Louis Ocepek, artist, graphic designer and professor, was born in Detroit and studied design and fine arts at Wayne State University. Following his graduation in 1964, he attended graduate classes at the Art Institute of Chicago and later the University of Iowa. He began his teaching career in 1967 at Montana State University. In 1971 he accepted a position at Portland State University teaching graphic design and screen printing.

Ocepek became a professor at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in 1985, establishing a flourishing graphic design program, as well as teaching printmaking and other fine art courses. He assisted in establishing the graduate program and served as Department Head for six years. Ocepek was awarded the Westhafer Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000.

He is a dedicated studio artist, working in a variety of media, exhibiting regularly in group and solo exhibitions throughout the country, including solo exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum and the El Paso Museum of Art. His work is included in the public art collections of Oregon, Washington, Texas and New Mexico.

Ocepek’s design work has been included in many publications and exhibitions, including Graphis International and Graphis International Posters, Zurich, Switzerland, the New York Society of Illustrators, and the International Exhibition of Poster Art in Brno, Czechoslovakia. In 2002, his book, Graphic Design: Vision, Process, Product was published by Prentice Hall Incorporated.

In 2021 Ocepek’s solo exhibition titled Nexus, New Work brought drawing, painting and digital imagery together as limited edition prints.