Grilled Cheese grants propel MIAD seniors

Funds from the annual Grilled Cheese Grant helped Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) awardees Siren Harris, Yo Yo Collective and Madi Weglarz complete their 2025 Senior Exhibition projects and future work. All the MIAD awardees are Fine Art + New Studio Practice seniors.

The Grilled Cheese Grant (GCG) is an annual community fundraising event and visual artist grant that provides supplemental financial support for undergraduate seniors and emerging artists in Wisconsin by serving up grilled cheese sandwiches at a celebratory event. Forty-four MIAD seniors also received funds through a 2025 MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Award.

First-place winner Siren Harris says, “In my work, I’m exploring the delicate balance of maintaining softness in a harsh world. I’ve used steel rod sculptures to express this concept and now I’m expanding it through wearable sculptures.”

“The award allows me to purchase essential welding equipment, such as gloves, shoes, welding jackets and other gear that I would otherwise not be able to afford. Having the right tools will enable me to safely and effectively create the wearable sculptures that are central to my project, pushing my artistic practice to new heights.”

Third-place awardee, Yo Yo Collective, was founded in 2022 by Nomka Enkhee, Robin Lean Ermitanio and Hannah Samoy. “Their practice is rooted in memory and recollection, preserving fragments of past experiences through performance, sculpture and installation. As first and second-generation immigrants, they are perpetually in motion going to and from….”

Fourth-place awardee Madi Weglarz, who minored in Communication Design, shared that the award is going toward buying a desktop computer, as her “practice relies heavily on my computer’s processing power.”

Weglarz works primarily in 3D programs and sculpture. She has shown work in group shows at MIAD’s Gallery at the Ave, SomeFools and Hawthorn Contemporary and a solo show at Ergonomica, and has also tabled twice at MIAD’s Zine Fair, selling printed risograph works.

Weglarz also received a 2025 MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Award and is one of the first three MIAD Independent Inquiry Program grant recipients. Weglarz’s research topic is: “Lowering the Learning Curve for 3D Asset Creation.”

MIAD alums Phoenix S. Brown ’19 and Alec Regan ’10, with Nick Wyle, judged the Grilled Cheese Awards. The second- and fifth-place awardees were Lucy Mattern of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and emerging artist Max Van Loan.

MIAD’s Senior Exhibition runs April 11 – May 10, 2025. Apply to MIAD.