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Illingworth Holey Kerr (Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts) was born in Lumsden, Saskatchewan in 1905. He studied at the Central Technical School, Toronto, Ontaro in 1924. From 1924 to 1927 Kerr studied with members of the Canadian Group of Seven (Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, Frederick Varley and J.W. Beatty) at the Ontario College of Art - also in Toronto. In the 1930's, he travelled to England and Scotland, working at various times as a writer and diorama painter as well as attending the Westminster School of Art in London in 1936. Upon returning to Canada, Kerr moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, eventually working in the illustration department for the Boeing Aircraft Co. in 1943 and 1944. He taught at the Vancouver School of Art in 1945-1946 and won a Medal for Watercolor in 1946. He moved to Calgary, Alberta to head the Art Department of the Provincial Institute of Technology & Art (later the Alberta College of Art) in 1947. During the summer of 1954, Kerr studied with the abstract expressionist painter, Hans Hoffman. In 1955 and 1957, he attended Emma Lake Workshops. He was awarded a Canada Council Fellowship for study in the U.S. and England in 1960. In 1967, Kerr retired from the Alberta College of Art to paint full time. Kerr received the University of Alberta's Award in Painting and Related Arts in 1975. He was a member of the Alberta Society of Artists. In December 1982 he received the Order of Canada. Flying Carpets and Willows, Forest Reserve, April are fine example's of Illingworth Kerr's mature work as a landscape artist. He has illustrated several books including his own "Gay Dogs and Dark Horses". Illingworth Kerr's career as a painter and teacher has had a lasting and profound effect on the development of art and artists in western Canada. He worked throughout his life to bring the painting of the Canadian prairie landscape to the forefront of national importance. Illingworth Kerr passed away in Calgary, Alberta in 1989.