UW-Oshkosh alumna and an exhibition sponsor Holly (Luedeke) Kowalski ’97 , left, and Ping Li, wife of the late Li Hu, take a seat among his sculptural works during the opening of the retrospective, A Tribute to Li Hu: Celebrating a Visionary Legacy, at the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton.

The hum of conversation filled the Trout Museum of Art on a crisp fall evening as colleagues, former students, friends and family gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of Li Hu, beloved UW-Oshkosh emeritus art professor.

The event, A Tribute to Li Hu, brought together a ribbon cutting for the museum’s newly named Li Hu Lecture Hall, a panel discussion and a major retrospective exhibition—each highlighting the artist’s continued impact on art and education throughout the region. Li died in April of 2016.

Ping Li, Hu’s wife, reflected on the moment.

“It’s such an honor that Li Hu’s former student Holly Kowalski was able to honor him at the new Trout Museum of Art with the naming of the Li Hu Lecture Hall,” said Li, a UW Oshkosh College of Nursing, Health Professions & STEM instructor and clinical informatics manager at Aurora Health Care. “It’s wonderful to see Li’s legacy and vision continue to be carried on by his students in their teaching and mentoring the younger generation.”

Born in Shanghai, China, in 1950, Li Hu’s early life was marked by hardship. Pulled from school during the Cultural Revolution, he continued his studies by candlelight and eventually earned a degree from Shanghai University Fine Arts College in 1986. After teaching in China, he and Ping Li moved to the United States in the early 1990s, where he pursued a master’s in fine arts and began exhibiting his work across the country.

He joined the UW-Oshkosh art department in 1994, where he taught painting and drawing for nearly two decades, eventually becoming an endowed professor and later professor emeritus. His meticulous skill, gentle humor and unshakable optimism inspired countless students.

“Li Hu was such a dedicated, accomplished artist, art professor, mentor, father and husband,” Ping Li said. “Some of the stories his students shared such as recognizing their talent, encouraging them to pursue their passion, teaching them how to hold their paint brush, re-touching their classroom painting assignments, were just so wonderful and heartwarming memories.” 

On view at the Trout Museum of Art through Jan. 4, 2026, A Tribute to Li Hu: Celebrating a Visionary Legacy brings together key works from across Hu’s career. The exhibition highlights his artistic development over several decades and reflects the range of themes and techniques he explored throughout his life. 

The retrospective also acknowledges the scope of Hu’s career: He held more than 40 solo exhibitions and participated in over 100 juried shows around the world, and his paintings are included in both public and private collections.

Singh Across Wisconsin has stop at the Trout Museum

UWO Chancellor Manohar Singh will be on hand at the Trout Museum of Art from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, as part of his Singh Across Wisconsin tour. He’ll visit the Li Hu exhibition and meet community partners, alumni and donors and fill them in on his vision for UWO’s future. Registration for the event is available at https://www.uwosh.edu/chancellor/singh-across-wi/

Celebrating Hu’s legacy

Kowalski, ’97, a former student of Hu’s, is one of the main donors whose generosity made the newly named Trout lecture hall possible.

“Professor Li Hu’s enthusiasm for teaching, passion for painting and belief in his students gave me the confidence to see myself with a successful career in the creative field,” said Kowalski, owner and chief executive officer of Kay James Design, owner and chief marketing officer of Inveritax, and board member of The Trout Museum of Art. “His encouragement and energy about the power of storytelling left a lasting mark on my life and career. Naming the lecture hall in his honor is my way of saying thank you and passing on his message that we are all capable of more than we realize.”

Kowalski, who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in design with a minor in journalism, took several of Li’s classes, including watercolor painting and life drawing. She recalled how his teaching style extended beyond technique. 

“Li Hu encouraged problem solving,” she said. “When tempted to quit and start over because of a mistake, he insisted that I work with the challenge to find a different way.”

During the tribute event, a panel moderated by Kowalski featured several of Li Hu’s former students—Jacob Dhein, a professional artist based in Spain; Hans Habeger, assistant art professor at the College of Lake County in Illinois; Teresa Lind, a Wisconsin-based sculptor and freelance artist; Andrew Redington, art professor; and Elina Hu, daughter of Li Hu and an MIT graduate now living in San Francisco, California.

“It was a greatly deserved and proper honoring of a colleague and friend who dedicated his life to his art and the teaching of his students,” said Redington, who taught alongside Li at UW Oshkosh. “His biography and work have been included in more than 20 books, and the lecture room naming is a continuation of a testament to the impact he had on the people who knew him.”

Redington said he was reminded of Li’s optimism and warmth both in his artwork and in his life. 

“Outside of academia, Li Hu and I connected over gardening,” he said. “His garden was always highly organized and impeccable. He used much of what he grew for his cooking, which he also loved to do. When I asked him why he spent so much time tending his garden, he said simply, ‘Because a person who plants seeds and tends to them exhibits hope.’ Li Hu was a perpetual optimist.”

The Li Hu Art Student Scholarship was established in 2015, shortly after Li’s cancer diagnosis, when he and Ping met with the UW Oshkosh Foundation to ensure his commitment to students would continue. Since 2016, one art student each year has received the award.

“With the Trout Museum Tribute to Li Hu event, we were able to raise $3,000 for the scholarship fund in a short time,” Ping said. “We hope to raise enough for the Li Hu Art Student Scholarship to become self-sustaining—able to generate enough each year to support one or more art students.”

Ping also credited former student Jon Wos, a successful Wisconsin-based artist, for helping renew awareness and support for the fund. “Jon reached out to Li’s former students and alumni to encourage more contributions toward the scholarship,” she said.

“Currently we are giving out one Art Student Scholarship each year,” Ping added. “Former art student recipients have written back to us appreciating the scholarship amount and the award, which allowed them to further pursue their passion in art and their dreams in life.”

Anyone interested in donating to the Li Hu Art Student Scholarship may visit:

https://www.uwosh.edu/foundation/fund-search/giving-page/?BBFund=875

Examining Li Hu’s works

Exhibition: Displayed through  Jan. 4, 2026

Gallery: Bank of Kaukauna Wing, Frank C. Shattuck Gallery, Trout Museum of Art, 325 E College Ave, Appleton, WI 54911

Sponsors: Bill and Christine Aylward; Richard and Amy Jo Aylward; Dr. Peter Johnson; Holly Kowalski; Dr. Michael and Stephanie Vrabec 

 

Learn more: 

Study Art at UWO
A Tribute to Li Hu: Celebrating a Visionary Legacy