Austin Gardner by Austin Gardner

R <<

5-1 13-1 17-2

<< Nov.2010

BRIDGE

MIAD

TODAY THE CLASSROOM. TOMORROW THE WORLD. // 16-19

Milwaukee Statistical Information // 13

TWO VOLUNTEERS ONE MISSION // 5-15

Thank You Shout-Out // 4

Letter From the Editor // 3

MIAD BRIDGE / Table Of Contents / 2

A personal interview with A MIAD student and a retired teacher talking about their experiences serving in the community and those who needed it most.

Because of the visual resources group, experience is no further than a few doors down from your studio. In addition to building an impressive portfolio, the community at large is taking this gold mine and using it to a great advantage.

This I Believe : My Creed // 24-25

This I Believe : The Question Mark // 22-23

Events In Milwaukee : Art in Flux // 25-26

RIPPLE EFFECT // 20-23

Two MIAD students are looking to make a Ripple Effect in the in the community using their skills, proactive problem solving and a drifters state of mind.

Letter From The Editor<<Austin Gardner BEGINNER. A BEGINNER HAS MANY POSSIBILITIES. AN EXPERT, A FEW.â&#x20AC;? (YURI DOJC) 1988

Salutations Reader,

t is so easy these days to create a layout that is clean and simple. With the invention of the computer there is no more worry to have to stress over bleeding photographs, or your type not being perfectly set. It seems so easy today to get out of hand with graphics and shapes. Personally I have been constantly emerged in this ongoing struggle to provide the viewer with a break of white space. This is difficult to do when your mind is bursting with color and shapes waiting to be applied to paper. Weather or not this issue of bridge shows enough white space is not the point. I want the viewer to have a visually engaging experience with the design and more importantly a touching experience with the articles the students from the service learning courses have written. MIAD Bridge is a magazine that focuses on the junior level Service Learning Course. Leslie Fedorchuck, the soul teacher of this course, teaches students about serving and volunteering in the community. For the people interested in this wonderful course I will quote the description from off of the Moodle web site. [This service-learning course examines the nature of community in the context of historical and contemporary events. It challenges us to consider the influence of race and racism in defining our sense of self and other. How have we come to understand the boundaries of

community and social responsibility and how might our actions serve to confront or reinforce those perceptions? Students are invited to step out of their comfort zones and engage our racially diverse community of Milwaukee through voluntary service. This course assumes that we can not learn about community without nurturing it in ourselves. We share collective responsibility for learning. Observations, feelings and insights are shared through group discussion, experiential exercises, E-journaling, written assignments and classroom presentations.] (courses.miad.edu) And stepping outside of our comfort levels we did indeed. Each of us had memorable experiences doing our part to help non-prophit organizations around the Milwaukee area. MIAD students do service not only outside of MIAD through the service learning course but inside of MIAD as well. Students start clubs for after school activities, students have participated in collaborative exhibitions outside of MIAD, MIAD Mentoring program helps any student with any problem, and the list goes on. On top of all that goodness, the MIAD community is doing its part in recycling and reusing materials. The goal of this magazine is to highlight all the ways MIAD is doing its part for the good of its own community as well as doing its part in the Milwaukee community.

HAPPY READING :)

Adrian Gilling<<personal interview. Margaret Crandall<<personal Interview. Xavier Ruffin & Austin Gardner<< photography. Agnieszka Wojnar<<Illustration. Anne Ghory-Goodman<<creative director.

<<<Photo taken by : Austin Gardner

SPECIAL THANKS to the contribtors Dear Contributors, Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to all of the contributors. You all deserve a shout-out and a special thank you. Without you this magazine would be close to that piece of mail you throw away without even looking at it. These are just a few amongst others who also deserve a Thanks and you know who you are, Thanks to you guys Anne Ghory-Goodman: My Communication Design IV instructor who has showed me how it is okay to work wild and creatively in the beginning stages, but I do need to tone the design down sometimes for the viewer would probably have a stoke. You have patiently worked with each student and provided professional and constructive feedback to our magazine designs. Adrian Gilling: Mr. Gilling, you provided me with a thoughtful and substantial interview when I needed it most. Not only did you inspire me about my own services from the interview, but outside of volunteering you inspire my designs. Margaret Crandall: Doll you have been in my life through the thick and thin, inspired me, and look where I am now. You have brought new perspective to serving others and thank you for expressing that so eloquently in the interview. You never gave up on memory anybody else. THANK YOU.

