| Minneapolis College of Art and Design | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1886 |
| Type | Private |
| President | Jay Coogan |
| Academic staff | 100 |
| Undergraduates | 750 |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Campus | Urban, 10 acres (4 ha) |
| Website | www.mcad.edu |
Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private, nonprofit four-year and postgraduate college specializing in the visual arts. Located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, MCAD currently enrolls approximately 1,000 students offering curriculum that includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, video, illustration, graphic design, book arts, furniture design, liberal arts comic art, and sustainable design. MCAD is one of the few major art schools to offer a major in comic art. I.D. magazine names the college one of the nation’s Top Ten Design Schools.
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MCAD was founded in 1886 by the trustees of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts and originally named the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts. Its first class was held in a rented apartment in downtown Minneapolis and had an enrollment of 28 students, 26 of whom were women.[1][2]
In December 1889, the School found a more permanent home on the top floor of the just-finished Minneapolis Public Library at 10th Street and Hennepin Avenue. 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.[3]
In 1914, the school moved to its present location one mile south of downtown Minneapolis, and set up its classrooms and studios within the newly constructed Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The 10-acre (4 ha) site for the 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 Whitmore Morrison (died 1880).
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–?) and his sister, Ethel Morrison Van Derlip (1876–1921), as a memorial to their mother, Julia Kellogg Washburn Morrison (died 1883), the wife of Clinton Morrison.[4] Designed by Edwin H. Hewitt, a former Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts president, the Morrison Building featured three large painting studios with skylights, administrative offices, workshops and an auditorium.[1]
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 the renowned Japanese modernist architect Kenzo Tange (1913–2005) as part of the new "arts complex" that included the Children's Theatre Company and a major addition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.[1]
On July 1, 1988, MCAD became a wholly independent institution, no longer governed by the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts.[1]
MCAD offers three degree programs.
Bachelor of Fine Arts The BFA program offers majors in Advertising Design, Animation, Comic Art, Drawing and Painting, Filmmaking, Studio Fine Arts, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Web And Multimedia Environments, Photography, Print, Paper, Book, and Sculpture. [5]
Bachelor of Science The BS program offers specializations in Visualization and Virtual Experience, Entrepreneurship and Project Management, Print and Web Communications, and Branding, Marketing and Public Relations. Students have the opportunity to meet with real clients and take on real projects for a contextual study from the moment they step in the doors. This allows BS Students to network with industry professionals by becoming a part of the industry themselves, giving them not only an education, but experience by the time they graduate, giving them the upper-hand against other students. MCAD BS Students have a hiring rate of 96% post graduation, higher than any other major at the school.[6]
Master of Fine Arts The MFA program offers disciplines in the areas of Animation, Comic Art, Drawing, Filmmaking, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interactive Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture. It's based on 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 best needs.[7]
Continuing Studies MCAD offers a number of continuing studies courses for children, teens and adults. Adult courses are available for both enrichment and professional development. MCAD Continuing Studies department will host a workshop of anime and manga art called Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits September 25-27. This year the guest will be Tomoko Taniguchi. Visit www.mcad.edu/anime for more info.
MCAD offers certificate programs for students who wish to concentrate in a focus area. Currently, the College has three post-baccalaureate certificate programs: Studio Arts, Graphic Design, and Sustainable Design.
The post-baccalaureate program is a focused, intensive course of study for those who have completed a significant amount of work in studio art or design. Such students can use a post-baccalaureate certificate to qualify for certain occupations or to strengthen their portfolio if they are considering pursuing graduate studies. Applications are open to individuals who have received a bachelor’s degree.
Sustainable Design Program MCAD's ground breaking Sustainable Design post-baccalaureate is the first ever accredited online program not exclusive to architecture, focusing on sustainability ideas that can be applied to any effort. The program was developed, and is taught, by long-standing eco-practitioners and advocates for sustainable design, including members of: Worldchanging, Biomimicry Guild, The Natural Step, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and the Permaculture Guild, with the core group coming from the o2 Global Network (o2 International Network for Sustainable Design). As an all online program, students come from all industries, cultures, and career stages to share ideas and insights while learning how to apply systems thinking to their own work. Not limited to designers, business and government decision makers find they not only learn how to apply sustainability systems thinking, but learn creative out-of-the-box thinking as well. http://www.mcad.edu/sustainable
MCAD is located on 2501 Stevens Avenue, just south of the Minneapolis downtown area. It shares a campus with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Children's Theatre Company.
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