Graduating art and design students come together to showcase their artwork before leaving UW-Eau Claire. The theme for their last exhibition is “Limitless.”

From Dec. 1-17, artwork from eight graduating seniors will be on display at the Foster Art Gallery in Haas Fine Arts Center. These students will be receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree.

Nancy Lor, one of the eight seniors in the show, is an art illustration student. She is exhibiting a series of digital paintings called Mythical Creatures. Lor’s work explores a fascination around the idea of magical creatures existing in the real world.

“My work in the gallery represents me because it has this childlike feeling to it, especially from my sculpture piece because a purple dragon is something you would imagine a child doing rather than an adult,” Lor said.

Lor uses a combination of mythology and environmental/animal issues to challenge the viewer. She uses digital painting to create her artwork.

“My favorite piece would be the “Chimera” painting because I have used this digital painting before last semester and had changed its background and the creature itself a few times,” Lor said. “So it is one piece that I spent a lot of time with and have grown to love.”

Digital painting is used by a few of the seniors exhibiting artwork in the BFA show. Christine Sydow is a drawing and painting student who also uses digital painting.

“My work is currently melding painting with sculpture,” Sydow said. “By combining the two mediums, an experience is created that is not often prevalent in traditional paintings.”

Sydow said after she graduates she wants to continue to work on her artistry skills before pursuing a career.

Sydow also created a digital light sculpture, which could be easily missed when walking into the gallery. In the back of the gallery there is a black curtain, and beyond it lies a dark room with in which colorful reflections of light bounce off the walls.

Navigating down the back wall, you will find Brannon Jordan’s graphic design artwork. Jordan is a graphic design student. His work, “Beauty Through Design,” shows a series of halftone images composed of colored dots to form images.

“My art work, especially in this show, promotes equality, positivity and progressive thinking,” Jordan said. “This body of work exemplifies female sexuality and how a woman’s sexuality shouldn’t be a deciding factor of the amount of respect a man gives them.”

Jordan said he suggests to look at his work up close and then take a step back to see the image as a whole. The message Jordan is portraying is very clear once it is viewed from afar, he said.

“A woman being more open and free with her sexuality is not by any means a justification for men to treat them as only sexual objects and objects of beauty for their male gaze,” Jordan said.

Jordan says his platform as an artist in this show allows his voice to be heard for important issues.

Elly West is a photography student and is also in the BFA show. West said her photography allows her to share her struggles in life through art and surrealism.

“I think that my pieces tell a story about who I am as a person and also my future as an artist,” West said.  

The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.