Xavier Ruffin and Agnieszka Wojnar: Thank you both for contributing to the visuals of this magazine. Xavier, you captured Matt Donnelly and Rudy Mandina in the best of light. Great images Xavier, you could try your hand in photography. Agnieszka (Aga), working with you as an illustrator changed the way I approach design. In the future I will utilize the creativity of an illustrator any opportunity that comes along. Not only did I learn Illustration can convey a deeper message than an excellent photograph can, an illustration can engage the viewer on many different levels. Thank you for your time and for conveying my vision of the Visual Resources program ,you surpassed my expectations, Thank you. Chastaine Tallon: As assistant to the creative director, my friend you have been upgraded to creative director for your outstanding efforts. I thank you for your very brutal yet quite constructive changes during the critiquing process. You saw my ideas and made them seem normal to the average viewer, you deserve a raise. Thank you Sincerely..Thank You,

MIAD BRIDGE / Letter From the Editor / 5

Chastaine Tallon<<assistant to the creative director.

MIAD BRIDGE / Two Volunteers One Mission / 6

<<MARGARET CRANDALL Girl Scouts,taught Sunday School, Home Director for American Field Service (AFS), placed exchange students within the community and also hosted several herself. Milwaukee School District she tutored math students.>> <<Adrian

Marge’s definition of service was short sweet and simple. She said,”Service is volunteering your time and effort without pay to do jobs that will benefit the community.” I know Marge personally as well and she has done a great service to me that effectLGBT Center, Project Q>> ed my life in an enormous way. If she can physically do it and if it is feasible she would do anything and I know Adrian personally through school everything for antone to benefit their life and we are both Communication Design without eventhinking. She is an amazmajors. I see his character traits on a professional ing woman and she has changed level as well as on a personal level. Adrian is very my life and the lives of others respectable and courteous with everyone he interacts less fortnate for the good. with. Adrian feels service is a crucial part of the community. I know for a fact her He went on by saying that it helps us to understand and accept definition would exone another, and that it’s power of helping should not go unnticed. ceed what she He is helping people directly while making an impact about how they feel said in the about themselves. That aspect of service is crucial because it effects how they interview. grow up and how they feel about who they are. Adrian said at the end of the que

Gilling

tion, “Without service we would have nothing”, and I believe this to be very true. Without service, those of us less fortunate would have no help, nobody to ook up to, and no chance to meet others within the community and get to know their state in society.

chose to interview Adrian Gilling. Adrian is a student who is currently enrolled in the Service Learning course this semester. I chose to interview Adrian because he has knowledge about who has served communities in history through the readings in this course, also because he is currently serving in the community. Also I know he chose to do service at a place where he can change peoples lives directly rather indirectly, and I am curious to know his feelings about doing service. Interviewing a student already participating in the course will give me insight into their experience in the community, in our modern society. Also I am interested in hearing if Adrian will connect our readings with Martin Luther King and Gandhi to his experiences with service now, and in the past, and if or how this is affecting his idea of service. argaret Crandall I also interviewed Margaret Crandall for this project. Marge is a very close friend of the family. She is a grandmother, a mother of four, and also a retired teacher. She taught English and math and has always had interest in society, the well being to the community, and doing things for others less fortunate. I chose Marge because she is one of my rolemodels when it comes to loving others and doing things for the right reasons like serving others and responsibility.

