The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer a major in

comic art ''Comic Art'' was a magazine, founded and edited by Todd Hignite, which surveyed newspaper comic strips, magazine cartoon panels and comic book art, both historical and contemporary. History and profile ''Comic Art'' was established in 2002. The ...

History

MCAD was founded in 1886 by the trustees of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts and originally named the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts.

Douglas Volk Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk (February 23, 1856 – February 7, 1935) was an American portrait and figure painter, muralist, and educator. He taught at the Cooper Union, the Art Students League of New York, and was one of the founders of the Minn ...

(1856–1935), an accomplished American portrait painter who studied in Paris with renowned French painter and sculptor

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

(1824–1904), became the school's first president. Its inaugural class was held in a rented apartment in downtown

and had an enrollment of 28 students, 26 of whom were women. In December 1889, the school found a more permanent home on the top floor of the just-finished

Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...

at 10th Street and Hennepin Avenue. In 1893, noted German-born painter and educator

Robert Koehler Robert Koehler (November 28, 1850 – April 23, 1917) was a German-born Painting, painter and art teacher who spent most of his career in the United States. Biography Koehler was born in Hamburg; his family spelled their name Köhler until ...

(1850–1917) moved from New York to Minnesota to become president of the school. Over the next ten years, he developed much of the curriculum that is known today as the art education field. By the turn of the century, the school had two instructors and had instituted a summer term, in addition to night classes for people in the community. In 1910, the School of Fine Arts changed its name to the Minneapolis School of Art to reflect the new emphasis on applied arts. In 1915, the school moved to its present location one mile south of downtown

, and set up its classrooms and studios within the newly constructed

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

. The site for the art museum and school was donated to the City of Minneapolis in 1911 by prominent local banker and businessman Clinton Morrison (1842–1913). It was formerly occupied by Villa Rosa, the home and estate of Morrison's parents Dorilus Morrison (1814–1897), the first mayor of Minneapolis, and Harriet Putnam Whitmore Morrison (1821–1880). The site of the Morrison's former estate is today held in the public trust under the jurisdiction of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and is officially known as Dorilus Morrison Park. In 1916, the school moved into its own nearby facilities in the new Julia Morrison Memorial Building, which was built with funds provided to the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts by Dr. Angus Washburn Morrison (1883–1949) and his sister, Ethel Morrison Van Derlip (1876–1921), as a memorial to their mother, Julia Kellogg Washburn Morrison (1853–1883), the wife of Clinton Morrison. Designed by prominent Minneapolis architect Edwin Hawley Hewitt (1874–1939), a former Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts president, the Morrison Building featured three large painting studios with skylights, administrative offices, workshops and an auditorium. In 1970, the School was renamed the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to reflect the broadening of its fine arts and liberal arts curricula. By this time, with enrollment of nearly 600 students, the college had outgrown its facilities, and in 1974 expanded into a building designed by

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

–winning modernist architect Kenzo Tange (1913–2005) as part of the new "arts complex" that included the

Children's Theatre Company The Children's Theatre Company is a regional theater established in 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, specializing in plays for families, young audiences and the very young. The theater is the largest theater for multigenerational audiences in ...

and a major addition to the

. On July 1, 1988, MCAD became a wholly independent institution, no longer governed by the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts.

Academics

MCAD offers several degree programs. Bachelor of Fine Arts: The BFA program offers majors in Animation,

Comic Art ''Comic Art'' was a magazine, founded and edited by Todd Hignite, which surveyed newspaper comic strips, magazine cartoon panels and comic book art, both historical and contemporary. History and profile ''Comic Art'' was established in 2002. The ...

, Drawing and Painting, Filmmaking, Fine Arts Studio, Furniture Design,

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

Illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

, Web And Multimedia Environments, Photography, Print Paper Book, Product Design, and Sculpture. Bachelor of Science: The BSc program offers a major in entrepreneurial studies. Continuing Education: MCAD offers a number of continuing studies courses for children, teens, and adults. Adult courses are available for both enrichment and professional development. Master of Fine Arts: The MFA program offers disciplines in the areas of Animation,

, Drawing, Filmmaking, Furniture Design,

, Interactive Media, Painting, Photography,

Printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

, Sculpture. It uses a mentor-based approach in which students select a mentor from a list of MCAD faculty and professional area artists, work one-on-one with their mentors discussing their goals as an artist, and develop strategies in studio art and liberal studies seminars to meet their needs. Master of Arts in Sustainable Design: Launched in 2004, MCAD's master of arts in sustainable design program was the first accredited online program, not exclusive to architecture, focusing on sustainability methodologies that can be applied to any effort. The program was developed and is taught by long-standing sustainability practitioners working in design and business, including members of Worldchanging, Biomimicry Guild, International Society of Sustainability Professionals, and the

Permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principl ...

