BIOGRAPHY

Keri Mortimer was born in 1975 in Saginaw, Michigan. She remained there for her entire childhood with her older sister and their parents; Christine (a public school teacher) and Ronald (a factory worker with some education in commercial art).

As a young child, Keri showed no more interest in art than any other child, preferring, instead to obsessively collect, document and hide jars of pennies. Neither did a clear interest emerge as she became a young adult. She bounced from one community college to another, studying a wide range of topics. Bit by bit, she found herself moving toward a strictly artistic education. With a clearer goal, she moved to Detroit and enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies / College of Art and Design (now the College for Creative Studies). It was there that she studied Fine Art Painting under such distinguished instructors as Gilda Snowden, Joseph Wesner and Joseph Bernard.

Keri filled her canvases with her insecurity, made manifest in her fear of flying, of stoves left burning, of anything out of her control. Around her were works concerned with the pressing issues of the day while she obsessed about health and home.

After earning a bachelor's degree in 1999, Keri moved to Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, Kevin Skinner. She remains there today where she continues to produce new work in her home studio.

Education:

5/99 * Center for Creative Studies/College of Art and Design
Detroit, MI * BFA * Fine Art

Exhibitions and Honors:

1995/96/97 * CCS/CAD Merit Scholarship * Detroit, MI

5/98 * Annual Michigan Artists Show * Paint Creek Center for the Arts * Rochester, MI

6/98 * U245 Gallery * Milk and Cookies * Two Person Show * Detroit, MI

4/01 * Spaces Gallery * Annual Roundup Show * Cleveland, OH

5/02 * American Greetings Annual Spring Fine Art Show * Cleveland,OH * Jurors Award Recipient

12/02 * Thirteen Hundred Gallery * The Toy Show * Group Show * Cleveland, OH

4/03 * Thirteen Hundred Gallery * Small Doses * Group Show * Cleveland, OH

9/03 * Art-O-Mat Project * Contributing Artist * Winston-Salem, NC

* Numerous Private Collections

Related Experience:

6/97-8/97 and 6/98-8/98 * Art on the Move Program * Detroit Institute of the Arts * Art teacher (Grades 9-12) * Detroit, MI

6/97-8/97 and 6/98-8/98 * JCC Summer Camp * Art Teacher (Grades K-5) * Oak Park, MI

7/01-6/02 * American Greetings WHQ * Product Planning, Design, Illustration * Cleveland, OH

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