I chose Marge because she was my caretaker for about two years and she changed my thoughts about how to everyone is special in their own ways and everybody needs some tough love to make good learning experiences. I connect the tough love concept to what we were learning with nonviolence. It is an assertive way of getting a point across, and it is another way of showing how much you care about a particular cause or a particular person. I am excited to make more connections on this concept later in my connections and insights. nitial Impressions I have the impression Marge could give me very well rounded and very down to earth answers about the nature of service if of-course I shape the questions correctly. I am interested in learning her opinions of how far service can go from helping one person to helping out the entire community in the long run.

drian is participating in a project called Project Q. where he helps organize and conduct the discussions. He acts like a mentor to people ranging from 14-19 and they talk to one another about their struggles and how they are coping with being minorities in this society. Adrian sounded proud of the people who speak openly in these meetings even when they are faced with discrimination outside of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;topic nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at LGBT. At Adrianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s specific placement he can help offer support and help them feel accepted and comfortable in that environment. To me just that kind of support alone is doing a lot for the teens that go to LGBT. His relationship and connection with his organization is very important to his insights and what he is learningnow. He said as a

gay youth himself, he wished he would have had an organization with like minded individuals like at LGBT. Now that he is in this placement he can effectively connect and give them what he couldn’t experience as a kid. ne of Adrian's most influential and inspiring moments at Project Q. was when they were sitting watching a film called “Paris is Burning”. He was surprised to hear so many of them voice their views and opinions even during the movie. It was influential to him because he noticed they were able to discuss this because they were in a environment that was free of judgement and prejudice. It was inspiring to him that they were so confident to speak their opinions at such a young age. spining way.

ne of Adrian’s more difficult hurtles was to get over is shyness in the beginning and get to know everyone better. Off the bat when placed in new situations he tends to be reserved and apprehensive, and I think we can all relate to this feeling on some level when meeting someone or groups of people for the first time. However Adrian said he began to feel more and more comfortable with each passing week and he could tell after one night he felt as thought his shyness was gone and he had broken through.

the people join together and let all their inhibitions about themselves, and any worry go. The way he combined every country and pieced them all together like piecing the world together in one perspective.

arge has done many different kinds of service in her life like: Girl Scouts, teaching Sunday School, Home Director taking in foreign exchange students, to tutoring and teaching as much as she can. Her relationship to most of the service she has done was through her children. When her kids were young she was in Girl Scouts. Then in their high school years she was Home Director for American Field Service (AFS). Now and more currently her son had asked if she could tutor the students about math concepts so they could pass their Math and English courses. Her relationship with her services directly correspond to her feelings about how change can be made in the problems in the community by parents displaying positive examples to them and how it can influence the community.

er positive experience was when she made a difference in one person in particular. The high school student was labeled as “retarded”, however with the special attention she showed him he was able to successfully pass his math course. A disappointing experience she talked about was when she was teaching Sunday school. She said one of the thee and 4 year olds parents informed Marge that she wanted more of the day for her to teach church services and less time in art and story time. The close mindedness reminded me the civil rights movement and MLK’s will to teach the people what was righteous and humane to keep everyone equal. She did not elaborate on her experience so I cannot make more connections. However I still agree with this point, because with art and story time they have the outlet for their imagination to wonder, and one cannot obtain that by just learning about religious views. Plus by teaching art and by reading stories and singing songs, the children have a older role model they are looking up to which can have an influence on their lives later on.

I asked Marge what some of her sort and long range goals were when she conducted service as a Math tutor. A short range goal for her was to help, the students she worked with, learn at the level they could and under safe learning conditions. She wanted to make sure the student was comfortable in the learning environment and comfortable with the material. Her long term goal with the students was to help build their self confidence and self worth, and to encourage life long learning. A telling detail that I found interesting with Marge was when she said, “I learned that as I was helping others, I was also helping myself to grow and develop characteristics that I believed were worthy.” That statement reminded me that doing service or volunteering can go both ways. Like in the you tube video’s of the man who started online expression worldwide by dancing your heart out. Watching all

onnections: Adrian and Marge both agreed that service is a crucial part in the community. Adrian has made connections with the youth that he didn’t have as a child and wish he did. In hearing his insights I can positively say that what he is doing will help these kids be more comfortable with who they are and hopefully they will know the impact of serving in the community and do the same for generations to come. Marge has touched so many lives in the people she has tutored plus anyone she knows or has interacted with. She is truly one of those people who will be teaching for a lifetime. I found with Marge her motivation largely was how she was influencing her children while doing service. Some of the common themes I have noticed in the interviews with Adrian and Marge are that they both served the community by serving groups of individuals directly. They served as