Guild. Master of Arts in Graphic and Web Design: MCAD's master of arts in graphic and web design is fully online. Courses cover design principles, typography, research, ideation, web design, programming, workflow management, and more.

Campus

MCAD is located at 2501 Stevens Avenue, just south of downtown Minneapolis. It shares an eighteen-acre arts campus with the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the

. The MCAD campus consists of eight buildings and three acres of lawns and gardens. *MCAD offers student apartments for on-campus living. **122 Units **10 efficiencies **63 one-bedrooms **40 two-bedrooms **9 three-bedrooms *43 percent are furnished The

Minneapolis Japanese School Minneapolis Japanese School (MJS; ミネアポリス日本語補習授業校 ''Mineaporisu Nihongo Hoshū jugyō kō'') is a Japanese weekend school in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. It is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to teach Pr ...

, a weekend Japanese educational program designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, previously held its classes at MCAD.

Galleries

MCAD operates one main gallery space, a gallery on the concourse, an outdoor sculpture garden, and the student-run Gallery 148. The college hosts contemporary art and design exhibitions, receptions, artist talks, and other events that are free and open to the public.

Enrollment

*Total undergrads: 650 *First-time degree-seeking freshmen: 140 *Graduate enrollment: 44

Notable alumni and faculty

* Kinji Akagawa: Sculptor,

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, and arts educator best known for sculptural constructions that also serve a practical function. *

Henry Bannarn Henry Wilmer "Mike" Bannarn (July 17, 1910 – September 20, 1965) was an African-American artist, best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance period. He is known for his work in sculpture and as a character artist in the various paint m ...

: Artist best known for his work during the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

period. *

Belle Baranceanu Belle Goldschlager Baranceanu (July 17, 1902January 17, 1988) was an American painter, teacher, muralist, lithographer, engraver and illustrator. She was born Belle Goldschlager in Chicago, Illinois (Baranceanu was her mother's maiden name). Her ...

: Artist best known for her paintings and murals. * Tuesday Bassen: Designer best known for her eponymous label. * Patrick Jennings Brady: Artist best known for organizing the Cig Art benefits. * Arnold Franz Brasz: Painter, sculptor, and printmaker. *

Sarina Brewer Sarina Brewer is a Minneapolis-based American artist known for her avant-garde taxidermy sculpture and her role in the popularization of taxidermy-related contemporary art. Brewer is one of the individuals responsible for the formation of the genr ...

: Sculptor known for her innovative use of taxidermy-related materials and the formation of the genre of Rogue Taxidermy Art. *

Esther Bubley Esther Bubley (February 16, 1921 – March 16, 1998) was an American photographer who specialized in expressive photos of ordinary people in everyday lives. She worked for several agencies of the American government and her work also featured in s ...

: Photographer who specialized in expressive photos of ordinary people in everyday lives. * Margaret Gove Camfferman: Painter * James Casebere: Contemporary artist and photographer. * Adolf Dehn:

Lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

who helped define some important movements in American art, including Regionalism, Social Realism, and

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

. * Gregory Euclide:

Contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

ist and teacher best known for creating the album artwork for ''Bon Iver'', winner of the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

. * John Bernard Flannagan: One of the first practitioners of

direct carving This page describe terms and jargon related to sculpture and sculpting. __NOTOC__ A armature :An armature is an internal frame or skeleton which supports a modelled sculpture. A typical armature for a small sculpture is made of heavy gau ...

(also known as ''taille directe'') in the United States. *

Wanda Gág Wanda Hazel Gág ( ; March 11, 1893 – June 27, 1946) was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is best known for writing and illustrating the children's book '' Millions of Cats'', the oldest American picture book still ...

: Artist, author, translator, and illustrator most noted for writing and illustrating the children's book ''

Millions of Cats ''Millions of Cats'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Wanda Gág in 1928. The book won a Newbery Honor award in 1929, one of the few picture books to do so. ''Millions of Cats'' is the oldest American picture book still i ...

.'' * F. Keogh Gleason: Resident

set decorator The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcing the " set dressing" elements of each set in a Feature Film, Television, or New Media ...

at MGM studios for over 40 years * Samara Golden: Installation artist *

Mary GrandPré Mary GrandPré (born February 13, 1954) is an American illustrator best known for her cover and chapter illustrations of the '' Harry Potter'' books in their U.S. editions published by Scholastic. She received a Caldecott Honor in 2015 for illus ...

