Six MIAD students awarded Alumni Thesis Scholarships
March 5, 2020 … Social innovation. Empathy. Creativity. These are themes found among six MIAD Senior Exhibition projects recently awarded a 2020 Alumni Thesis Scholarship. The scholarship directly supports fabrication and installation of the students’ work, and is funded through donations by MIAD alumni, additional donors and MIAD. Winners were chosen by a panel of alumni.
Winners of three $300 awards include:
- Eve Berndt (Industrial Design), Benton Harbor, MI, is designing reusable food packaging to reduce waste in grocery stores.
- Paulina Garcia (Communication Design), West Chicago, IL, is creating a workbook to help children overcome the trauma of family separation due to their immigrant status.
- Ileanna Herrera (Interior Architecture and Design), Milwaukee, WI, is designing a unique workplace for an artificial intelligence company that promotes collaboration between workers and provides a community-oriented environment.
Winners of three $200 awards include:
- Berea Ames (Communication Design), Oakdale, MN, is designing a website and fabricating a clothing line to help children with sensory processing disorders.
- Emily Bowers (Illustration), Kaukauna, WI, is creating a video game concept that exemplifies duality, consequences and the complexity of morality. The main character is a convicted witch in America during the Red Scare in the 1950s.
- Teena Wilder (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), Sumter, SC, is creating an irrigation system and a zine to combat tokenism and martyrdom. Teena is using water as a theme to talk about the history of her life, home, body and hair care.
Because of the Stay at Home Order in effect in Wisconsin, the college is shifting the senior thesis from a traditional exhibition to a digital exhibition. We look forward to providing more updates soon.
The exhibition is generously sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.
News
Paris study abroad illuminates creative practice for students
Madison Boeder ’25 found that study abroad trips through the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) resonated so strongly with their practice that the Fine Art + New Studio Practice major (Art History minor) went on two: Florence in 2024 and, this year, Paris.
Illustration & Animation rank top in state, highly in Midwest and U.S.
In Animation Career Review’s 2025 college rankings, the Illustration and Animation programs at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design were once again ranked number 1 in the state.
Art direction and alumni connection: Design student interns at Nike
This past summer, Olivia Nava ’26 (Communication Design) landed a fiercely competitive internship at athletic footwear and apparel brand Nike. Now that she’s back, the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) senior reflects on the experience, and the MIAD classes and connections that prepared her for this opportunity.
MIAD gallery offers photo students contemporary perspectives
In the photo area of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where digital technology and the darkroom intersect, the Perspectives Gallery shines its own light on contemporary image makers.
Transformational reflection: Studying abroad in The Burren, Ireland
Each year, a group of Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) students spends four weeks in May investigating the Burren in County Clare, Ireland through text and image. Based at the Burren College of Art and led by Professor Leslie Fedorchuk and printmaker Matthew Presutti, the two-decade-long partnership between the colleges has produced meaningful reflection and transformational experiences for students.