In thinking about these differences, they are not quite so different after all. One similarity I feel is as simple as saying hello to a stranger. They are helping the community directly. I feel parents can be the beginning of a healthier community. Impact the generations to come by building stronger individuals who will feel comfortable to ask for help and later hopefully serve others with the skills they learned.

onnections and Insight Course Discussions. Readings. Speakers Thinking deeper about the individuals who need help and how effects the community, there are many connections I can make with the readings and some of the guest speakers, also it brings up many concerns. On suicide attempts, use of psychoactive medications, physical and emotional health, time lost from work, and general medical services or use of emergency departments for emotional problems are all problems that can create unhealthy communities. Getting programs, thoughtful listeners, and support for these things can help change peoples lives for the better. Both Marge and Adrian participated and helped changed how these individuals see their selves and their self worth. Some of us are considered lucky to live in a balanced community were almost nobody is suffering from any of these

MIAD BRIDGE / Two Volunteers One Mission / 9

outlets to the people by acting as role models and someone who they can look up to and seek guidance in a time when they feel secluded from society. Looking at a perfect example whom served as peoples role model for their beliefs, Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi. They were making sure that the people were feeling comfortable and equally noticed in the communities they lived in. This is important, so that they can feel comfortable going back and gaining strength from their positive role models. ifferences First, I gave Marge and Adrian different questions so their answers varied drastically. I wanted Marge to talk about how service affects the kids in the present and how they can shape the future. She spoke about how parents can bring information to their children about how important serving does to the overall health of any community. Adrian said in his interview that he has an idea of how important it is for most individuals to have these programs. It is important for them to know they have a place where they can get help.

MIAD BRIDGE / Two Volunteers One Mission / 10

problems. These well off people even are shrouded with the fact that there are areas in the world where people are living life month to month and day by day to survive and keep up general happiness.

onnections & Insight When I think about both Marge and Adrian (not excluding everyone we have studied), then the impact that act has on the receiver(s), it all has a very real connection and togetherness that is felt by everyone. The connection could be the feeling of Agape. The connection could be community. The connection could be taking life day by day and appreciating it to its fullest, while if other people cannot you are helping them feel that same happiness. All of these feelings and connections I know I have felt in doing service at Hunger Task Force and all of these things make peoples lives more enjoyable and worth living. Surely I feel the small bit of volunteering it did at HTF was helping people indirectly. That is the beauty of work; if you are going to do work may-as-well make it worth while. Adrian, Marge, and myself included, have all faced some challenges in our services. Mine were mostly working with some of the other volunteers and having to pick up their slack and complaining the two times I worked the warehouse. Marge had to deal with parents discouraging her teaching by studying art instead of religion. Adrian, for him was the challenge of meeting new people and feel accepted in this new environment.

ll of us in a way are battling cynicism. A short narrative by Sonya Vetra Tinsley, called “You Have to Pick Your Team”, speaks about there being two different teams people are on when it comes to life and change. The one side was described as the people who try to tell you all the work you are doing doesn’t matter. I will quote the words of Tinsley, “Then the other group of people who admit that they don’t know how things will turn out, but have decided to work for change”. (Tinsley) And the group that makes service challenging at times " is the group who has no positive outlook on the future while sitting back and waiting for fait to take its course. The people who are making change are the ones who are willing to work to change other peoples lives for the better. I feel everyone who is doing service or volunteer work on some level all are on the same “team” who want to achieve a sense the world could do better by doing good for other people. To some it may be crazy, but we feel we are affecting lives on a indescribable level. But those few people who don’t believe in this positive change are only holding the rest of us back from reaching our goal. In most of our minds we can see the light in this crazy mixed up world, and we know it takes work and care to make some change for it. It all starts by helping out one, then a group, then the list will go on. And in the end, serving and volunteering can only help us create a more beloved and healthy community.

