L&C Visiting Artist Lecture Series to Feature Former Post-Dispatch Photographer Odell Mitchell Jr.

Godfrey – Photographer/artist Odell Mitchell Jr. will be the featured speaker at the next Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Wed., Oct. 16, at Lewis and Clark Community College.

Sponsored by 1^st MidAmerica Credit Union, this free, public event will be held at 12:30 p.m. inside the Hatheway Cultural Center’s Ann Whitney Olin Theatre.

“I hope people will take away from the lecture the importance of photography,” said L&C Associate Professor of Art Angela Hung, who coordinates the series. “Photographers document the history and tell important and everyday stories.”

Mitchell became interested in photography at age 17 when an older brother brought a camera back from Vietnam. He’s been taking photographs ever since.

He is a native of East St. Louis, Illinois, and a graduate of East St. Louis Senior High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and mass communications from Iowa State University, with an emphasis on visual communications.

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Mitchell’s first job as a staff photographer was at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, and later he worked as an award-winning photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 24 years. He now focuses on his freelance photography business and teaching.

“I like to thank Bob Huber for giving me my first job teaching at Blackburn College because I didn’t realize how much fun it was going to be,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell lives in O’Fallon, Illinois, with his wife Linda. They have two adult children, Aviva Jaye, a musician, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Odell III, an attorney and consultant, who lives in Chicago with his wife Hilary and two daughters, Eleanor and Estelle.

See more of Mitchell’s work at http://www.odellmitchelljrphoto.com/.

For more information about the series and other upcoming artists, visit www.lc.edu/visitingartists.

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