gener8tor Art x Sherman Phoenix announces 2024 Fall Cohort
Of the seven Milwaukee artists selected for the gener8tor Art x Sherman Phoenix 2024 Fall Cohort, three are part of the community at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Assistant Professor Morgan Bouldes, current senior Nomka Enkhee ’25 and Photography & Digital Media Lab Technician Grant Gill ’13 (Photography) were selected as part of the grant and mentorship program.
The program is a partnership between gener8tor and the Sherman Phoenix, with the support of the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Diverse Business Assistance Grant. The gener8tor Art x Sherman Phoenix accelerator program supports “creative professionals who have historically faced underfunding, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women, nonbinary individuals, persons with disabilities, neurodiverse individuals, and veterans,” according to their press release. Selected artists receive a $10,000 grant and seven weeks of personalized mentorship to develop the business aspects of their art practices. The four additional artists who received the grant are Lois Bielefeld, Nohemí Chávez Contreras, Justin Goodrum and Okja Kwon.
Bouldes is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and writer whose work is “deeply rooted in sharing her personal narrative through experimental storytelling,” according to her website. Originally, Bouldes joined the MIAD community as an AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellow in the 2021-2022 academic year. Now, Bouldes is an assistant professor in MIAD’s First-Year Experience program.
Enkhee is a current senior studying Fine Art + New Studio Practice at MIAD, working in sculpture, drawing, text and performance. Over the summer, Enkhee was invited to join the prestigious 2024 Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art cohort. Her solo exhibition “As I Fall Asleep to My Great Aunt’s Fable of a Herder Boy,” is currently on view Oct. 24 – Feb. 9 at Milwaukee’s Woodland Pattern.
Gill is an educator and artist whose work “derives from an affinity to magic as a queered perspective” through photography, according to his website. “I am in—what I would consider—a very tender moment in my career,” says Gill. “I recently had a solo exhibition that featured photographs made over a ten-year period. I am ready to focus on other ideas, and try out new ways of making.”
In addition to developing as an artist, Gill will take advantage of professional support while he advances the business aspects of his artist practice. “I am also seriously evaluating how I fit into the art market,” he explains. “The program provides guidance and support specifically for these moments of change, and I am really grateful to all the resources that have come from it thus far.”
“The program centers around connections—with individuals both inside and outside of the Milwaukee arts community,” continues Gill. “These connections are helpful for thinking about future projects, collaborations, or even friendships. The impact of working within the program is building this reciprocal network, and I look forward to continuing these relationships well past the program end.”
At the end of the program, all seven of the selected artists will exhibit their work on Nov. 9 from 2 – 5 p.m. at the Sherman Phoenix Marketplace.
Keep up with Bouldes, Enkhee and Gill, learn more about the other artists in the gener8tor Art x Sherman Phoenix Fall 2024 cohort and explore MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice program!
News
MIAD Animation professor’s short film to premiere at SXSW
This March, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Professor Lou Morton’s short film “MINE!” makes its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. Last March, Morton’s animated music video “Born Days: How to Disappear” received a Juror Award at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.
Keith Negley: Award-winning illustrator and writer
When award-winning illustrator and author Keith Negley ’00 isn’t completing projects like his most recent book of “forgotten trailblazers,” he’s creating portraits of celebrities like Taylor Swift, Emma Stone and Chelsea Clinton, and doing editorial illustrations on topics like neurodivergence, organ transplants and the opioid crisis.
Two MIAD alumni named Mary L. Nohl Fellows for 2025
Two alumni from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) have received Emerging Artist fellowships from the 2025 Mary L. Nohl Fund for its 2025 cycle: Margaret Griffin ’23 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice) and Open Kitchen, co-founded by Rudy Medina ’12 (Integrated Studio Arts).
FYE Juried Media Arts Festival 2024 celebrates first-year student works
Seven students received awards at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s juried FYE Media Arts Festival – an in-house screening and celebration of video, animation and sound design works by current and former First-Year Experience (FYE) students held on November 26. The 56 entries were judged by multimedia and filmmaking professionals Emma B. Barany, Gabe Leistekow and Sara Sowell.
MIAD professor brings love of branding to projects and students
Brian Bowles ’01, professor of Communication Design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), finds freelance projects “deeply fulfilling” and beneficial to himself and to his students.