LANDSCAPE ARTIST TO BE FEATURED AT UNIVERSITY MUSEUM 1991 SHOW

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Paintings and pastels by Mary Stephanie Naunheim will be featured at the first exhibit of the new year at the Southeast Missouri State University Museum.

The exhibit opens today and runs through Jan. 25. A reception will be held Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. at the museum.

The exhibit is called "Landscapes: A Personal View of Sky, Land and Water."

Naunheim, who holds a master's degree in painting and drawing from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, said her paintings are not meant to depict the exactness of nature, but to express her own personal views of the landscape.

"The landscape is a spiritual marriage between God, man and nature," she said. "And it's beauty never ceases to inspire and amaze me with its intricate forms and magnificent and ever-changing color.

"In my endeavor to create a particular mood in my work, I sometimes use arbitrary color instead of local color. In this series I have used the sky, land and water as my inspiration for creative expression."

Naunheim, of Florissant, has been showing her art since her years as an undergraduate at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her latest shows have been at the Garret Gallery in Normandy in August, the Towata Gallery in Alton, Ill. in May, and the 66th Annual Watercolor and Pastel Show in St. Louis.

"It is my wish to bring some measure of peace and joy into the lives of the viewer, if only for a few precious moments, through artistic expression," she said.