Expatriate art exhibit opens Sunday

The University of Southern Indiana's McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries will feature the work of photographer David Kegel and painter Paul LaJeunesse, two American artists whose work was inspired by living in England and Iceland, respectively.

The exhibition, In Northern Light:  The Expatriate Art of David Kegel and Paul LaJeunesse, will open with a free public reception from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, September 14. The artists will give a brief gallery talk at 2 p.m. The exhibition continues through October 26.

LaJeunesse was the spring 2014 USI Art Department visiting artist and Kegel is a guest of the fall 2014 visiting artist series. He will present a free public slide lecture titled "Art Therapy and the Artist" at 6 p.m. Monday, September 15, in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center.

LaJeunesse is a realist painter who earned his MFA in painting at Bowling Green State University and his BFA in drawing from Missouri State University. He has taught at the university level in Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Georgia.  His artwork has been featured in numerous exhibits in the U.S. and Japan.  From September 2007 to January 2008 he was artist in residence at the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists in Reykjavik and at the Herhúsiô Artist Residency in Siglufjordur, Iceland. The paintings in this exhibit are a result of his time in Iceland.

Kegel is an art therapist and photographer who has worked actively in both fields in the United States and the United Kingdom. He was born in Evansville, attended Bosse and Harrison High Schools, and earned his BFA degree in Fine Arts from the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. Kegel continued his education at the University of Louisville, earning an MA in expressive therapies and family therapy. He worked in various mental health and correctional settings as a practicing mental health professional for 38 years.

Kegel and his wife Alvera were recruited to work as social workers in the United Kingdom in 2005. It was there that his artistic interests were rekindled through the photographic medium. He became a member of the world's oldest photography association, the Leeds Photographic Society, and was granted membership into The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in 2012.  His street, fashion and street and portrait photography has been exhibited in the in invitational and competitive exhibitions in the U.K..  He and his wife returned to the states in 2014. This is his first exhibit in the U.S.

The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries, located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 812-228-5006 or Kathryn Waters, USI professor of art and director of the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries, at 812-464-1933.