”Then

the other group of people who admit that they don’t know how things will turn out but, have decided to work for change."”(Tinsley)

<< Written by: Austin Gardner

Adrian Gilling. personal interview- Mar. 2009 Margaret Crandall. Personal Interview- Mar. 2009

2009 NUMBER

OF MIAD MENTORS FROM EACH MAJOR Miad Mentoring program just began this year, and the turnout was from each major was great!

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Q.&A.

MIAD BRIDGE / Two Volunteers One Mission / 12

INTERVIEW. QUESTIONS. SOME

MARGARET CRANDALL

Have you ever served the community. Is there a specific placement that you had a special connection with. What was your relationship with that experience? Yes. When my children were young I was a leader for Girl Scouts and taught Sunday School. During their high school years, I was Home Director for American Field Service (AFS) and placed many students within the community and also had several stay with us in our home. My most recent volunteer work was with the Milwaukee School District. I tutored high school students who had to pass math with a ‘portfolio’ because they could not pass required math or English courses.

Q A

What is your definition of service? Volunteering your time and effort without pay to do jobs that are beneficial within your community.

Can you tell me specific “telling” details or instances or narrative summaries of some of your more powerful (positive and negative) experiences that best reveal your service/

Positive - One of the high school students I worked with was labeled ‘retarded’, but with special attention was able to actually pass his math course . Negative -One of the parents of a student in my 3 & 4 year old Sunday School class informed me she wished that I spent more of the class time as a structured church service and have less art/story time.

What were some of your shortrange goals and objectives when you did your service and part in the community? Short Term - To help the student/s I worked with learn at the level that they could, under safe and loving conditions. Long Term - To help student/s learn and to build self confidence and self worth so they could engage in life long learning.

Q A

What have you learned from your participation and experience at your organization? I learned that as I was helping others, I was also helping myself to grow and develop characteristics that I believed were worthy.

Q A

What was your most influential moment? Seeing the joy on the face of the math student when he told me that he had passed his final exam and was going to actually receive a REAL diploma.

Q A

What was your most difficult or challenging moment? Trying to work with students so they could put information into a computer when I did not have the appropriate computer background.

Q A

Why did you choose to do service at that particular place? My son was teaching in the inner city and told me how desperately some of his students needed to be helped individually in order for them to master the math concepts.

What is the best way for parents and teachers to encourage young people to pursue solutions to problems they see in the community? By actually participating in community service themselves and talking within their family members discussing how service benefits everyone including themselves and their family.

What are some ways society can better inspire or encourage young people to become involved in community service? I feel that positive changes in our world are encouraged when positive examples are displayed by parents, teachers and the media. Society could use the media to propagate a greater number of positive examples of actual local, national and international acts of community service. Positive role models that are involved in community service could also be brought to young people’s attention.

ADRIAN GILLING

What service are you conducting as of the moment, what do you do, what kind of people are you impacting in doing these services (simply what is your typical day doing your service)? I’m currently serving at the LGBT Center, participating in a project called Project Q. I volunteer every Friday night, which is “topic night,” so I help organize these group meetings, and discussions. The topics range from drugs and alcohol abuse, to sexuality and identity. People who attend Project Q. are primarily gay minorities, mostly young men 14-19, who are on the less affluent (poor) side of the social spectrum. We get together and discuss whatever the topic of the night is and, I have to say, I have been very impressed by the intelligence and openness of the youth.

Q A

What are your short-range goals and objectives when it comes to doing your service and part in the community? I think that with the kind of service I am doing, I can only hope to offer support and make the members of Project Q. feel welcome and accepted for who they are. I would also like to facilitate communication between the youth, and establish an open dialogue about the various issues facing the gay community.

What two or three accomplishments in your service at your organization (or any other type of service) have given you the most satisfaction? Why? First, I think that connecting with the youth has been a great accomplishment. After discussions we often sit around and talk or watch movies, etc. It’s during these times that the youth really open-up, and it’s great to see these kids, who face so much adversity outside the doors of Project Q. feel comfortable enough to be themselves.

