Candy R. Wei Prize for International Studies in Art & Design

The Candy R. Wei Prize for International Studies in Art & Design is awarded to Stamps seniors every year in recognition of exemplary art influenced by their International Experience. In the gallery below are each year’s Prize recipients and their work.

Paige Foster: 2025

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

I remember gazing out at the vast canals watching the local Danes go about their day, speaking an unfamiliar language I wished I could understand. I had just finished touring the cultural center I was assigned to rebrand that explores Denmark’s history with Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, and it felt daunting to highlight cultures I was not a part of. As my time in Copenhagen went on, however, I felt more connected to the city and culture. Surprisingly, I first noticed this connection at the grocery store. The shopkeeper often spoke to me in Danish, leaving me flustered during my first few visits. However, through the carefully designed signs and images across the city, I was able to converse and create connections without knowing the language, and gain a better understanding of Copenhagen’s culture and people. This experience gave me the idea to explore the connection between language and image for my project, using the word “hello” in the four native languages, while also using visuals to create a sense of connection and curiosity to the place. Being immersed in the city and learning design allowed me to broaden my perspective and create meaningful designs that could communicate to a broader audience, even without a common language. Working on this project also made me realize how language isn’t always necessary when communicating and how important visual communication is when creating accessible design. Creating accessible design for different audiences is still present in my current work, including my IP project in which I’m creating more accessible messages for people with color blindness. Studying abroad in Copenhagen made me realize how design can be used to communicate and connect people across the world, something I now strive to incorporate in my work due to this experience.



Morgan Granzow: 2025

Destination: Ballyvaughan, Ireland

My time at the Burren College of Art was by far the most influential time of my life and has heavily led me to the path I am on. During my time studying abroad, I had the opportunity to have my own studio and develop my process and work while being fully immersed in the environment, culture, and life of Western Ireland. I have always been infatuated with medical and scientific illustration as the intricate details and desire for knowledge continuously fill my being. I spent my time learning about the language, culture, and environment of Ireland, inspiring heavier research and taking closer looks at the world around me. By learning the Irish language during my time abroad, I connected to a new side of Ireland. This defining experience allowed me to find confidence in my work as an artist and solidified my curiosity and desire to focus on the intertwined relationship between science and art. The combination of being influenced by the natural world and having my own studio experience allowed a stronger development of professional practice and success in IP. Furthermore, not only did BCA influence my work as an artist, but my practice changed as a result of learning to appreciate a new way of life. I’ve changed daily habits and artistic practices in order to preserve the environment around me and take careful consideration about material impacts. Studying abroad was easily the most positive, influential, and defining moment of my artistic journey, encouraging me to now study abroad again for graduate school (MSc Medical Art) in Scotland, in order to continue learning new perspectives and bettering myself as an artist and a person. BCA will forever hold a special place in my heart and I look forward to returning to Ireland on my next journey.



Hugh Jacks: 2025

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

I would describe myself as an orthodox graphic designer. While I often use a multi-disciplinary approach by combining design with computer science, I strongly appreciate ‘the classics.’ I love the mid-century approach to design, often lauded by European design programs. This love doesn’t stem from a dogmatic approach to design but rather the interesting interplay that comes to fruition when breaking those old rules of Western graphic design. It can often feel, in the US, that graphic design is nothing more than a vocation, a set of skills to be learned but not a way of understanding the world, its manufacturing, production, and culture histories. This past summer, I was able to attend DIS Copenhagen for a six-week graphic design studio. Our instructor, Morten Noer, an accomplished Danish graphic designer, impacted me most significantly. His education was at a time of orthodoxy in design, but his career began when technology allowed for innumerable opportunities in the design world.

For these six weeks, we were prompted to create a visual Identity for the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. This cultural institution held the festival while we were completing our experience abroad, which made this all the more engaging. This festival doesn’t just occur at one theater or stage but instead happens throughout the city over a matter of weeks with tens of free shows. As I began ideating for my visual identity, I was able to push my work to a new level. I was entrenched in a culture that valued design so heavily while getting to experience a world-class cultural festival and synthesize these experiences with my previous interests and knowledge.



Chelsea Koga: 2025

Destination: Ballyvaughan, Ireland

Simply put: attending the Global Ecologies Studio in the Burren changed my life, let alone my art practice.

