COVER ARTIST KAY BRATHOL-HOSTVET
Kay Brathol-Hostvet is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and has a BFA from the University of Wisconsin–Stout in studio arts. Her primary focus has always been the Wisconsin landscape. Her soft pastels have been described as Contemporary Regionalism—a celebration of the land with a modern aesthetic. Kay’s works are a synthesis of landscape tradition and self-expression—artists George Inness and Martin Johnson Heade have a profound impact on her interest in the emotive landscape. Kay says, “The open expanse of a landscape can personify sincerity; it can also represent personal freedom, or embody loneliness or isolation. The landscape, with its constantly changing light and shadow, weather, and seasons, becomes a metaphor for our emotions. I am particularly interested in the concept of quiet anticipation—an expectant stillness that one feels at certain times of the day.” A combination of sources form Kay’s work: her own photographs taken on photo journeys into the countryside, notes taken on those journeys, and design and value studies in her
64 | Green Lake magazine 2020