Q A

What have you learned from your participation and experience at your organization? I have learned, or rather I have been reminded, that it is VERY necessary to support young people in their quest to find themselves. Mentoring is extremely important to individuals who are not seen as “normal” by the majority of society, and it is the job of people who have dealt with similar situations in the past to help them on their journeys. Also, I have learned that the differences between people are far outweighed by their similarities.

Q A

What are your attitudes about service? I think that service is a crucial part of society. I believe that it helps us understand and accept one-another and that

it’s importance should not be taken for granted. It is also a big responsibility to take-on. When people look to you for knowledge, support, acceptance, etc. You must make sure you’re prepared for this leadership role. Without service we would have nothing!

Q A

What was your most your most influential moment thus far? My most influential moment thusfar at my placement occurred last Friday night. We had just watched a movie, “Paris is Burning,” and were discussing what we thought of the film. I was very pleased to hear many of the youth voice their opinions and views, and it was clear that they felt free to do this because they knew that they were in an environment free of judgement and prejudice. Their confidence was inspiring, and it was clear to me at that moment that Project Q. really does have a positive influence on these kids.

Q A

What was your most difficult or challenging moment thus far? I think that one of my biggest hurdles in terms of my service has been getting over my apprehension and shyness and getting to know the members. I can tend to be very reserved and timid in situations I’m unfamiliar with, so it takes time for me to express myself. However, I do believe that I have overcome that and with every week I become more and more confident assuming a leadership role. Last week was definitely a breakthrough during our discussion.

Q A

Why did you choose to do service at this particular placement? The answer to this question is pretty simple. As a gay youth, I was not able to participate in programs like Project Q. or a Gay/ Straight alliance because these resources were not available to me. I had such a need for acceptance, and want to be around likeminded individuals but never had the opportunity. Because I know what it is like to have not had these types of programs available to me, I wanted to be a part of them now, in hopes that I’ll positively influence and support other gay youth.

today the classroom. tomorrow the world.

t's almost inconceivable to think that graphic design can operate within a viable career form. In the most stripped down sense of the word, it's primarily seen as a position for unorthodox thinking individuals and cutting edge proponents of creation. In other words, the last great enterprise for creativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looking to generate a financially stable life through art. But in all honesty, design and the people who create it, are essential to this modern culture in which we live. Look around, design is everywhere. Everything built, manipulated, and conceived has come from the mind and hands of an artist or designer. Yes,

it's true. People actually sit in offices and come up with the inventive advertising and branding models that we are exposed to everyday. Schools and institutions are dedicated to the highest caliber in training these people to go out into the world and use these skills to benefit not only the individuals in building a substantial career but the benefit on the community, the world, and the mass consciousness at large. The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design is one of these schools and deep within the recesses of its halls lies a program called Visual Resources. The course was founded in 1988 and it's main focus lies in providing students with real world type projects through the discipline of tight deadlines,

<< Illustrations by:

Wojnar

Agnieszka

MIAD BRIDGE / Today the Classroom Tomorrow the World-Visual Resources / 15

client meetings, and regimented quick thinking and execution. Since it's conception, it has taken on well over 270 different clients and much of the work that many of the students take on is extremely varied and diverse. To name a few, the group has completed work for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Blood Center, American Diabetes Association, The Haggarty Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, The Association for Blind and Visually Impaired Children and many more. Currently, the class is in the process of working with the Florintine Opera and Presentmusic. Francis Balistreri, the leading professor for the course has been manning the reigns since 1995. When MIAD started the program, it and Virginia Commonwealth University were the only two school in the nation that had a program like this. Virginia's program was only for graduate students. Now there are quite a few schools and a couple here in the Milwaukee area who have or are trying to copy the concept.â&#x20AC;? said Francis Balistreri.

