MCAD’s engaged and public arts coursework recognizes and supports diverse approaches to community based art. Situated within an interdisciplinary graduate program, students working in a range of relational practices have access to mentors focused on socially engaged art.

Students can select their mentors from the MCAD faculty and/or the professional community of the Twin Cities. See the Recent Mentors to get a sense of who our students are working with.

Regional Public Art Resources

The Twin Cities’ thriving arts community also has several organizations, which support many approaches to public practices:

• Forecast Public Art — fosters public art, community-engaged design, and transformative placemaking; also publishes Public Art Review
• Public Art St. Paul — places artists in leading community roles to help shape public spaces, improve city systems, and deepen civic engagement.
• Minneapolis Art in Public Places — integrating public art into city planning, service design, and infrastructure. Commissions and conserves works
• Weisman Art Museum’s Target Studio for Creative Collaboration — a workspace/ convening space/ laboratory/ gallery/ classroom dedicated to collaborations between artists and scholars
• Water Bar and Public Studio — initiates public engagement on water issues, honoring local culture/ knowledge; the MCAD MFA Program has 2 funded fellowships with Water Bar
• MN Citizens for the Arts — a statewide arts advocacy organization to lobby the MN State Legislature and Congress

Regional Sculpture Parks

• Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker — open 365 days a year, from 6 am to 12 midnight.
• Franconia Sculpture Park — 43-acre outdoor sculpture park and active artist residency with year-round programming
• Silverwood Park — has sculpture walk and gallery; facilitates appreciation for nature
• Western Sculpture Park — Saint Paul’s sculpture park with most diverse populations in Twin Cities
• Anderson Center Sculpture Park — located in Red Wing, a 15-acre park

Regional Public Art Events

• Northern Lights — supports artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere, focusing on innovative uses of technology and civic engagement; organizes Northern Spark Festival, Creative City Challenge, and Art(ists) on the Verge
• Art Shanty Projects — each winter, using lake ice as a relatively unregulated public space to expand the notions of what art can be.

Regional Funding

Additionally, MCAD’s MFA program can help you apply to Minnesota’s outstanding regional sources of funding. For some awards, you can apply during the summer between your first and second year to receive funding in the months after graduating.

• Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants (can apply as a student, but project cannot be associated with your degree program)
• Art(ists) On the Verge (AOV)
• Silverwood Park Annual Call
• Creative City Challenge
• Jerome Foundation Grants
• Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program
• Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Grants
• McKnight Foundation Grants
• Midway Contemporary Art Visual Arts Fund
• Red Eye’s Works-In-Progress Program
• and more (the funding environment in MN is ever-evolving and growing)

Visiting Artists

Visiting artists, designers, and critics are a central element of Graduate Critique Seminar. Each week a visitor is invited to present their work and critique two students’ work during class. By the time a student has completed the MFA Program, they will have seen approximately 30 different in-class visitors. Additionally, the MFA Program regularly invites artists for clusters of studio visits.

Professional Practices & Career Development

Each semester, we host a series of talks/workshops focused on professional practices (alumni are invited to attend, and we feature alumni as speakers when possible). Topics range widely and are selected based on current student interests and suggestions.

The Twin Cities is one of the most vibrant and diverse arts communities in the US. Current students can take an MCAD van to visit sites/studies/organizations, and are encouraged to explore spaces dedicated to artistic activism, civic practice, and participatory work, such as Forecast Public Art.

The college offers a variety of approaches to working with organizations, ranging from sponsored studio classes, hiring in-house design firm MCAD DesignWorks, and commissioned projects completed via internships and fellowships. Collaborations are based on the foundation of building mutually-beneficial relationships between the college, its students, and community partners.

Selected Past MCAD Projects:

• Whittier Utility Boxes
• Urban Flower Field
• Art and Science
• Greater Minnesota Arts Initiative
• Rebranding BI Worldwide

Travel

Each year, the MFA program takes a trip to either New York City or Los Angeles where we visit MCAD alumni studios and offices, in addition to all the rich art and design resources these cities offer.

MCAD MFA students are also invited to apply for summer abroad experiences via the WorkArt Fellowship Program (Germany), Burren College of Art’s Summer School (Ireland), DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia (Copenhagen or Stockholm),or USF’s Paris/Venice/London program (alternating locations depending on year). International travel is an optional added cost for MFA students (not required).

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Above: MCAD collaborated with GoodSpace Murals, led by Greta McLain ’12, MFA, to create a new mural on the exterior of the MacRostie building. Aaron Olson-Reiners ’17, MFA, served as the lead teaching artist, and Michaela Chorn ’17, MFA was a teaching assistant.

Recent Alumni Achievements

• Kelley Meister ’08 – Artist on the Verge 11 Fellowship
• Emmett Ramstad ’07, Forecast Public Art Research and Development Grant, 2018
• Essma Imady ’16 – Artist on the Verge 10 Fellowship
• “Carry On Homes” (Zoe Cinel ’18, Shun Jie ’18, Peng Wu’13, Preston Drum ’16) – Creative City Challenge 2018
• Preston Drum ’16 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2018
• Jane Powers ’98 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2018
• Kelsey Bosch ’16 – Artist on the Verge 8 Fellowship
• Amanda Lovelee ’10 – MN Artist Initiative Grant 2017

Selected Recent Alumni

• J. Renee Benda
• María José Castillo
• Ed Charbonneau
• Zoe Cinel
• Preston Drum
• Greta McLain – see also MN Originals video
• Aaron Olson-Reiners
• Amanda Lovelee
• Emmett Ramstad
• Peng Wu
• Shun Jie Yong

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