The Burren is a UNESCO site, deemed so due to the landscape’s unique sprawl of karst bedrock. To walk on the rock is to walk on time uninterrupted – 350 million years of it, to be exact. I would recommend walking on it barefoot. I would recommend lying on it, especially if the sun decides to show its face for longer than a few minutes. After a particularly heartbreaking climate-focused ecology lesson one day, I headed up to the limestone fells and did just that: took off my shoes, curled up on a body-sized swath of rock, and cried into the grikes. I reflected on the notion of the ground being the top layer of an astoundingly deep record of geological history, deeper than I’d ever be able to rationally fathom. I mourned the deaths of my ancestors and thanked them for creating the surface upon which I walk today. In this private moment of grief and gratitude, provided to me by the silence and majesty of the Burren’s precious landscape, I felt a renewed appreciation for the land and those who take extra measures to protect what we have left of it.

All facets of my IP thesis stem from my educational, sublime experience in the Burren. From a sustainability standpoint, I have chosen to forgo purchasing any materials, so everything I make is from upcycled salvage. Thematically, I am exploring ways to capture the experiential passage of time, which is an extension of my research during the Global Ecologies Studio. These have proven to be extremely exciting, fruitful approaches to making, and I see myself continuing down this path for the foreseeable future, all thanks to my experience in Ireland.



Ben Michalsky: 2025

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

Whilst in Copenhagen, I was deeply inspired by the rich traditions of Scandinavian Furniture design. The minimalist aesthetic of lightness, in combination with the primacy of, and respect for material which was taught during this class has become foundational for my work as an artist and designer. It was there that I learned the framework of “tectonics,” which seeks to balance form, materiality, and technique, and is something that I consider across all aspects of my work. The results of this learning are immediately evident in the work I made before, during, and after my studies in Denmark.

Before, the furniture I had designed and built was considerably more awkward, aesthetically. The shapes and design language I used was considerably more flat, and at times even clunky. This changed under the instruction I received in Copenhagen, where I was encouraged to give deeper consideration to the nature of wood as a working material, and how all aspects of a design, down to the tiniest detail, can be used to enhance the experience which the furniture seeks to elicit. Since returning from Copenhagen I have been heavily engrossed in my Fine Art practice, but despite my temporary hiatus from furniture making, the lessons learned abroad are still evident in my art making. The rotational form considers ceramics as a cylindrically symmetrical media, and the work displays a consideration for lightness and visual quietude.

My international experience in Copenhagen fundamentally altered how I approach art and design. Whether I am working on wooden furniture or a conceptual sculpture, the aesthetic values and craftsmanship I learned abroad have been irrevocably instilled into my hand as a maker.



Ayana Bell: 2024

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

My experiences from my study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark continue to shape the work I do in and outside of the art studio. I studied Interior Architecture, which I found to be a necessary endeavor for me as a fine arts student and am pleasantly surprised with what I learned, especially while reflecting on that opportunity. I was immersed in a hands-on program where we sketched interior spaces, analyzed historic and contemporary architecture, visited homes of renowned architects, and built meaningful relationships. All of which have deeply impacted the way I perceive the world around me today.

Throughout the two months I spent there, I developed a new appreciation for interior spaces that were focusing on how individuals interact in their space and how that space can augment one’s life. I began to consider more often how I might try and further develop this appreciation once I got back home to Ann Arbor. One thing that stuck with me was my gratitude for that program for instilling in me the importance of keeping a daily visual journal. Developing the habit of drawing everyday took the pressure off of creating, I was encouraged to draw something for fun or to preserve memory or simply because I appreciated the aesthetic. After a few weeks back home, I began creating the art I wanted to see in the elaborate spaces I had seen during my study abroad. The ease of creating was translated into my paintings and ceramics. I painted more frequently and more boldly. I began planning and sketching bodies of work to execute in my ceramics course. There was more meaning behind the work I was doing on my own because I had nourished my creative self everyday. My studies in Scandinavia will forever be a cherished memory and a valuable lesson to my work and to who I want to become as an artist and individual. Seeing my work transform since that opportunity has showed me that travel truly is the best teacher and inspires me to continue to explore and expand as I continue to create.



Nuala Kennedy: 2024

Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark

Last summer, I attended DIS Copenhagen to study furniture design, where I learned under professional furniture designers who were so passionate about Scandinavian design that I found myself obsessing over chairs. During the course, we toured companies like Ikea, attended lectures on Scandinavian furniture, and spent the last two weeks designing and building our own chairs.

