2023 Penfield Poster Competition bolsters professional experience
This year’s Penfield Poster winners have been announced! In collaboration with advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt, 80 juniors at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) designed posters for the Annual Croquet Ball fundraiser at the Penfield Children’s Center, a Milwaukee non-profit organization dedicated to early childhood development, especially for children with developmental delays or disabilities.
The 2023 winners of the poster design contest are Logan Guo ’24 in first place, Paolo Vacala ’24 in second place, Faith Miller ’24 in third place and Camille Curtis ’24 in fourth place. All four winners receive a cash prize. Attendees of the Annual Croquet Ball fundraiser for the Penfield Children’s Center will have the opportunity to purchase the winning designs during the auction.
Guo_Logan_Penfield
Logan Guo, Penfield Poster Competition, 2023
Vacala_Paolo_Penfield
Paolo Vacala, Penfield Poster Competition, 2023.
Miller_Faith_Penfield
Faith Miller, Penfield Poster Competition, 2023
Curtis_Camille_Penfield
Camille Curtis, Penfield Poster Competition, 2023
This long-standing collaboration between Cramer-Krasselt, the Penfield Children’s Center and MIAD benefits not only the Penfield Children’s Center, but also provides valuable real-life experience for MIAD students. Juniors in MIAD’s Illustration IV course create two poster design concepts during the semester, which the creative team at Cramer-Krasselt review and critique. With the help of individual feedback from these professional creatives, students refine their concepts and submit one final poster design for the competition. Winners are selected by Cramer-Krasselt.
A selection of 60 poster designs will be on display and open to the public on MIAD’s first floor in the Community Hub (room 160). Learn more about MIAD’s Communication Design and Illustration majors!
News
MIAD student awarded 1st Place at NARI Student Design Competition
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design junior Paul Budnowski ’27 (Interior Architecture and Design) was awarded 1st Place and Crowd Favorite in the Interior Design Portfolio Contest at the 2026 NARI Spring Home Improvement Show. A select group of students from MIAD,...
MIAD Values Recognition Award: Leslie Fedorchuk
Leslie Fedorchuk, Professor of Writing & Humanities and Director of Service Learning, received the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) MIAD Values Recognition Award for February 2026. Leslie received nominations that highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Integrity, Kindness and Community.
MIAD Innovation Center and MAM provide career experience
Through a partnership with the MIAD Lubar Innovation Center, stunning campaign artwork by a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) once again is helping to launch Art in Bloom – the Milwaukee Art Museum’s annual celebration of art and spring. Illustrations by senior Emily Porven ’26 are both vibrant and subtle, colorful and evocative, capturing the essence of the event.
Nohl Alumni Award propels lasting impact for MIAD professor
Receiving a Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award has both immediate and longer-term impacts for Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Professor Jon Horvath; for himself as an artist, for the arts community and for MIAD students. Horvath, who teaches in MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice major, was one of three artists and one collective recently given the award, which provides $25,000 in unrestricted funds to each.
Arts education lays groundwork for MIAD alum curatorial role
Nikki Ranney ’22 (Illustration), the new curator of the Cedarburg Art Museum, says she “is so grateful that I went through my Bachelor of Fine Arts and got to experience a traditional art education at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design because it laid the groundwork for the more academic side of the curatorial field.”