Select Page

Thirty seniors receive MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Awards

Thanks to the generosity of alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the college, the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design will award $7,086 to an unprecedented 30 seniors to directly support the fabrication and installation of their Senior Exhibition capstone projects. Through the application process, students submit plans and sketches for their final project, as well as a budget for materials. Winners were selected by a panel of 21 MIAD alumni with experience in fine art and design career fields.

MIAD invites the Milwaukee community to view the seniors’ award-winning work from April 21 – May 6, 2023 during the MIAD 2023 Senior Exhibition, hosted in MIAD’s main building at 273 E Erie St. Nearly 190 students will be present on Friday, April 21 from 5 – 9 p.m. to discuss their projects in person. This event is open to the public.

The 2023 MIAD Alumni Senior Thesis Award recipients (in alphabetical order) and the titles of their works are:

Abi Bean (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Waking Life
sophia briej (Illustration), Untitled
Ladasia Bryant (Communication Design), Bout That Life
Andrea Cabrera Manuel (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Estragos: An eager embrace of coded grief
Allye Erickson (Illustration), Kids Adventure Packs
Adam Fehring (Illustration), Fairy Fort
Nita Flowers (Communication Design), Sozo
Madison Fox (Illustration), The Myths & Legends of America’s National Parks
Abbey Freimark (Communication Design), Festie Bestie
Ellie Garry (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Twirled Hurled
Margaret Griffin (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Industrial Bodies
Thea Huffman (Communication Design), Little Larva
Ryan Kane (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Untitled
Sonia Koehler (Communication Design), Dearly
Alecia McBride (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Abstraction of the Bird Landscape
Annie Miller (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Digital Noise
Alex Niemann (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Necks Craned Skyward
Melanie Orozco (Illustration), Florea Vests
Emma Rarick (Illustration), Learn to Love: Love Language Kits
Annalise Rauchenberger (Illustration), Scandinave in Bloom
Jenna Sedovic (Interior Architecture and Design), The Outbackyard
Ty Shirley (Illustration), Alien & Eve
Erika Sjoblom (Illustration), Biodiversity Habitat Puzzles
Emma Southard (Illustration), I Heart Earth Friends, Collectible Art Toys
Ezra Stonyte (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), the anthology of being a good boy : biting the hand that feeds me
Dominick Streff (Product Design), See/Saw: A board game that builds confidence in people with vision loss
Seth Ter Harr (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Tabernacle and Ark Of My Covenant
Brandom Terres-Sanchez (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), El Hogar
Robin Wegner (Illustration), Comic adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Jo Willis (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), VOID_FORGE/MOTHER OF ALL VESSELS

News

MIAD Task Award: Alum pays it forward with generous mentoring

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.

Meet Michaela Prischman and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Cloth

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.

Flagship Madison museum features exhibition by FYE faculty

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.

Illustration seniors land NASA and Disney internships

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.

Meet Kas Cook and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Mcallaster’s Special

Cas Kook ’26 (Animation Track in Illustration) is a Dean’s List student from the Greater Chicago area and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. “Project Calvin Sazerac” is about Calvin Sazerac, a seasoned barkeep, who creates new cocktails for his favorite regulars. When he is challenged to meet the demands of a picky saloon patron, he creates something life changing.