The Ruth Foster Gallery in Haas Fine Arts Center at UW-Eau Claire is hosting a senior exhibition for senior bachelor of fine arts students.

According to their website, the Ruth Foster Gallery is the largest gallery in Eau Claire and is free for students and the community for receptions, viewings, presentations and art shows. From April 28 to May 14, the “Bringing to Light” exhibition will be in the gallery.

The gallery consists of 10 bachelor of fine arts students who are displaying their capstone projects for the next two weeks. 

Amanda Bulger, an arts and design lecturer at UW-Eau Claire and the gallery director, said the students have been working on these projects for the past semester, some having started at the beginning of the fall semester.

“They had to design a capstone project, knowing that it was going to be installed in the gallery. So some of them have been working with their faculty advisors for the past year, some of them just started this semester, designing their project and actually executing it,” Bulger said.

According to Bulger, these students have been working these past few months on designing their projects, writing artists’ statements and displaying their works with specialized lighting and placements within the gallery.

The exhibition began on April 28, and an opening reception was held from 5-6 p.m. to invite students and the community to see the artwork and meet the artists themselves, according to a UW-Eau Claire arts news article.

Jules Lawler, a fourth-year illustration student, is one of the artists in the exhibition who was at the reception. Her artwork consisted of five digital illustration prints depicting a variety of seahorse species. She said getting her work displayed was a rewarding experience.

“I think it’s pretty cool because this is actually my first time showing up in this Foster Gallery and it was pretty nice to have it here,” Lawler said.

Dawson Wodsedalek, a fifth-year graphic design student, is another artist in the gallery who was at the reception. His artwork consisted of larger posters based on optical art, focusing on color and space. 

He said the capstone and the gallery were both new and good experiences to learn about what goes into art and an exhibition.

“The main idea you start with is rarely ever the final product,” Wodsedalek said. “You just kind of got to trust yourself and be patient with that whole process. It usually never turns out the way you imagined it the first time.”

According to the event article, the other eight artists in the exhibition are Gabriella Goldstein, David Lauritzen, Hailey Christianson, Heather Lane, Mallory Studer, Brooklyn Kirchner, Rachel Schofield and Maren Bulovsky.

“Bringing to Light” is the last exhibition in the Ruth Foster Gallery for the semester, open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4:30 p.m. on weekends.

According to Bulger, the Ruth Foster Gallery is already planning its next exhibition for the fall. This is set to be a national exhibition with artwork and poetry, the event titled “Exchanges.” The gallery is accepting submissions until July 1. More information can be found on the event page.

Fisher can be reached at [email protected].