Empathy, heritage, fashion drive MIAD 2024 Senior Exhibition

The future has arrived as the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) celebrates more than 200 emerging creative professionals at the MIAD 2024 Senior Exhibition April 19 – May 11.

The seniors represent all of the college’s Bachelor of Fine Arts majors and minors. Always insightful, innovative and driven by empathy, this year’s projects elevate cultural heritages, including Milwaukee’s; feminine power; and the inherent human need to be seen and to thrive despite emotional, physical and societal challenges.

Projects include:

• An animated miniseries app to support children suffering with PANDAS syndrome, a debilitating pediatric autoimmune disorder. 
• A guerrilla marketing campaign and large-scale video about Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls whose faces are crafted from 5,712 dots representing each of the missing. Using varying statistics, and based on the student’s heritage, the dots change to fire representing tribal funerals for them.
• A line of bespoke luxury garments for users with physical disabilities that allows them to show up in formal spaces confidently, without hindering their abilities. 
• A garment cleaning solution for astronauts living on space stations in microgravity that could be used for longer space travel (such as to Mars).
• A triptych of oil paintings encased in a built wooden cabinet that combine Renaissance and Baroque era influences while highlighting intergenerational inspirations of teachers, parents and athletes in Milwaukee.
• Pattern and design work that combines western cowboy and Chinese textiles and fashion based on the student’s cultural roots.
• Sculptural works that combine bejeweled bronze metalworking and a representation of the student’s belly button to embrace feminine power and showcase subversive femininity.
• An animated pilot about sisters Sam and Bug who come across a mysterious mansion that transports them to fantastical worlds accompanied by character toys and an art book.
• A mobile app and para-social gym buddy to support users through their social anxiety surrounding fitness.
• A children’s book and triptych of oil painting techniques and embroidery by a student with a double major in Illustration and Fine Art. Both capstone projects explore themes related to dreaming.
• A design for a small, luxury boutique hotel located in downtown Chicago that includes a full-service restaurant on the first floor and a bar on the first and second floor.

The MIAD 2024 Senior Exhibition is free and open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and the seniors will be present to discuss their capstone projects in person on Friday, April 19, 5 – 9 p.m. Learn more at miad.edu/seniorexhibition.

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