Bio
Kerry was raised in Farmington, Utah and spent his high school years in Atlanta, Georgia and Provo, Utah. After graduating from high school, he moved with his family to Spring City, Utah–a sleepy town in the central part of the state that has preserved the atmosphere of a traditional Mormon village. It was here that he discovered his favorite sites and subjects for painting: the fields, trees, and mountains of the arid but cultivated Utah landscape.
After studying art with Osral Allred and Carl Purcell for a year at Snow College, Kerry pursued a B.F.A. at Utah State, working with Adrian Van Sutchlen, Glenn Edwards, and Chris Terry. In recent years, he has benefitted from the mentorship of another Utah artist, Michael Workman. Kerry’s work has also been influenced by the paintings of Brad Aldridge, Gary Earnest Smith, Doug Fryer, Donald Jurney, Corot, George Inness, Winslow Homer, Maynard Dixon, and Richard Schmid.
Kerry’s studio space is in Orem; he is a professor in the Humanities and American Studies programs at Brigham Young University.
Medium and Method
Kerry's paintings are oil on board. He likes to paint plein air occasionally, but creates most of his works in the studio using his own photos of the farming land in central Utah. His favorite times for finding reference material are the golden hours of early morning and dusk when shadows are long and the colors are rich.
Kerry makes his own frames, hand-carving motifs that are borrowed from early twentieth century Arts and Crafts designs. They are finished with real silver or pale gold leaf and antiquing glazes.
