Six seniors awarded 2021 MIAD Alumni Thesis Scholarships

Through the generosity of MIAD alumni, faculty and staff, MIAD is awarding $1,500 to seniors to directly support the fabrication and installation of their capstone work. Winners of the 2021 MIAD Alumni Thesis Scholarship awards were chosen by a panel of alumni with experience in fine art and design career fields.

The 2021 winners include: 

Sydney Genthe ’21 (Communication Design)

• Sydney Genthe (Communication Design), who is designing a box to help educate children about type 1 diabetes. The box will contain an activity book, stuffed animal, colorful band-aids and more.
• Liz Geoffrey (Illustration), who is creating 1,000 hand-printed letterpress postcards featuring positive affirmations that people can send to their friends and family at no cost. The goal is to spread positive messages and encourage connections in the time of COVID-19.
• Katherine Grinell (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), who is creating two works that explore the relationship among analog photography, image capturing, collage and photographs as paintings.
• Amira Humes (Illustration), who is designing a kitchen textiles set centered around Filipino culture and food. The set includes an oven mitt, potholder, apron and kitchen towel with handmade designs.
• Rylee Krumrei (New Studio Practice: Fine Arts), who is constructing a sculpture made entirely of dryer lint. The project aims to emphasize the amount of polyester microfibers being released into the environment each year and how it contributes to ecological damage.
• Samantha Shappell (Product Design), who is rebranding a furniture line by Third Coast Interiors inspired by styles of Mexico, Chicago and Scandinavia. 

The MIAD 2021 Senior Exhibition features a monthlong celebration of Milwaukee’s emerging creative professionals April 16 – May 12, 2021. In-person and virtual viewing opportunities are available, as well as a virtual meet and greet event with the student artists and designers. More information will be available soon. Sign up for updates about the 2021 MIAD Senior Exhibition and other MIAD news and events.