Laura Farahzad Mayer selected as Communication Design full-time faculty

Laura Farahzad Mayer
The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) welcomes Laura Farahzad Mayer as the new full-time assistant professor of Communication Design. An accomplished instructor and designer, Farahzad Mayer has a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, as well as an M.A. and an M.F.A. with an emphasis on Graphic Design and secondary in Printmaking from the University of Iowa, where she taught Graphic Design courses for the past four years.
“My teaching philosophy centers around teaching my students to be lifelong learners and encouraging curiosity,” says Farahzad Mayer. “The way I approach my classroom is influenced by Sister Corita Kent’s rules, placing focus on community, trust, experimentation and happiness. I plan to support my students by providing them an atmosphere that fosters creativity and a community where they feel comfortable to make mistakes and continue to grow as creative practitioners.”
Prior to teaching, Farahzad Mayer worked as a designer and hand letterer for Whole Foods Inc., as well as creating design materials for Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign. Her personal practice focuses on making work that questions and explores her connections with her family, past and Iranian-American upbringing in rural Wisconsin. A lover of typography, specifically hand rendered typography, Farahzad Mayer contributes her unique skill set to a thriving Communication Design department.
“I am excited to work with MIAD’s high level creative students as well as the talented and dedicated peers,” she continues. “I look forward to teaching in an environment that is so student centered and focused on encouraging students to reach their highest potential.”
Learn more about MIAD’s Communication Design program and explore Laura’s work!
News
Nohl Alumni Award propels lasting impact for MIAD professor
Receiving a Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award has both immediate and longer-term impacts for Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Professor Jon Horvath; for himself as an artist, for the arts community and for MIAD students. Horvath, who teaches in MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice major, was one of three artists and one collective recently given the award, which provides $25,000 in unrestricted funds to each.
Arts education lays groundwork for MIAD alum curatorial role
Nikki Ranney ’22 (Illustration), the new curator of the Cedarburg Art Museum, says she “is so grateful that I went through my Bachelor of Fine Arts and got to experience a traditional art education at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design because it laid the groundwork for the more academic side of the curatorial field.”
Museum Studies class: Hands-on exhibition and career experience
Last fall’s Museum Studies class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) has solidified a career choice for at least one of the 16 students who took it. The class was on the go all semester, visiting museums throughout Milwaukee, meeting with professionals and thinking critically about the role of museums in our society.
Jodi Eastberg: MIAD Vice President for Academic Affairs
Meet Jodi Eastberg, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD)! Dr. Eastberg discusses her vision for MIAD, her experience at the college so far, and some welcome surprises about working in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward neighborhood.
Haggerty Museum of Art features work by MIAD Fine Art professor
A towering column of life-size red-crowned cranes molded out of mulberry pulp has visitors to the Haggerty Museum of Art craning their necks to take in the sculpture. Work by Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Professor Jason S. Yi is featured as part of the Haggerty Museum’s exhibition “This Side of the Stars: Rauschenberg’s “Stoned Moon” in the Company of Kite, Paglen, and Yi.”