Educational/professional background:
MFA, Graphic Design/Visual Communication, Kansas State University
BFA, Graphic Design, Kansas State University
Courses regularly taught:
ART 223 Introduction to Typography
ART 321 Design and Visual Communication I
ART 529 Design and Visual Communication III Capstone & Exhibition
About Robert:
My creative practice balances industry related activities with experimentation.
Educational/professional background:
MFA, Metalsmithing/Blacksmithing, Southern Illinois University of Carbondale
BFA, Computer Arts/Sculpture, Memphis College of Art
Courses regularly taught:
ART 221 Introduction to Design
ART 277 Design for Digital Fabrication
ART 526 Research in Universal Design & Fabrication
About Adam:
My ongoing creative research investigates digital design and manufacturing technologies such as CAD software, CNC milling, 3d printing and laser cutting in combination with traditional craft practices. This work examines the relationship between these methods asking; what is craft and how do we resolve the dichotomy between contemporary technologies and historic hand-making processes?
Lisa Moline
Professor
Co-Program Head
UWM Email:
lmoline@uwm.edu
Educational/professional background:
MFA, Printmaking, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Certificate, Special Advanced Studies in Printmaking, Central School of Art & Design, London, England
BA, Studio Art, Smith College
Courses regularly taught:
ART 324 Web Design
ART 424 Topics in Web, Interaction and Screen Design
About Lisa:
My creative research is focused on the complex, sometimes complementary, sometimes conflicting relationship between humans and the natural world, an ongoing investigation of habitat, and explorations of where nature resides with increasing urbanization and globalization. The work is multimodal, encompassing many forms: from intimate prints, to large-scale installations, to video and audio environments, to activist interventions.
Academic Staff
Educational/professional background:
MFA, Fiction, University of Tampa
BA, Sociology, University of Alabama-Birmingham
Current research/professional practice:
Lubar Entrepreneurship Center Teaching Innovation Fellow, 2020 to present.
Courses regularly taught:
ART 421 Design and Visual Communication II
ART 422 Design Methodologies
ART 323 Typography II
About Coe:
For more than 20 years, I was engaged in creating integrated advertising campaign with a focus on digital and television development. My clients have been as varied as Aurora Health Care, Oura Rings, the Milwaukee Brewers, Honda Manufacturing, Verizon Wireless, and others across retail, B2B and nonprofit sectors. Other experience includes writing and directing music videos in Nashville, launching a literary magazine called Bridge Eight in Jacksonville, Florida, and co-founding a pataphysics group in Milwaukee.
I’m a current Lubar Entrepreneurship Center Teaching Innovation Fellow and am interested in transdisciplinary collaboration around using design and applied imagination to re-vision possible futures. This interest led to my recent participation in the first-ever Patadesign School, an international cohort of designers, architects, and other design thinkers, which endeavored to look at design through the spiral lens of pataphysics in pursuit of imaginary solutions to enduring design problems. Other recent projects and collaborations have examined setting and character in speculative fiction stories as a method for inventive placemaking in architecture, and an upcoming project around the symbols, mark-making, and the potential for community impact.
Educational/professional background:
MFA from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
BFA, Communication Design, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
Courses regularly taught:
ART 322 Topics in Illustration
ART 522 Adv Topics in Illustration
About Max:
Since 2009, I have written and illustrated over 25 children’s books and graphic novels for the Scandinavian and European markets. As a freelance illustrator and designer, I have worked with a diverse range of clients, including Obama for America, and the Wall Street Journal.
Wes Larsen
Assistant Visiting Professor
UWM Email:
larsenw@uwm.edu
Educational/professional background:
MFA, 2D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
BFA, Graphic Design / Printmaking, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Courses regularly taught:
Art 221 Introduction to Design
Art 223 Introduction to Typography
Art 424 Topics in Web, Interaction, & Screen Design
Art 529 Design and Visual Communication III Capstone & Exhibition
About Wes:
My ongoing research takes an interdisciplinary approach at questioning the role that both visual and ideological proximities play in the perpetuation of binaries, polarity, and the phenomenological “other”. Have Western colonial traditions in art and design actually made it more difficult for societies to communicate and empathize with one another? Does a specialized studio practice necessarily equate to some form of mastery? Has the co-opting of graphic design by the capitalist agenda stifled culture by discouraging improvisation, risk-taking, and experimentation? I navigate these questions though an ever evolving practice which continually oscillates between collaborative project-based endeavors, independent object-oriented investigations, and more traditional designer/client relationships.