I had never done something like this before. At STAMPS I had opportunities to make furniture, but never from my own designs. The design that I came up with was a two-legged stool that spiraled inward. It took inspiration from some of the architecture I had seen around Copenhagen: swirl patterns were everywhere from buildings to manhole covers. Scandinavian furniture is also known for being sleek and simple, which was something I wanted to reflect in my piece. Composed of right angles and square proportions, I accomplished the elegant style that I was aiming for. The two legs and disconnection at the base gave the stool the illusion of floating, which I pushed by blacking out the seat with stain. This enunciated the structure of the frame and legs, which were the focal points of my piece. The construction of the stool was aided by my instructors who advised me on what types of joints would be strongest to accomplish this illusion. I ended up using finger joints, which were both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Each aspect of the design reflected what I had learned about the city and Scandinavian design.

Looking back now, I have a much bigger appreciation for all the planning that goes into making even simple-looking furniture pieces. While Scandinavian design looks simple, everything from physics to aesthetics is meticulously thought out to perfection. These principles of design reflects Scandinavian culture as well: practical and beautiful.



Emily Mann: 2024

Destination: Ballyvaughan, Ireland

In Winter 2023, I studied at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. In general, I am fairly reserved around new people and I struggle to make friends. Upon first impression, I may seem cold, but over time I come out of my shell. The gift of my study abroad experience that I did not expect was the feeling of being part of a warm, supportive community that was fostered by our constant physical proximity to one another. Where I come from, there is a sense of individualism and competition, which are harmful principles that I am trying to renounce.

This synergy caused me to reflect upon notions of individual vs. collective and self vs. others. My piece Ouroboros is a two-panel self-portrait initiated by the question: What if, instead of eating its own tail, the ouroboros was actually using its tail to search for something hidden inside itself? I envision this elusive fragment as a representation of yet-unrealized potential and/or personal truth. I feel it inside myself and long to bring it forth, but the process of doing so is one of endless self-consumption. To truly ‘find myself’, I must look beyond my own sphere and recognize how I fit into larger frameworks.

These reflections also influenced another piece – the top image is called Cast of Characters and the bottom two are Act I and Act II, respectively. Here, abstract shapes are arranged in theatrical ‘tableaus’. Each shape is entirely unique, yet contributes to the larger scene. Viewers can infer various dynamics based on the arrangements, theorizing about why the shapes seem to be treating each other in certain ways. This piece considers human groups or societies and the ways we relate to others.

My time abroad taught me what it is like to be part of a community and made me reflect on my place within it, along with my place in larger groups.



Annabel Paul: 2024

Destination: London, England

Since I started making jewelry at 11 years old, the practice of metalsmithing has informed every single piece of art I’ve created. However, because of the interdisciplinary education at Stamps, I have never been able to entirely devote my time to metals. Overwhelmed by my move to London and struggling to adjust in a new city, the metalsmithing studio at Central Saint Martins was a home-away-from-home where I could express myself freely and establish community.

While at CSM, I gained further appreciation for my interdisciplinary education as I learned how to root the aesthetics of and meaning behind a piece in history and culture. For my CSM keystone project “Watch Me Watch You”, I merged my Gender Studies minor at the University of Michigan with jewelry design. Framed by deep research into the role of jewelry in the Victorian Period, I created a collection of feminist jewelry that aimed to subvert the male-dominated gaze and empower the objectified female wearer. Learning how to use research to prepare for jewelry design and place my work at the intersection of history and personal experience has made me a more confident, iterative, and playful artist.

During my time in London, I was enlightened by the true interconnectedness of art. Surrounded by driven young artists with the same passion for metals as me, I found that despite our different backgrounds, it was easy to communicate using the language of making and designing jewelry. My Friends at CSM pushed me to further hone my craft and expand the lens within which I view my artistic endeavors. It is my hope that after graduation I can use the interconnectedness of art to continue to encourage conversation and collaboration, and expand my art education to my future career and broader community.

Abigail Rapoport: 2024

Destination: Paris, France

During my junior year, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to study abroad at the Paris College of Art. This experience truly changed my life; I am now a more confident artist and designer, and also feel immensely capable of navigating the world independently as a result.

