Meet AJ Schramek and Senior Exhibition project Life is a Drag!
This is one in a series of online interviews with MIAD seniors, who share their thoughts about their 2025 Senior Exhibition project and their MIAD education.
AJ Schramek ’25 (Animation Track in Illustration) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Villa Park, Ill., who received a 2025 MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Award.
What is your “elevator pitch” for your senior exhibition project?
“Life is a Drag!” is the first issue of a comic series, with a link to an animated comic cover, suited for an LGBTQ+ audience. The story showcases the meet-cute between a drag queen and a drag racer who likes to take racing off the track.
Schramek_Head Shot
AJ Schramek
Schramek_LiaD-p10-11
AJ Schramek, “Life is a Drag,” p. 10-11, 2025.
Schramek_LifeisaDrag
AJ Schramek, “Life is a Drag,” 2025.
Anything you’d like to share about yourself or MIAD?
My MIAD experience has made me a stronger artist. It has allowed me to explore my passions further surrounded by other amazing creatives; collaborating ideas and offering an all-around supportive environment. It has also provided me with amazing portfolio-building opportunities as well as the ability to use industry-standard software to prepare me for the professional world beyond. Overall, MIAD has been very good to me, and I am sad to leave it.
My post-grad plans are to be a freelance illustrator and independent comic creator.
Apply to MIAD. Plan your visit.
News
Meet Mac Bronnson and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project MENd
Mac Bronnson ’26 (Communication Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Milwaukee and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. MENd – No Bro Left Behind is a men’s mental health app that is not designed as a mental health app.
MIAD faculty designs for Brewers Wisconsin Artist Series
Faculty member Ric Stultz, who teaches Illustration at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, has designed what is sure to become iconic apparel during the Milwaukee Brewers 2026 season.
Meet Cyrill Reyes and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project NECROZOIC
Cyrill Reyes ’26 (Illustration) is a President’s (Honor) List student from the Greater Chicago area. My thesis is game concept art and visual development of the world of NECROZOIC, a prehistoric fantasy that retells the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Meet Bailey Staerkel and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Stitched Together
Bailey Staerkel ’26 (Fashion and Apparel Design) is a Dean’s List student from Vancouver, Wash., and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. My thesis, Stitched Together, is an exploration of Gothic horror through fashion, taking classic horror archetypes and reinterpreting them into a collection of fully realized couture looks.
MIAD faculty Yi receives Wisconsin Academy Fellows Award
Multidisciplinary artist, curator, mentor and Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) professor Jason S. Yi has been named a 2026 Fellow of the prestigious Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. Yi is one of “16 extraordinary Wisconsinites who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to intellectual discourse and public service,” the Academy said in its awards announcement.