On Tuesday, March 11, the faculty and staff from the UW-Platteville art program shared their artwork during the opening reception of “Light: A UW-Platteville Art Faculty Exhibition” in Nohr Gallery. This annual faculty exhibition encourages the UW-Platteville art instructors to create artwork within their area of expertise based on a common theme which may be incorporated into their artwork any way they wish. This year, they investigated “light.”
“Light is essential and endlessly varied,” said Dr. Tyler Ostergaard, associate professor of art history with the Department of Performing and Visual Arts. “It allows for vision, personal discovery, reflection and growth. Light is the spark of creation.”
This year’s faculty show includes artworks by seven UW-Platteville art instructors, including Gregory Nelson, Letha Kelsey, Steve Yunck, Scott Steder, Jacob Bautista, Kyle Martin and Justin Bergin. While gallery guests may expect an exhibit of flashing lights and neon signs, this year’s faculty show captures the light theme throughout various fine arts media, including but not limited to photography, digital illustration, ceramics, painting and printmaking by art faculty members from both the main and UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County campuses. The art within the exhibit interprets light broadly, from investigations of value and the adage “as light as a feather” to its use as a metaphor for a person’s inner light and greater self-awareness.
“Light posed an intriguing opportunity for me to explore the phenomenon of soluble alkaline metal migration,” said Scott Steder, a ceramics instructor with the Department of Performing and Visual Arts in reference to his ceramic stoneware installation, Sodium Migration. “Sodium specifically has the ability to trap carbon in the surface of glaze. I used this understanding of the material and thoughtfully controlled its deposition on the work to create contrast and shifts of value.”
While Steder chose to utilize his glazes like a chemist to manipulate light values within his final piece, for Kyle Martin, an art instructor at the UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County campus, color and light play an essential role when creating his impressionist-style paintings.
“As a landscape painter, the light is very important to me. It is probably more important than subject matter,” said Martin.
Martin’s numerous oil paintings on display celebrate his Midwestern roots. While his subjects vary, as a plein air painter, he often works on location, observing first-hand how light manipulates the colors and composition of the Midwestern landscape.
“I would like people to enjoy the different interpretations of light that are present in the Faculty Show,” said Martin. “In my work, I would like them to consider the idea of light as a subject matter. When you paint the light, you can paint anything under the sun.”
“Light: A UW-Platteville Art Faculty Exhibition” is open to the public most weekdays from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. until Friday, April 4, 2025. The Harry and Laura Nohr Gallery is in the lower level of Ullsvik Hall on the UW-Platteville main campus.