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.

“In the immediate future, this award will help to support new areas of research in my practice through travel, workshops and acquiring a bit of equipment for my studio,” says Horvath.

Jon Horvath

“I’ve recently begun a new body of work that utilizes ceramics, some experimental photographic techniques, writing and a few other forms, so having the financial and community support to become more ambitious with that work is very exciting. Ultimately, I envision that work resulting in a new book publication, so a portion of the award will certainly be reserved for that moment, as well.”

Twenty-two former recipients of a Mary L. Nohl Award applied for the Alumni Award, which is administered by the Lynden Sculpture Garden. Horvath received his first Nohl award in 2015.

“This award will foster a year of intense new learning for me,” Horvath says. “Beyond what it may provide for advancing my independent practice, a major part of the next year will focus on collaborating with the other Nohl alumni to implement new, and strengthen existing, resources that can support artists in our community.”

“All of this will evolve my understanding of how to sustain a meaningful practice within the challenges of this moment, and of course, inform my interaction with students in the classroom,” says Horvath. “FA+NSP places an emphasis on how one might build community at the same time as pursuing their individual work, so the Ruth Arts Nohl Alumni program will help to reinforce values that are foundational to our major.”

Horvath’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group shows at venues including The Print Center (Philadelphia), FIESP Cultural Centre (Sao Paolo, Brazil), Gyeonggi Art Center (Suwon, South Korea), OFF Piotrkowska (Lodz, Poland), Newspace Center for Photography (Portland), the Haggerty Museum of Art (Milwaukee), INOVA (Milwaukee), Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati), Johalla Projects (Chicago) and The Alice Wilds (Milwaukee). His work is currently held in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Haggerty Museum of Art, and is included in the Midwest Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

View more information about the awards and explore MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice major.