: Illustrator best known for her cover and chapter illustrations of the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

'' books in their U.S. editions published by Scholastic. * M.S. Harkness:

Cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

created the graphic novels "Tinderella" and "Desperate Pleasures", featured in The New Yorker. * Theodore Haupt:

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

painter, sculptor, and muralist who achieved recognition for his '' New Yorker'' magazine covers. * Pao Houa Her (born 1982), photographer * Dan Jurgens: Comic book writer and artist known for his lengthy runs on the

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

titles '' The Adventures of Superman'' and ''Superman'' (vol. 2). * Vance A. Larson: Abstract expressionist painter and portrait painter. * P. Scott Makela:

Graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

designer, and type designer especially noted for the design of Dead History, a postmodern typeface. *

Mark Mallman Mark Mallman (born July 20, 1973) is a Minnesota musician, film composer, and memoirist. Since 1998, he has released nine full-length studio albums, ''Happiness'' (2021) being his most recent. Education Mallman graduated from Waukesha South Hi ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

musician and composer for film. *

Linus Maurer Linus Albert Maurer (January 15, 1926 – January 29, 2016) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and puzzle designer. He worked as the editorial cartoonist for the ''Sonoma Index-Tribune'', a California newspaper, for more than 25 years. Mau ...

, illustrator and

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...

designer. * Jin Meyerson: Artist with a disposition for large-scale painting of high detail. * Chris Monroe: Cartoonist, illustrator, and author best known for her weekly comic strip "Violet Days.” * George Morrison: Landscape painter and sculptor and part of a circle of abstract expressionists. * Lisa Nankivil: Best known for her non-representational striped-format oil paintings and abstract

monoprints Monoprinting is a type of printmaking where the intent is to make unique prints, that may explore an image serially. Other methods of printmaking create editioned multiples, the monoprint is editioned as 1 of 1. There are many techniques of mono-p ...

. *

Patricia Olson Patricia Olson (born 1951) is an American graphic designer, painter, feminist artist, and educator whose works are categorized as figurative art. Olson was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her B.A. in studio art from Macal ...

: Graphic designer, painter, feminist artist, and educator whose works are categorized as

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract ...

. * Clara Elsene Peck: Illustrator and painter known for her illustrations of women and children in the early 20th century. * Tania del Rio:

working mainly in comic books who has worked for

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.James Rosenquist: Artist and one of the protagonists in the pop-art movement. * John Howard Sanden: Portrait artist whose subjects include former President George W. Bush and First Lady

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

.Maurer, 1926–2016, url=http://www.sonomanews.com/news/5179817-181/linus-maurer-1926-2016?artslide=0, publisher=Sonoma Index-Tribune, accessdate=November 27, 2017 * Paul Shambroom: Photographer whose work explores power in its various forms. *

Aaron Spangler Aaron Spangler (born 1971, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Life He attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, earning his BFA degree in 1993. He is represented by H ...

: Sculptor and

whose sculptures are carved from solid blocks of

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River ...

and finished with coats of black gesso and

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...

. *

Adrien Stoutenburg Adrien Stoutenburg (December 1, 1916 – April 14, 1982) was an American poet and a prolific writer of juvenile literature. Her poetry collection ''Heroes, Advise Us'' was the 1964 Lamont Poetry Selection. Life Stoutenburg was born in Darfur, ...

: Poet and prolific writer of juvenile literature whose poetry collection ''Heroes, Advise Us'' was the 1964

Lamont Poetry Selection The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

. * Piotr Szyhalski: poster designer and multimedia artist. *

Pete Wagner Pete Wagner (born January 26, 1955) is an American political cartoonist, activist, author, scholar and caricature artist whose work has been published in over 300 newspapers and other periodicals. His cartoons and activist theatrics have been the ...

: Political cartoonist, activist, author, scholar, and caricature artist whose work has been the subject of controversy and frequent media attention. * Ben Willmore: Photographer, author, and entrepreneur best known for his

Digital Imaging Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of a digital representation of the visual characteristics of an object, such as a physical scene or the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include t ...

expertise and for writing the book ''Photoshop Studio Techniques''.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 44, 57, 25.95, N, 93, 16, 29.6, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Culture of Minneapolis Art schools in Minnesota Universities and colleges in Minneapolis Educational institutions established in 1886 Private universities and colleges in Minnesota 1886 establishments in Minnesota Art museums and galleries in Minnesota