Milwaukee’s largest and most eagerly awaited spring show – MIAD’s 2008 Senior Exhibition – opens Gallery Night, Friday, April 18, 5 – 9 p.m.
The exhibition celebrates the innovative works of 145 artists and designers representing the college’s 11 Bachelor of Fine Arts majors. It continues through May 10 at MIAD’s Third Ward Campus, 273 E. Erie Street. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tues. – Sat.
Hailed last month by Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton as a workforce whose creativity, innovation and critical-thinking skills are coveted in our 21st century knowledge economy, the seniors and their works engage viewers with challenging connections among art and design disciplines.
Milwaukee’s annual rite of spring presents the seniors’ extensive senior thesis projects in Communication Design (web and graphic), Drawing, Illustration, Industrial Design, Integrated Studio Arts, Interior Architecture and Design, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture and Time-Based Media (animation and video).
Among the works this year:
- An 18 x 18 ft. interactive sculptural installation that the viewer moves through, comprising thousands of illuminated nine-foot fabric tubes, suspended from a honeycombed support system.
- A 1984 Volvo transformed to function as an interactive painting and an automobile.
- A hospital bed redesigned to help alleviate the physical and emotional anxiety for the patient, visitor and healthcare provider.
- Photographs that create new light forms by capturing the unseen and rendering the intangible a mischievous tangible.
- A creative campaign in support of state Senate Bill 104 and responsible gun ownership that will be featured on the web site of Mothers Against Gun Violence. (The bill comes up for vote on May 29).
- A uniquely designed coffee table of multiple woods that embodies architectural sensibilities.
Many of the works at the MIAD 2008 Senior Exhibition are for sale, and the MIAD seniors are on hand to talk about their work on Gallery Night. Graduating seniors will receive their B.F.A. degrees in commencement exercises on May 10.