Before this experience, I had minimal knowledge of the ins and outs of technical and precise sewing. I wasn’t confident in my skill set, and it was unfortunately apparent through my work. In Paris, I took “Pattern Making and 3-D Garment Construction.” It was six hours long daily, and at first, extremely daunting. I wasn’t even close to being as knowledgeable or skilled in these areas as my peers, and was embarrassed to be behind the curve. However, as the semester progressed, I quickly improved and learned more than I ever imagined! I’m able to sew clean, professional looking garments that I design and pattern myself, something I wasn’t able to do it before studying at PCA. The garments produced in that course are some of the best things I have ever created!!

I also took a course called “Fashion Collection Management/Fashion Reality.” This taught me how to market myself as an artist and designer, and I learned a lot about the work that goes on behind the scenes of fashion productions. I can confidently create lookbooks, line sheets, moodboards, and self promotion as a result of this class! I also was able to participate in many professional development and internship experiences during my time abroad, including working backstage at a show during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, and styling a photoshoot for a boutique’s social media!



Anders Lundin: 2023

Destination: Scandinavia

As I peered out into the crashing waves beneath me, I took a deep breath of the crisp ocean air. I faintly heard the seagulls above, their calls muffled by the roar of the great engine guiding me across the sea. I paused for a moment, looking across at the setting sun as the stars began to shine their first light. I left Scandinavia with a newfound ability to value the little details in the way I was seeing things. During my journey, I embarked on trips across the lands of Scandinavia, going from Stockholm, to Copenhagen, to a sauna in the Finnish countryside. I explored museums, monuments, and great natural influences such as the Møns Klint, in each location challenged to pause and sketch what I saw, taking bits and pieces of the culture before me to create a collaborative visual journal that would reflect my journey. As my creative eye was founded in a photographic passion, pencil and paper was a new medium to record memories, and it taught me a new way of seeing that inversely influenced my photography. Learning to perfect every line, shape, and color, spending time watching each kiss of light on my subject gave me an attention to detail that is evident in my photographic pursuits.

With each composition, I now think back to the sketches I took throughout the Scandinavian countryside: every detail within the four corners of my frame is essential, each photograph is captured to encase every ray of light that passes onto my subject. Each time I look through my viewfinder, I think back to my voyage across the Baltic Sea: I once again hear the humming of the titanium beast beneath me as it aches across the water, I feel the breath of the ocean running through my hair, and I see the waking stars, each image I capture like a brush on a canvas, a harmony of textures, shadows, and light composed to please the eye.



Olivia Ortiz: 2023

Destination: London, England

I studied abroad for six months at London College of Communication at the University of the Arts London in the winter of 2022. While I was there I studied Animation Arts and I made my piece The Commute.

The tube specifically inspired me because of the bold color blocking, the grid-like design of the train’s interior, the iconic London Underground logo, the motion of busy people, and the shared experience between strangers. In The Commute, I created an immersive look into how I was viewing the world at the time. My romanticized perspective provided me with healing and my hope is that, with my animation, my audience is able to find healing as well. Overall, The Commute follows an observant character’s dream-like gaze as she searches for meaning and connection in her environment. On the tube, she lazily watches the landscape change from rural to urban. She carefully observes people in both real life and digitally on social media. Her gaze is then finally disrupted by the connection of a phone call from her mother.

This project and my time spent in London certainly changed who I am as a person and artist. I feel like I have a stronger creative voice and understanding of what inspires me. Upon reflection, The Commute simply was a catalyst for my research of strangers and mental health. Without that, I wouldn’t be where I am today. For this project and my time spent abroad, I am extremely grateful.



Kristina Rogers: 2023

Destination: Ballyvaughan, Ireland

In summer 2022, I studied abroad in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. I was extremely fortunate to have been in the Global Ecologies Studio at the Burren College of Art. As an artist growing up on the rocky shores of Lake St. Clair, with grandparents who stressed the balance between human and nature, I have always been invested in environmentalism. In the Burren, I was able to not only explore a bio-dynamic, ecologically diverse landscape, but also converse about the consequences and nuances of the boundaries between the domestic and the undomesticated.

This studio altered my practice significantly, pushing my work beyond being environmentally friendly in terms of materials, something I had already been doing, but to serve as a tool to explore my relationship with the environment. My entire senior project has been a result of my time in Ireland. Exploring the connections between colonial violence and dirt, this project converses with the audience about their own exchange with soil. Without the lecturers in Ireland, I would have never been able to draw such deep affiliations between soil, colonial histories, and myself as an artist.

