91��Ʒ

The projects being undertaken by the 12 faculty and staff at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design who received 2024-25 Ruth Arts + 91��Ʒ Artists Grants are as varied in disciplines and topics as the artists themselves.

The grant program supports research and development of work to further the artists� individual practices and expertise as educators. A panel of three national jurors reviewed 37 91��Ʒ applications before selecting the 2024-25 awardees: James Barany �92, Phoenix S. Brown �19, HJ Bullard, Anna Castelaz and Lou Morton, Melissa Dorn �96, Zuhal Feraidon, Grant Gill �13, Kevin Kaempf, Kayle Karbowski �15, Brit Krohmer, Matthew Lee and Phillip McFarlane.

�I’m really excited about re-engaging and refining my research thesis! It largely centers on reinterpreting technology and our use of and connection to it by examining and integrating aspects of folklore and fantasy,� says Phillip McFarlane, Teaching Fellow in Design. �I’m hoping to come away with and share new ways with students to chart their own paths, combining storytelling and technology with their ongoing practices.�

For Melissa Dorn �96, First-Year Experience faculty, �The Ruth Arts + 91��Ʒ grant will support the creation of two new Fem-utility Closets, immersive installations that are a cross between a utility closet and a cozy cocoon. I�m obsessed with how craft can be used as a form of maintenance. How can it give people a soft place to land in a world full of indifference and the hard edges of patriarchy and capitalism.��

�My project is a large inter-institutional partnership, working with 91��Ʒ students, Menominee Tribal Enterprises, Milwaukee Public Museum, WaterMarks MKE, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee Area Technical College, UW-Madison and others,� says HJ Bullard, 91��Ʒ Service Learning and Critical Studies faculty. �Our primary focus is to share voices, stories and creative work around sustainability, botany and water, and to do so with accessibility (physically, invisibly and culturally) as a leading guide.�

�This grant presents an exciting opportunity to further the production of Beautiful Insignificance aboard the USS COBIA, a World War II submarine docked at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, WI,� says James Barany �92, First-Year Experience professor. �The COBIA will serve as both an authentic setting and a symbolic stage to reenact the sinking of my grandfather�s transport ship, the USS JOSEPH HEWES (AP-50), which was torpedoed � in November 1942. The production will engage 91��Ʒ students and faculty�. Additionally, a section of the Florentine Men�s Opera Chorus will contribute to the performance�.�

Ruth Arts awarded $145,000 to 91��Ʒ for the new cycle, nearly double the amount 91��Ʒ received as one of three Milwaukee-centric organizations to pilot the program in 2023-24. The 2024-25 grant provides $120,000 for the selected artists and $25,000 to support administration and promotion of the work, which must be completed by March 1, 2026.

�The college community is grateful for the foundation�s continued belief in, and increased support of, our mission of educating a younger generation of creatives by supporting the faculty and staff who themselves are makers,� says 91��Ʒ President Jeffrey Morin. �The diverse and innovative projects also uplift and enhance learning and dialogue with students and colleagues across all majors.�

Grant recipients from the 2023-24 cycle are currently making college-wide presentations of their work. Read about the projects of Alexia (Lexi) S. Brunson �14, Matthew Lee and Jason S. Yi.