5 tips for staying positive and creative in isolation
Matthew Lee, instructor at MIAD, spent 13 months at the Geographic South Pole for Antarctic winter to learn field medicine and teach watercolor classes. Last Friday during a virtual meetup hosted by the MIAD Innovation Center, he shared about his experience and advice for staying positive and creative in isolation.
1. Connect with people.
In Antarctica, Matthew taught others how to watercolor, watched movies and played trivia together. Technology allows you to be together with others without being in the same room. Take the time, and use technology to talk to friends and family.
2. Don’t count days.
Counting the days was not allowed at the South Pole. This causes a negative outlook and days to seem slow. “Time passes much better if you’re not documenting that way,” says Matthew. “Measure it in terms of projects.”
3. Control your media intake.
On social media, Matthew follows only content that he enjoys. Reducing the amount of negative media you consume and share will help you stay positive along with others around you.
4. Exercise.
“It makes a world of difference. It’s really helpful mentally and physically,” says Matthew. A quick walk around the block or at-home yoga are good examples.
5. Find a project and take time to be more creative.
Finding a project to do gives you a sense of purpose and enables creativity to continue flowing. At the South Pole, Matthew completed graphic design projects; right now, his focus is on MIAD and his students.
News
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.”
Museum Studies class: Hands-on exhibition and career experience
Last fall’s Museum Studies class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) has solidified a career choice for at least one of the 16 students who took it. The class was on the go all semester, visiting museums throughout Milwaukee, meeting with professionals and thinking critically about the role of museums in our society.
Jodi Eastberg: MIAD Vice President for Academic Affairs
Meet Jodi Eastberg, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD)! Dr. Eastberg discusses her vision for MIAD, her experience at the college so far, and some welcome surprises about working in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward neighborhood.
Haggerty Museum of Art features work by MIAD Fine Art professor
A towering column of life-size red-crowned cranes molded out of mulberry pulp has visitors to the Haggerty Museum of Art craning their necks to take in the sculpture. Work by Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Professor Jason S. Yi is featured as part of the Haggerty Museum’s exhibition “This Side of the Stars: Rauschenberg’s “Stoned Moon” in the Company of Kite, Paglen, and Yi.”