Milwaukee sculpture business tapped for NBA trophy
Michael Jordan MVP statue diagram
Milwaukee is fast becoming a national hotspot for basketball. Not only is the city home to NBA champions the Milwaukee Bucks, it recently played a pivotal role in creating the newly designed Michael Jordan Trophy, awarded to the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player of the year. Milwaukee’s Vanguard Sculpture Services, the “best fine art foundry on planet Earth,” according to their website, poured and cast the final trophy.
Michael Nolte ’81 (Sculpture) is a co-owner and foreman at Vanguard along with Beth Sahagian ’81 (Sculpture). The staff at the studio worked with Mark Smith, retired VP of Innovation Special Projects at the NBA and current Jordan Brand designer, to mold, cast and finish the trophy. “It’s our job as craftsmen, as a foundry, to faithfully reproduce and manage the transformation,” said Nolte in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio. Vanguard made five total statues for the next five years of MVP awards.
“In my youth I was a big Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls fan… but it’s Bucks or bust now!” says Shawn Stephany, who studied Drawing at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and currently works on the six-person team at Vanguard. The bronze award “has been so well thought out … the crew that made it really nailed their vision. It’s a pleasure to join something like that,” says Stephany.
Standing 23.6 inches tall and weighing 23.6 pounds, values that represent Jordan’s jersey number and the number of championships he won, the trophy includes many other nods to Jordan’s career. “Each artist has their own form [of] language … it is the job of the foundry to learn that language and speak it back in three-dimensional terms,” said Nolte on working closely with the NBA to meet the exact specifications of the design.
Milwaukeeans, as well as those further afield, might recognize the work of Vanguard Sculpture Services by way of the Bronze Fonz, as well as other well-loved statues and art along the Riverwalk like Gertie the Duck. As for the MVP trophy, Nolte and Stephany hope it stays local and in the hands of Milwaukee legend Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Read more about the project on WPR and Milwaukee Record, keep up with Vanguard Sculpture Services and learn more about MIAD’s NSP: Fine Arts Major.
News
MIAD Values Recognition Award: Leslie Fedorchuk
Leslie Fedorchuk, Professor of Writing & Humanities and Director of Service Learning, received the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) MIAD Values Recognition Award for February 2026. Leslie received nominations that highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Integrity, Kindness and Community.
MIAD Innovation Center and MAM provide career experience
Through a partnership with the MIAD Lubar Innovation Center, stunning campaign artwork by a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) once again is helping to launch Art in Bloom – the Milwaukee Art Museum’s annual celebration of art and spring. Illustrations by senior Emily Porven ’26 are both vibrant and subtle, colorful and evocative, capturing the essence of the event.
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.