Marion Countian at MSU "shooting" with photography pros

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--An artistic image created by a Mississippi State University junior will be featured later this month as part of a month-long national exhibition in Colorado.

"Stilts" by art/photography major Robin E. Perkins of Columbia is among only 51 works selected for the Center for Fine Art Photography's 2007 Alternative Processes Exhibition in Ft. Collins. The showing takes place Aug. 24-Sept. 22.

"Stilts" was created from a holga camera and produced as a silver gelatin print.

Perkins was introduced to the holga--an inexpensive, medium-format plastic camera--in a photography course taught by veteran professor Marita Gootee, whose own creative images have received widespread international recognition.

After completing Gootee's course, Perkins--a President's and Dean's lists scholar--took advantage of a student exchange program to enroll at Sonoma State University for the spring semester. She created the featured image while attending the Rohnert Park, Calif., school.

Now enrolled in MSU summer school, Perkins returns to the Golden State this fall to spend a semester at California State University, East Bay in Hayward. In the spring, the daughter of William and Lisa Perkins will be back in Starkville to complete her degree work.

"Robin is an excellent student and a very talented photographer," said Gootee. "Her future is bright; she is an artist who should be watched.

"Not many students can compete with professionals, but she has," Gootee observed.

Located at Ft. Collins' Museum of Contemporary Art, the Center for Fine Art Photography seeks to promote the art of photography through exhibitions, international publications and public education programs.

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact Professor Gootee at 662-325-3039 or gootee@ra.msstate.edu.

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Center for Fine Arts Photography exhibitions may be viewed via www.C4FAP.org.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.