News

Rising senior at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Adam Wold ’27 received two awards in May from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). The Interior Architecture and Design (IAD) major won the Silver Award in the Commercial category and the Bronze Award in the Residential category.

Professor Leslie Fedorchuk and alumni of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) received four of the eight individual 2026 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Awards for “their significant contributions to the state’s creative culture.”

Works by 13 students and recent graduates of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) were selected from among 4,550 nationwide submissions to receive 2026 honors from the national Society of Illustrators.

First-place winner Sophia Simonson ’28 created Refractions as part of her MIAD studies in Interior Architecture and Design. She is one of 20 students studying at MIAD through a cross-registration program with Concordia University. MIAD students Kaitlyn Powers ’26 (Illustration) and Natalie Spetell ’27 (Product Design), both of whom have minors in Communication Design, received Honorable Mentions.

An annual tradition at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design from late March through September, the juried First-Year Experience Exhibition celebrates students’ yearlong personal and professional growth.

Carmen Briones ‘26 (Product Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Cambria, Wis., president of the MIAD IDSA student chapter and an intern at SI Jacobson Manufacturing. Briones designed a device called “Echo” that removes ovarian cysts without surgery.

Eeshan Dutt ‘26 (Illustration) is a President’s (Honor) List student from India and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. Dutt’s work centers on visual storytelling through sequential art, where he explores how narratives can engage and connect with audiences.

Continuing an annual tradition begun in 2010 at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), Illustration juniors worked with Cramer-Krasselt and Penfield Children’s Center to design posters for the center’s Annual Croquet Ball fundraiser.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) alum Amy Cannestra ’06 (Communication Design) believes in giving back, in mentoring and in the supportive nature of the Milwaukee art and design community. By founding Task Creative and the MIAD Task Graduate Award, the incredibly busy creative exemplifies all three beliefs. The Task awardee, Ashley Osorio ’26 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice), will receive five consecutive days to use the Task Creative space for a project of their choosing this summer.

Michaela Prischman ’26 (Communication Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Tinley Park, Ill. She created “Cloth,” a tool to help guide young professional women to find and organize alternative work attire through a personalized style subscription box.

The First-Year Experience (FYE) at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) blends contemporary and traditional techniques, an approach embraced by FYE faculty David R. Harper in Good Morning Sweetheart, a solo exhibition on view at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) through August 30, 2026.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design seniors Grace Weisner ’26 and Allison Stras ’26 have landed the internship of their dreams: Weisner at NASA and Stras at Disney. Both are Illustration majors with minors in Communication Design.