First-Year Experience Faculty

Since 2018, MIAD faculty member Naomi Shersty has been creating space for artists and nonartists alike to step away from the demands of everyday life and reconnect through creativity, community and nature.

A new mural at John Deere’s Horicon Works is bringing the company’s history to life, and it was created by MIAD professor and alum James Barany ’92 (Drawing).

Parker Deutsch ’26 (Illustration – Animation Track) recently had the animated short “Containment Breach” selected for screening in Motion Commotion, part of ICON13, the Illustration Conference. The showcase features innovative animation and motion-based work from illustrators and animators across the field.

Alicia Zapata, a second-year MAKE! participant from Chicago and a K-8 art teacher at Waters Elementary School in Chicago, IL, Kelly Wendel, an eighth-year participant and art teacher at Nicolet High School in Glendale, WI and Gail Kowsky, a second-year participant and sixth- and seventh-grade art teacher in New Brighton, Minnesota, reflected on what they gained from this year’s program.

Maya Koehn ‘26 (Interior Architecture and Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Sheboygan, Wis., currently employed as a Junior Designer at Direct Supply.