It's about as real to a comprehensive job as it gets in the classroom. Students earning a higher grade-point average are eligible in participating. After submitting a portfolio for review, the student then has to be voted in by the faculty members involved with the program. If the chosen student is selected then he or she will spend the following semester knee deep in supplying the local market with their know-how in the design medium. The major benefit to this program works in two ways. It provides local businesses and organizations with design solutions at a rate much lower than what most firms would quote and the student is given the experience of a realistic work setting and pace. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would like it to continue to exist and function as a resource for students to get this professional experience in an academic environment. I would like to see more qualified students take on the challenge and participate in the program.â&#x20AC;? said Francis Balistreri on the current state in which the program lies.

INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS. AND EVEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN, LOCAL ENTERPRISES ARE FINDING IT HARDER TO GET QUALITY DESIGN WORK AT A REASONABLE PRICE. BUT BECAUSE OF THE VISUAL RESOURCES GROUP, EXPERIENCE IS NO FURTHER THAN A FEW DOORS DOWN FROM YOUR STUDIO. IN ADDITION TO BUILDING AN IMPRESSIVE PORTFOLIO, THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE IS TAKING THIS GOLD MINE AND USING IT TO A GREAT ADVANTAGE. << Written by: Adam Weidner

KNOW THE GROUP WILL BROADEN ITS ”" ICLIENT BASE BECAUSE THE QUALITY OF

WORK THAT IS PRODUCED IN THE CLASS CANNOT GO UNNOTICED AND WITH THAT TYPE OF PRODUCT, THE VISUAL RESOURCES DESIGN GROUP WILL SELL ITSELF.

” "

<< Francis Balistreri

MIAD BRIDGE / Today the Classroom Tomorrow the World-Visual Resources / 17

RIGHT NOW WITH THIS TOUGH ECONOMY, STUDENTS ARE FINDING IT HARDER AND HARDER TO FIND

{} These two MIAD students are

looking to make a

ripple effect in the community using

their skills, proactive

problem solving and a drifters state of mind.

lel

<< Photography by:

Ruffin

Xavier

MIAD BRIDGE / Ripple Effect / 19

“We’re trying to work

ripple. effect.

MIAD BRIDGE / Ripple Effect / 20

like [a] ripple of water with this drift concept.” <<”RUDY” MANDINA

hese two MIAD students are looking to make a ripple effect in the community using their skills, proactive problem solving, and a drifter’s state of mind. Influenced by Bruce Mau‘s Massive Change and the ideology of the Auburn University’s Rural Studio Jose “Rudy” Medina and Matt Donnelly are forming a collective focused on giving back by addressing the needs in their immediate surroundings with creative solutions. What are they doing exactly? According to Medina the plan is to create a group of designers who drift from place to place trying to identify and address three things: What is neglected? What is inefficient? What is needed? Based on those observations members of the collective would create unique solutions that incorporate the people it affects and the materials available to them. “We’re trying to work like [a] ripple of water…with this drift concept” Rudy Medina

“Forget over charging

and forget patents...We need this new way of doing things, we need to get over ourselves and really use our abilities to the advantage of everything.” <<MATT DONNELLY

MIAD BRIDGE / Ripple Effect / 21 <<Left : “Rudy” Medina

<<Right : Matt Donnelly

Medina and Donnelly plan to get out and engage the world around them in order to discover design opportunities. Weather it be riding bikes through the 5th ward occasionally stopping to engage in a conversation or driving to Alabama with a nomadic design studio in a tent searching for a chance to help another human being.

“They’re other designers who have

addressed the issues that we are now, but there is never enough” << “Rudy” Medina

These two MIAD undergrads want to inspire professionals, students, faculty, and staff alike. The hope is to get more people involved with each other and start to utilize the resources they have to help one another. Just like Samuel Mockbee’s Rural Studio inspired John Bielenberg’s Project M, which inspired another group of MIAD students to fly from Milwaukee to Mexico just to see how they could help. Project Drift aims to get you thinking about how you can contribute to the human experience through what you already have. << WRITTEN BY: XAVIER RUFFIN