Alongside the immense growth found in my personal practice, I also found a new collaborator, and lifelong friend, while studying abroad. Madison Grosvenor and I met on the bus from Dublin to Galway on our first day abroad. Despite attending the same university, and my long standing friendship with her twin brother, we had never truly met before getting on that bus together. Now our practices are closely intertwined, with plans to work on a 3+ year long project together after graduation, we often create new work based on the concepts and experiences we had together in the Burren.



Emily Tamulewicz: 2023

Destination: Seoul, South Korea

In the summer of 2022, I studied at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. It was my first time being on a plane alone. It was my first time being somewhere so different from home. But even though most people didn’t speak English, I never felt alone. I felt such an overwhelming sense of belonging from Seoul. I was inspired by local students my age, bustling around Hongdae in flashy outfits, covered in mediocre tattoos; taking photos of each other, drinking, being happy, creating art. It wasn’t until I visited Seoul that I realized that you don’t have to be one thing to be a successful artist; you just have to be. It also allowed me to realize how small I am, but still so important at the same time. The work that I make is not something that can be replicated, no matter where I go. I felt a lot more comfortable in my own identity after living in Seoul, as well. Traveling around by myself made me realize how strong I am, and how I really can do anything without relying on others.

To honor the self-respect and appreciation that I gained when living in Seoul, I decided to create my senior thesis medium based on a lot of traditional Korean paintings that I studied in my time abroad. I loved to visit art museums and look at a variety of Korean paintings, especially Minhwa (민화) which is a Korean folk art that exhibits people’s freedom of expression and “hope in carefree unconventionality”. All of these works told a variety of stories that captivated me, and I wanted to create my own version for my Integrated Project. Even though I didn’t speak much Korean, I understood these works; and I want my works to be accessible to everybody, no matter what language they speak.



Jenna John: 2022

Destination: Ballyvaughan, Ireland

During the program [Global Ecologies Studio at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland], I was challenged to reconsider ecology beyond science alone and instead as a relational discipline situated between both human culture and nature. As a dual degree student also studying ecology and evolutionary biology, this new understanding shifted how I understood the world and where art and ecology can meet. This radical shift in perspective was facilitated through intensive reading, art making, and hours of hiking across the Burren’s terraced mountains looking for archeological ruins scattered among orchid meadows, lichen coated limestone, and ancient fossils.

In these experiences, that possessive boiling excitement melted into my bones and became a sizzling transformative energy that lingered long after I returned to Michigan. To this day, my creative work has been fundamentally shaped by this expanded ecological framework. My studies in the Burren laid the foundation for my life long work as an artist where I reckon with my queer identity and human/nature relationships in the Anthropocene through multidisciplinary and research-based approaches to making. In this, I explore where the human and more than human meet in order to find futures beyond crisis full of multi-species flourishing.



Leila Mullison: 2021

Destination: London, England

In 2020, I studied at the University of the Arts London. I specialize in stop-motion animation, a meticulous medium that demands control. In the time before my course, I wanted to find a way to practice my craft without shuttering myself away. My solution was Edison, a lightbulb-headed tourist puppet who explored the city with me. I captured clips of Edison everywhere from Stonehenge to a ferry on the Thames. At first, I worried that an uncontrollable environment would add too much chaos, but I found the movement of clouds and pedestrians added charm to scenes. I captured 25 unique clips with Edison. Scouting for shots led me out of my comfort zone; shooting them helped me let go of control. The COVID-19 pandemic sent me home mid-March, and the first lockdown followed soon after. Once again, I lacked control and feared locking myself away. It was my experience abroad that let me enact a plan: I built Filament, Edison’s homebody brother, who would do lockdown activities with me. I animated Fil daily for 67 days. The short film I made from the clips won awards, inspired a series on a University of Michigan blog, and brought comfort to others stuck at home.



Mac Realo: 2021

Destination: Ireland

Studying abroad in rural Ireland at the Burren College of Art allowed me to reflect upon my deeply rooted past of what it means to be a man. Influenced largely by the introspective environment at Burren, my work took off in a direction that was unforeseen. I discovered a passion for reimagining my masculine ideals through the act of painting and drawing. I reflected on what it was that made me a man, striving for authenticity at all costs. I struggled to reject the familiar traditional masculinity and embrace the uncertain femininity within me. This was a learning moment for me; I need not reject everything that makes me a man, but rather question, redefine and expand my ideas — a process enunciated through self-portraiture.



