A new exhibit is open inside the Memorial Union. “Joe Lauer: This Land is My Land” is open to the public through July 6 in the Gallery.

Lauer was raised on a small farm in Iowa, and his paitnings depict vase expanses, farm fields and straightforward portraiture of family members, animals and machinery. 

After graduating with a BFA in studio art from the University of Iowa, Lauer earned an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art. He is an art professor at National Park Community College in Hot Springs, Ark. 

Lauer works in oil, and explores the intersections of family, environment and contemporary agriculture. He describes his work as “a juxtaposition of straightforward realism of figure in landscape with more symbolic investigations about the Midwest and America today.” 

The Gallery is located on the third floor of the Memorial Union. For open viewing times, call (515) 296-6848. For more information, visit http://www.sac.iastate.edu/exhibits.