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Point Park University welcomes the public to Visions of Europe, an exhibition of paintings, drawing and pastels by celebrated American artists Frank Herbert Mason, John Del Monte, Lois McCune and Carol Begley. The show in the Lawrence Hall Gallery is open now through August 2011.

Jack Tomayko, a member of the Point Park University Board of Trustees and Conservatory of Performing Arts Advisory Board member, planned the exhibition.

"American artists for years have traveled to Europe to paint in the same venues as the great masters. This exhibition reflects that continuing trend," says Tomayko, an avid art collector. The four artists are connected by their travels and their ties to western Pennsylvania, he notes.

Visions of Europe featured artists

Frank Herbert Mason (1921-2009) is one of the most acclaimed American artists of our time. Drawing upon techniques of the old masters, his works include landscapes, figures, still life and religious subjects. His portraiture is in the tradition of Rembrandt. Mason is the subject of a new documentary film, A Light in the Dark: the Art and Life of Frank Mason, being released this spring. He continues to influence artists throughout the world through ArtWatch International, which he helped to create to encourage public participation in art conservation issues. In 2009, Point Park University organized an exhibition of Mason's works to launch the Lawrence Hall Gallery.

John Del Monte is an American artist and teacher whose techniques are reminiscent to Leonardo DaVinci and other master artists. Del Monte started a drawing and painting course in Lucca, Italy more than 40 years ago for students from around the world. His courses include hands-on experience preparing paper for oils and color mixing in a centuries-old tradition. His work has been shown in the Museo della Memoria in Barga, Italy and other museums and galleries in Italy and the United States. Del Monte also taught at Carnegie Mellon University.

Lois McCune is an American artist whose works include portraiture, still life and landscapes. She began her formal training at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and went on to study at the Art Students League, the National Academy of Design and the institutions. A native Pittsburgher, McCune returned to her hometown in the 1970s and now works from her studio in Aspinwall. Her art is on display at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Shadyside Academy, Fox Chapel Country Day School, Allegheny General Hospital and McGee Women's Hospital.

Carol Volz Begley is an impressionist plein air artist with a passion for drawing and painting. For the past eleven years she has traveled abroad and painted the landscapes of Brittany, France, Spain, Belgium, England and Italy. Back in western Pennsylvania, she teaches classes to adults and children in her art studio in Beaver, Pa. Begley has participated in juried and group shows nationally and locally, including at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Her paintings are in a number of private collections.