MIAD BRIDGE / This I believe / 22

The Que?tion Mark

“Am I that ignorant, or am I jaded? ”-2009

<<written by:Brett Stenson

he question is…what do I really believe? What am I going to do tomorrow? Should I volunteer somewhere, or should I work? Am I going to vote? I should, shouldn’t I? Will it really make a difference? Am I that ignorant, or am I jaded? What will Obama do for us? Will he instill balance and justice in the system of America, or will it be another presidency with false hope? Will I continue to starve in order to pay for gasoline, or will we explore a new way to fuel ourselves? Will my words fall between the cracks, or will they inflate into a revolution? Is God really there, or is he lost in text? Will that hadron collider thing kill us all, or discover a whole new perspective on science? Will I make a difference? Does the world really hate each other that much, or are we stubborn? Is religion worth killing over, or are we just over-opinionated? Isn’t it all about love, or is it about greed? How many people will there be on this planet in 20 years, or will there be a planet anymore? Were the Mayans right about an apocalypse in 2012? Should marriage be a sacred union between a man and a woman, or should we update that a bit for everyone to love each other? Is abortion up to the mother, or is it murder? What can I do to help? Will I have kids, or will this world be too corrupt to raise innocent minds? Should I eat more vitamin tablets, or should I eat more vegetables? Should I be an artist, or a politician? Should I buy a hybrid, or invest in a bus pass? Should I donate some money to South America, or will it only end up in the wrong hands? When I buy a house, should it be in the inner city in order to build a community with the poor, or flee to the suburbs in quiet tranquility and safety? Am I capable of being a leader, or a lemming? What should I do? What do I believe? What is there to believe in? I believe in America. I believe that many young people are faced with the ultimate question: What do you believe? As a middle grounder, I feel that it is hard to truly decide what is right. I am not an extremist, a democrat, a republican, a fascist or any sort of classified thinker. I feel I am simply a person with a struggle to find what is right to me. I have opinions, but I am not one to push them onto another…I simply just want to ask the world “What are we going to do?” 21. Student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art + Design. Currently working on a major in Communication Design. I am very interested in this current situation in America, and have high hopes for our future. I hope everyone can drop their weapons and prejudices in order to solve the mountain of problems we are facing. Simply love.

Belie

My Creed

“I believe that the greatest gifts can’t be earnedwe’ll always be falling short of deserving them.”-2009

<<written by:Andrea Guzzetta

believe that it’s a soda, not a pop, that drinking is for when you’re thirsty, and that love, beauty, light, and truth live, hidden in all of us. I believe that there are good people, there are people trying to be good, and that evil is a choice, not a person. I believe that happiness is basking in the company of those that love you, and my happiest moments are those fragments during which I first perceived love-staying up late talking to my little brother, asleep with one friend on each shoulder after a Chicago day-trip, sandwiched between them on the train ride home, listening to them breathing an knowing that I belong there. I believe that home is where you are accepted, where the lights are loft on for you at night. Home can be held between my mother’s arms.

believe that everyone is flawed, that death is a part of life; regret, a waste of time. I believe that the greatest gifts can’t be earned-we’ll always be falling short of deserving them. I believe that I am overanalytical, I fear that I am crazy, I wonder if I’m creative enough to be an artist for my entire life. I believe that everyone should be listened to, and my only enemy to that aspiration is time, who spites me for neglecting him. I believe that knowledge is a drink most sublime, and I don’t care if the crap is half empty or half full, I’m drinking the rest of it. I believe that the sky is a gift, and that all living things have value-something to teach, something to give.

believe that the greatest sin one can commit is to injure another human being, because all human beings are the same at the core and by injuring another, I injure myself. I guess you could say I believe in karma. I believe that human beings are relatively simple- we all want the same things, but the depths of our experiences and how we perceive the world, how we go about attaining what we seek make us too complex for even ourselves to understand. I think that if I try to my best to understand others, I might begin to understand myself because lets face it-aside from my name, my statistics there’s not much that I can fully comprehend. I do things because I think they’re right, because my experience has taught me no other way. There’s always something to be learned, life is a gift, and things never go perfectly if you expect them to. Best of all, I believe that anything is possible. Happiness? It’s possible if you want it bad enough. Vanilla ice cream and cocoa pebbles for breakfast? I’ve done it. Anything is possible.

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