Seth St. Pierre: 2021

Destination: London, England

My experience in London was so impactful and so significant that I still find it hard to communicate exactly how it affected me. I felt so inspired by everything and everyone in the city. I designed several characters based on Londoners that I met (at left is Bobby, a character inspired by a barista at the coffeehouse I frequented), and achieved a level of flow in my animation that I didn’t think possible. London’s creative ideology has stuck with me: beauty is everywhere and in everything.



Emily Greatorex: 2021

Destination: Copenhagen

“During my time in Copenhagen, I studied Scandinavian design history both in and out of the classroom. I was inspired by Scandinavian design and its principles of material conservation, functionalism, and designing to tell a story. While there I designed and fabricated the “Curling Chair” (shown at right). I consider this chair to be my masterpiece.”



Summer Benton: 2020

Destination: Italy

I took two classes; oil painting and drawing but it was the latter that affected me the most. I have drawn all my life but looking back I realize now that I barely understood what it meant to draw, especially observationally, before studying at SACI.

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Miles Honey: 2020

Destination: Hungary

I spent the summer surrounded by questions about heritage and identity. When I proposed my independent study, I dreamed of finding the answers to my questions about nationality, culture, language, and family. Instead, I found, amid my few answers, a lifetime of questions that has continued to drive my work since.

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Megan Jones: 2020

Destination: Ireland

I climbed every day I could, spending up to 8 hours in silence, exploring the limestone formations, plants, ruins of churches, and settlements… I now focus on the partnership of words and illustration in my practice and consider time in nature a critical working material.

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Emily Koffsky: 2020

Destination: Italy

Though I was given assignment prompts, it was clear that the overarching objective was to take inspiration from anything and everything within our abroad experience.

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Alexandria Pompei: 2020

Destination: Italy

The photography course I took in Florence found a way into my soul… In my senior work I am able to show non direct emotion and stories in my photographs given the techniques I learned in Italy.

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Olivia Arau-McSweeney: 2019

Destination: Italy

During my study abroad in Florence last summer, I took a darkroom photography course that opened up a new avenue for my art practice. Through my conversations and critiques with my photography professor it became apparent that I was drawn to alternative processes in the world of photography. …I am taking my interest in environmental studies and my recently discovered love for alternative photographic processes and making a body of work using photography and printmaking alternatives that are more sustainable and less damaging to human health than their commonly-used counterparts.

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Eunji Bae: 2019

Destination: Denmark

In the summer of 2018, I studied abroad at DIS in Denmark to study furniture design. During the course, I not only acquired great skills of woodworking and Scandinavian design concept but also learned how to respect one’s own culture and art.

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Kelly Fin: 2019

Destination: France

I was blessed to study documentary photography in Paris, France during the summer of 2019, and it was one of the most moving artistic and cultural experiences of my life. Photography was a new medium for me… My time in Paris revealed to me a love for photography and a different way to integrate the human experience into my work.

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Jordyn Fishman: 2019

Destination: Argentina

From May – June 2018 I participated in the R.A.R.O. International Artist In Residency Program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During my time at R.A.R.O. I created an animation, My Demon and Me, derived from a series of large scale paintings that dealt with the topic of sexual violence. My international experience has greatly influenced my current artistic practice.

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Sindhu Giri: 2019

Destination: Sweden

I studied Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden to expand my knowledge of Scandinavian design and my practice as an interaction designer. Through an HCI course called Embodied Interaction, I was exposed to phenomenology theory—the study of consciousness and experience. For the first time as a designer, I applied philosophical discussion to research—in the form of field studies, bodystorming, etc. My class was taught to observe and simulate experiences before designing artifacts to facilitate them.

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Taylor Houlihan: 2018

Destination: China

This trip inspired me to address my multicultural identity in my senior IP project. I do not believe my project would have been as strong if I had not experienced the beauty of Chinese life and culture, and recognized that I am not excluded from that world. By learning more about the meanings behind Chinese iconography and infusing them with American symbols, I began to reclaim my own narratives.

