THE EXPERIENCE:
First, take an idea and think of every possible perspective from which to approach it. Now, choose media that seems appropriate to each facet of that idea, no matter how disparate they appear on the surface.

Maybe it's a series of pen and ink drawings within a three-dimensional environment that you've constructed. In the corner, a monitor plays a looped DVD, a four-dimensional representation of your drawings. Sound emanates from hidden speakers.

Or, how about this...

A series of books rest on handcarved, stone pedestals. Welded, steel mounts hold the delicate handbound books, each one labeled with a single word on the cover. Inside, hand embossed text meshes with black and white photographs that have been layered with screenprinted images. A simple pair of black headphones hang from the side of each pedestal and a small, white card indicates that the viewer should put them on. Through the headphones, a voice reads parts of the text from the books. Suddenly, this has become an experience.

ISA is as much about connection and experience as it is about skill.

Integrated Studio Arts [ISA] is the think-outside-of-the-box, boundary blurring, sometimes messy, always intense discipline at MIAD. Whether you're interested in connecting the drawing and painting majors in order to further your drawing skills in preparation for painting, or you want to build installation pieces that are as much about photography as they are sculpture, the choices are yours to make.

Beginning in the sophomore year, you are given a framework to create a unique, individualized curriculum. With five fine-arts disciplines to choose from, possibilities abound when it comes to constructing the core coursework of the ISA major. Add in studio electives from any of the majors, and your opportunities to pursue a variety of skills and media are endless. As a junior and senior ISA student, you continue building within the framework, opening yourself up to advanced fine-art studio courses. Additionally, senior students work on a Thesis Project for most of the year, creating a substantial body of work for the Thesis Exhibition in spring.

All fine-arts facilities are open to ISA students. An extensive printmaking department, a newly renovated photography area with digital workstations and high-end photo printers, a sculpture lab with facilities for welding, casting, stone carving and more, as well as large drawing and painting workrooms, are all at your fingertips. Additionally, ISA students have access to the 3-D lab, a wood, metal, and plastic tool shop, located on the river-side of the first floor of MIAD.

This is not about dabbling. It's not about skimming the surface.

At MIAD, the goal of ISA is not to make you a jack-of-all-trades, but rather to give you specific tools and experiences related to the kind of artwork you want to make. You will be pushed and challenged to develop your ideas in-depth, as well as formalize your thinking into interdisciplinary imagery. In ISA, the faculty are committed to helping students realize their visions. You'll be encouraged to find and explore media most appropriate to your ideas, and through a disciplined, and largely self-motivated, studio practice, your concepts will become reality.

This is not for the weak at heart.