Educational/professional background:
BFA, Design & Visual Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Current research/professional practice:
Graphic Design Consultant, Grgic Consulting 2022 – Present
Courses currently taught:
Art 421 Design and Visual Communication II
Art 422 Design Methodologies
Art 524 Professional Practices in Design
About Lauren:
I started my design career at a digital marketing agency designing for companies both big and small. I designed websites, digital advertising campaigns, logos, conducted branding meetings, and produced physical paper advertisements. My skills were used in a wide range of industries from manufacturing (such as Bemis and Sargento) to economic councils (Sheboygan County Economic Development Council).
Today, my design research focuses on how design can enrich and enhance communities. In a time where design can be divisive, I am focused on how design can be used for equity. I have a mentor that works for Code for America whom I speak with regularly. My practice consists of reading about design philosophies, doing informational interviews, and getting involved in the community. My goal is to use this knowledge to create empathetic and user-friendly design.
Angela Ryan
Professor of Practice
UWM Email:
amryan@uwm.edu
Educational/professional background:
BFA, Design & Visual Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2017
President Emeritus AIGA Wisconsin
Current research/professional practice:
Lubar Entrepreneurship Center Fellow, 2023-present
Fractional CMO, Creative Strategist & Consultant, The Design Blonde 2019-present
President & Co-Founder, DesignMil Co. 2023-present
CEO, Sproute Investments, 2022-present
Courses currently taught:
Art 321 Design and Visual Communication I
Faculty Supervisor, AIGA-UWM student organization
About Angela:
Since 2016, Angela has been co-creating brands and evolving processes in a wide range of environments. She started her career as an award-winning art director and graphic designer in the marketing and advertising industry and has since moved on to be a serial entrepreneur. She’s worked as a Fractional CMO, Creative Strategist, Consultant and Professional Speaker for agencies, businesses and individuals alike. Her impressively short track record encompasses a variety of multi-dimensional experiences in Marketing, Advertising, Business, Nonprofits and more.
Emeritus Faculty
Kim Beckmann
Associate Professor (Emerita)
Co-Program Head
UWM Email:
kbeckman@uwm.edu
Educational/professional background:
MFA, Printmaking and New Media Studies, Cranbrook Academy of Arts, 1996
BFA, Graphic Design, Florida State University 1992
Current research/professional practice:
Lubar Entrepreneurship Center Fellow, 2017-present
Design Cartographer, UWM School of Freshwater Sciences Fish habitat Harbor Map Research Team
Courses previously taught:
ART 323 Typography II
ART 421 Design and Visual Communication II
ART 422 Design Methodologies
ART 423 Experimental Typography
About Kim:
In 2015 Ms. Beckmann joined the UWM School of Freshwater Science research team, John Janssen Labs, to assist in discerning critical stories to share with stakeholders and the public about freshwater habitat for the inner and outer Milwaukee harbor and adjoining rivers — 42 miles of Milwaukee’s lower estuary. In 2016 the team was awarded A $190,000.00 grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan and in consultation with the Milwaukee Estuary AOC Fish and Wildlife Technical Advisory Committee and Harbor District, Inc., the team assessed existing fish forage and spawning habitat. The two-year project provided the groundwork necessary to create a diverse and productive ecosystem in the heart of Milwaukee while supporting ecological recreation and vital economic activities such as shipping and neighborhood development efforts. To date, the research has provided public and scientific Milwaukee Harbor Habitat maps about spawning and nursery habitat for resident estuarine fishes and transient use by open lake fishes. Currently, the maps are being used in planning harbor ecological infrastructure projects.
In 2018 the team was awarded a $255,500.00 grant from Fund for Lake Michigan grant (2018 to extend their research up the Western Lake Michigan coastline focusing on harbors for Port Washington, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Two Rivers.