In this episode of the podcast, Elisabeth speaks with Monica Miller, the Manager of MIAD’s new Gallery at the Ave, a new gallery and exhibition space dedicated to showcasing the work of MIAD alumni and students, located next to Third Street Market Hall. The space opens to the public on April 6, with an exhibition of work by MIAD alumni called From This Point Forward, which features works by artists who attended MIAD over the course of the last 5 decades, reaching all the way back to MIAD’s predecessor, the Layton School of Art. The art works range from functional design pieces, to photographs, to paintings, to prints and 3D works. Gallery at the Ave also features a section dedicated to craft, jewelry and other objects for sale on consignment.
In the conversation, Miller speaks about her own trajectory shifting from a student at MIAD, to an arts professional reckoning with a need for engaging with audiences, while exploring business development in an arts context and engaging in work in service of the Milwaukee community within local arts organizations including MARN and INOVA before coming to work at MIAD.
Throughout the conversation, Elisabeth and Monica discuss the unique resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit of the MIAD community— which has only been augmented over time, with the institution's infusion of strategic investments in new arts and media technologies through the Lubar Emerging Technology Center. Miller attributes this unique creative character to the continuity of the MIAD community’s orientation towards the wider creative community in Milwaukee. In her own experience, MIAD not only fostered a supportive, non-competitive environment but encouraged an engagement with the wider Milwaukee community. From Miller’s perspective, though the leadership and the generation of students have changed over time, the school maintains its hallmark “gritty” energy — and now offers even more robust technologies, resources, and channels for students to find professional opportunities than ever before. Some opportunities are even available for alumni, including use of laser printers other technology resources.
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In the conversation, they also discuss how MIAD contributes powerfully to Milwaukee’s creative economy in many ways— from employing creatives, to producing entrepreneurial thinkers, and giving creatives and students professional opportunities within the fields of art, marketing and more, and how the Gallery at the Ave represents a meaningful expansion of all these initiatives.
Learn more about MIAD’s Gallery at the Ave (@miadgalleryattheave) and be sure to check out the inaugural exhibition which opens April 6.
Lubar Emerging Technology Center
Influential MIAD faculty from circa 2010: Will Pergl, Jill Sebastian
