Vernon Cheek This is Me

Education

 View all 10 references Web References

1. 1. Carnegie Center for Art & History

   www.carnegiecenter.org/exhibit - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/25/2006   Last Visited: 11/12/2007

   Vernon Cheek, juror for the exhibition, is professor emeritus of visual and performing arts at Purdue University. His many accomplishments include a Fulbright scholarship to teach photography in India. Cheek's works are in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, as well as private collections in the United States and Japan.

2. 2. Gallery Walk - Downtown Lafayette

   www.lafayette-in.com/gallerywa - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/3/2001   Last Visited: 8/31/2002

   "Vernon Cheek: Time Lines" "Select Works from the Akeley Collection" Purdue University professor emeritus of photography, Vernon Cheek, has had a distinguished career as both an artist and educator. He has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, was a Fulbright lecturer in Bombay, India and is in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. Refreshments 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm.
   
   Artists' Own 518B Main Street ~ 765.429.4478 10:00 am - 10:00 pm "Artists-in-Action"

3. 3. The Exponent - features

   www.purdueexponent.org/interfa - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/13/2002   Last Visited: 12/12/2002

   PICS: Vernon Cheek, founder and former professor of the photography program at Purdue, displays his photographs at the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, 101 S. Ninth St., Lafayette.
   
   ...
   Vernon Cheek, founder and former professor of the photography program at Purdue, decided at this moment, as a freshman in high school, that his passion in life would be photography.
   
   "I just couldn't believe it. His body was so still, I thought only magic could create such an image," Cheek said.
   
   Almost six decades later, Cheek will present his latest exhibition in photography from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, 101 S. Ninth St. in Lafayette.
   
   The exhibit is free and open to the public.
   
   ...
   "Vernon's work is very well-respected.
   ...
   The exhibit, which is titled "Vernon Cheek: Time Lines," will be on display until October 27 and features a wide array of photographs with educational and humorous descriptions beneath each piece.
   
   Cheek's artistic inspirations range all the way from ancient Greek philosophers to famous baseball players.
   
   "Beneath some of my photographs you'll find quotes from William Faulkner,
   
   Socrates and even Yogi Berra," Cheek said.
   
   Cheek was born in Berkeley, Calif., but was raised primarily in Chicago and
   
   Albion, Mich. He started in photography when he was eight years old, taking pictures of landscapes and other still life.
   
   Cheek pursued a career in photography until he reached Albion College, when he learned photography was not offered as a major plan of study.
   
   After studying fine art at Albion, political science and history at Pomona
   
   College in California and serving in the Korean War, Cheek went to graduate school at Alfred University in New York to study ceramics.
   
   At Alfred, Cheek finally found his first formal course in photography, a weekly one-hour seminar in photography criticism. The course motivated Cheek to leave Alfred for the Institute of Design in Chicago.
   
   Cheek studied under famous photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the institute, and in 1962 was offered a job at Purdue with the promise that he could start a photography program.
   
   During Cheek's 40 years of teaching at Purdue, he has lectured in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and Boston, as well as being a Fulbright lecturer at the Center for Photographic Arts in Bombay, India.
   
   Cheek is retired but is still in pursuit of his goals in photography, one of which he described as perceiving the difference between seeing and looking.
   
   "I can look at a cat, but what I see is molded by my experiences - my joys and my pains," he said.
   
   Cheek travels all over United States waterways in a boat to take pictures. He is also in the process of opening a business called metaFore, which will specialize in custom digital printing for students, businesses and others in the Lafayette area.
   
   For man in his late '60s, Cheek still passionately pursues what he considers a pure art form.
   
   "I believe photography lies somewhere between poetry and prose," he said.
   
   Headlines
   
   Miss Indiana prepares for national pageant
   
   Hovercrafts to stop in area before competition