Submitted by Berry College
ROME — The Berry College Moon Gallery will continue its yearlong showcase of alumni artwork Jan. 19 through Feb. 12 with an exhibition of photographs by Owen Riley Jr., a South Carolina-based artist and photojournalist who earned his bachelor’s degree from Berry in 1980. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment. An opening reception is planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19. Call 770-236-2219 for more information.
Currently a graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree on full scholarship at Clemson University, Riley is a photojournalist with 25 years of experience, 22 of which were spent as photographer and later chief photographer for The Greenville News and Greenvilleonline.com. His award-winning images have been used to illustrate stories about politics, sporting events, disasters and many other subjects. He continues to work for the paper on a part-time basis while pursuing his master’s degree and also serves as the primary home photographer for another Greenville-based publication, Talk Magazine. Other notable publications for which he has worked include the America 24/7 book project.
Riley’s work has been published in national, international and regional books and has been showcased in numerous galleries and private collections. Examples of his photography are included in the permanent collections of both the Greenville Fine Arts Center and the Greenville Art Museum.
While a student at Berry, Riley completed a residential photography program in fine art black and white photography at the Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockport. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean, including a 4,000-mile bicycle trip across the United States. He worked at the National 4-H Center in Washington, D.C., before attending graduate school in magazine writing at The Henry Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. While at UGA, he completed an internship with the Foxfire Press in Northwest Georgia. It was this experience that convinced him to pursue a career as a fulltime photojournalist and artist.
Riley lives with his wife, Beth Nachman Riley, and their 11-year-old daughter, Clara Riley.
