Milwaukee has its ‘Oscars’ for advertising design, and at this year’s United Adworkers 99 competition for professionals and students, two Communication Design seniors at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) received coveted awards.
For the second year in a row, all five Grilled Cheese Grant finalists—including two Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) students—had their projects fully funded. In its ninth year, the MIAD alumni-run and crowd-funded grant awards funding to artists working in Southern Wisconsin.
Imagine your favorite logo. Chances are good it is written in the Latin alphabet. Now imagine that same logo written in Arabic script. “South through East,” a clothing business started by Marquette University graduate student Mariam Ali, does just that: translating popular logos into Arabic.
A trippy, dreamland adventure with giant insects and skeletons: this is Penelope Bowles’ ode to Milwaukee. Bowles, a senior at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) majoring in the college’s new Animation track, worked with independent clothing brand Unfinished Legacy to create her senior exhibition project, a looping animated sequence meant to play on repeat in a retail space.
“First touch” can mean a lot of things. Think sports and weddings. But also think design. The first touch for Peyton Hartis’ senior project, Tac-Table, occurred during a furniture design project in the Product Design major’s junior year.
Two Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) alums, one of whom is a MIAD professor, and a second professor were among the 25 recipients of a Mountaintop Legacy Award for Black Excellence given by the Milwaukee Chamber Theater (MCT) during its run of The Mountaintop March 8 – 24, 2024.
For Paolo Vacala ’24 (Communication Design), it took stepping back and shifting his attitude to land a post-graduation job with Wizards of the Coast. The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) senior had previously worked with the Lubar Innovation Center to develop a portfolio that resulted in two summer internships with the roleplaying game company.
The transformation of molten metal to solid metal and the opportunity to “experiment and push the boundaries of creation” in the Sculpture Lab at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) have always filled senior Caroline Calvano with “amazement and inspiration.”
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design senior YongXue Hayden (Illustration) believes that “creatives are always the trendsetters of the world. So, in 50 years, I’m sure art and design students will be up on the coolest new tech, fashion trends and latest entertainment.”
Sebastian Wohlt’s passion for rearranging the furniture in his childhood bedroom, and occasionally painting a wall, became a major in Interior Architecture and Design – and a professional goal of residential design – at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD).
When the Milwaukee Bucks chose Black Excellence in the Arts as the theme for their Black History Month game in February, it was natural to continue their ongoing partnerships with MIAD by reaching out to the college for a live art piece to be created at Fiserv Forum.
The ninth annual Grilled Cheese Grant finalists include two Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) students: Stella Kowalski ’24 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice, Illustration) and Makenna Schibler ’25 (Fine Art + NSP). They are two of five finalists who are in the running for the crowd-funded grant.
