.
Youngers Fine Art Gallery will be coordinated this year by Northeastern’s new
art professor David Wagner, assisted by social
sciences professor Jeff Schiel.
See the
show
Kelley’s show is on
display at the Sterling gallery through September 19th. A closing
reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, September 19th
from 4-5 p.m. in the Peter Youngers Fine Art Gallery. This reception is free and
open to the public. The gallery is also open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m. Monday through Friday. In the event that you would be in the building and
not find the gallery open, you may request that it be opened during normal
business hours by contacting the Liberal Arts office located in the same
building on the same floor.
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