Mission Statement
The mission of the Illustration Program is to provide students with diverse learning base that allows them to address the broad and changing practice of illustration in the 21st century.
We know that illustrators make their art in a wide variety of ways and so the faculty remains flexible and attuned to contemporary practice, culture and the student as an individual.
We pride ourselves on knowing our students and recognizing the diversity of their needs is primary to our effectiveness. In formal course work and through individual counsel the faculty works with each student to guide their experiences in appropriate.
We encourage understanding illustration through an historic lens, in the making and theory of the practice. Writing, research, creating and curating are mechanisms we support in the understanding and learning of illustration.
How We Make It Happen
The Illustration Program builds upon students’ experiences from the foundation year and seeks to provide them with opportunities to develop and refine their artistic skills and conceptual and expressive abilities as they solve increasingly complex and challenging visual problems.
Cross Discipline / Collaborative
Cross-disciplinary connections are natural to our field. Illustrators are problem-solvers and collaborators. An interest in a variety of subjects is important to the success of our students as they learn to be illustrators and emerge into the professional realm. A normal part of working as an illustrator requires reading of manuscripts, and researching the topics, themes and subjects that they have been commissioned to address. Students develop their abilities in communication and broaden their interests through required writing, research and oral presentations.
As part of their development as illustrators, we work to establish a collegial and productive environment in which students learn from their interaction with course content, their peers and professionals in the field. In many cases our graduates have returned to participate in our program as visiting lecturers and mentors to our current students.
Students are expected to demonstrate a high level of competency in artistic and verbal communication, demonstrate attitudes, behaviors and dispositions necessary to be an effective illustrator, understand the business nature of the profession and the roles and dimensions of the different careers available to them. Although some of these expectancies are emphasized at specific levels, they are part of a continuing and expanding dialogue on the practice of illustration in the studio and in the marketplace.
Resources
People
Full time Faculty: 6
Adjunct Faculty : 11
Illustration Students: 303
- Seniors: 49
- Juniors: 80
- Sophomores: 85
- Freshmen: 89
(figures from enrollment report on portal 1/9/08)
Labs
IL Department
2 Computer labs with:
26 Computers [18 iMac G5s and 8 G4s]
3 - 21UX Wacom Cintique screens
20 - 6×11″ Intuos tablets
4 HP Scanjet G4050 printers
2 Epson 10000Expressions [12.5x17.5 bed] scanners
Guillotine cutter
Wirobinder
Art Tech Center
Xerox Tektronix 7700 Color Laser printer
Epson 2400 printers
Epson 4000 printer
Epson 7800 printer
Epson 9800 printer
Roland GX-300 vinyl cutter
Z-Corp 3D printer
Mercury Laser cutter
Accuris Laser cutter
Library and Media Resources
http:// www.mica.edu/library/
Academic & Institutional collaborations
Portsmouth University UK: Art direction/illustration book cover project
Festival International da Banda: Exhibition and publication in “Venham#5”
Ossobo African Craftsmen: 2d to 3d collaboration
Mikita Brottman [author] : “The Solitary Vice” book illustrations