Fine Art senior selected for Tidal Shift Award

Marta Tereziya ’26 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice), a senior at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), was recognized with a 2025 Tidal Shift award for her oil painting “Global Warning.” The award celebrates young artists who want to solve the climate crisis.

“Receiving this award has made me believe so much more in myself as an artist, knowing that I can achieve a lot in the art field and there are opportunities waiting for you!” says Tereziya. “This also made me feel heard in my worries about Mother Earth.”

Marta Tereziya

Tereziya’s artistic practice often focuses on the earth and environment. During the summer of 2024, she also dedicated time to focus on her professional side. “In my artwork I speak a lot about Mother Earth and how we must protect our home, so I searched up opportunities that relate to these topics,” she explains.

According to their website, the juried Tidal Shift award “aims to leverage the power of socially-aware artworks, awarding and platforming teenagers and young adults who are focused on solutions for climate change.” Tereziya is one of three artists recognized in the Division 2 category. She was awarded a $5,000 prize for her work, which she plans to invest in art supplies for her upcoming thesis project and technology like a camera.

In addition to finding solutions to the climate crisis, “the Tidal Shift award also focuses on motivating, influencing others and bringing awareness to this issue,” explains Tereziya. “I believe my art, specifically the painting that I submitted, is able to put people into perspective of growing children, humanity as a whole but also all living beings of this earth! It is able to create a sense of urgency when it comes to the climate crisis, understanding that the fire is burning and we are the ones who caused it, therefore we can stop it.”

“My thoughts about our home, Planet Earth, have only evolved from last year and I continue to create artwork that allows others to empathize with the environment around them,” Tereziya continues. “To understand that we are breathing, eating and walking on this planet and without it—this life would not exist.”

Tereziya’s understanding of the climate crisis evolved alongside her artistic practice. She first conceptualized a version of her award-winning work in high school and refined it in Professor Peter Barrickman’s indirect oil painting class. “Comparing the painting I painted when I was 15 and the one I painted in Peter’s class—the difference is shocking. Peter taught me so many skills, and the process of indirect oil painting completely changed the way I work with paint now,” she says.

“I am beyond grateful to have received this award, and I wholeheartedly believe it would not happen if it wasn’t for the knowledge I received from MIAD and the wonderful faculty,” Tereziya finishes.

Keep up with Tereziya on Instagram, learn more about the Tidal Shift award and explore MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice major!