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Mara Ezekiel: 2018

Destination: Denmark

Before my time abroad, I was a graphic designer with a goal of making the “best,” most usable design – however, Copenhagen showed my how to make design my own, and with that, make it valuable. This dichotomy of individuality and design, existing in this flat colorful world are ideas that I use in my own art today.

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Elizabeth Reeck: 2018

Destination: Japan, Gabon

While touring facilities for adults with cognitive disabilities [in Shigaraki, Japan], we spent time working with local clay. Our only directive was to play with the material. I found myself calling the work that came out of this process “doodles.” This playfulness further broke down the “isolated studio” model. I learned to embrace open and relaxed making, focused less on a rigidly defined end-product and more on enjoyment of the process.

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Katie Raymond: 2018

Destination: France

My five week study abroad studying documentary photography in Paris, France, taught me more about process, about being uncomfortable and flourishing in that discomfort, about the human condition, navigation, being lost in translation, asking for permission, being denied permission and how to constantly be looking- through my eyes and the lens of my camera.

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Maggie Lemak: 2018

Destination: Gabon

In short, my time in Gabon has taught me to be a better artist and designer because of my exposure to different audiences, practice with real world implementation, and inner pressure to share my challenging experiences via art. I continue to work towards artistic expression that leads to introspection in myself and others.

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Lydia Chamberlain: 2017

Destination: Japan

My study abroad trip to Shigaraki, Japan, was the catalyst for my budding passion for Asian studies and design. Every activity, landscape, ounce of culture, and most importantly, every person that I interacted with along the way changed how I would approach the rest of my college experience.

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Abigail Clemens: 2017

Destination: Japan

During my five months in Japan, I learned the basics of storyboarding, character movement, stop-motion animation photography, and Protools sound mixing, all of which became integral techniques in the execution of my senior integrative performance project.

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Albert Foo: 2017

Destination: Denmark

In 2015, I traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark for a 3-week urban studies course to study how design played a role in Denmark’s urban landscape. After the class had finished, I wanted to stay longer …I landed an apprenticeship at a local cargo bicycle shop called Benben Cykler.

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Marisa Fulper: 2017

Destination: Denmark

While I was studying abroad at DIS in Denmark, I discovered sustainability as an absence and awareness of new consumption rather than a recycling of the old. Up until this point I had understood sustainable practices to be centered around repurposing materials to make new material, like recycled paper and plastic. The Danish lifestyle highlighted thoughtful consumerism, seeing a product through, repairing and reutilizing, until the end of the object’s life.

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Kalli Kouf: 2017

Destination: Ireland

I carry images of places I am connected to around with me. I put them up on my studio wall, on my bedroom wall, and use them for the background image on my phone. In the Burren I wanted to make a connection between those places and the space I occupied while being there. The images range from ocean views in California, to tree lines in Montana. The images landed on the grass of the Burren with a sense of physicality.

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Nikki Horowitz: 2016

Destination: Eastern Europe

While studying abroad and travelling around Eastern Europe for 6 months I became fascinated with how our brains work in remembering past events and how these memories affect our identities. The different family customs, cultural events and expectations of each new companion defined an aspect of who they were.

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Elizabeth Pearlman: 2016

Destination: China

Looking back, the experience feels sacred, like a meditation where I imagine myself sinking deep into the ocean, overwhelmed and then rising towards the sun in warm freedom. This trip opened me up.

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Soon Ju Kim: 2016

Destination: Germany/The Netherlands

I was interested in a study abroad program with the School of Social Work in Berlin and Amsterdam because it focused on engaging with various communities to learn about community enhancement art projects, non-profit sex work organizations, and juvenile justice.

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Constanza McKinstry: 2016

Destination: Chile

…my study abroad experience was in the country where I was born, raised and left a decade ago. In this trip the known because unknown and I opened my eyes to a reality that was too uncomfortable to face earlier in my life.

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Dustin Park: 2016

Destination: Denmark

My four years in Michigan were a search for courage and inspiration. The most important experiences were the times I went abroad. During my journeys, I have found not only confidence but also passion for photography, video, and food. These revelations only became to clearer to me while I was abroad.

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Catherine Trowbridge: 2015

Destination: Italy

Studying abroad in Florence during the summer of 2013 has been the most enriching experience of my life. I enrolled in a Renaissance art history class that filled each week with ten hours of monasteries, cathedrals, and museums. In my free time, I would return to the Bargello, the Uffizi, and the Galleria Palatina to sketch the works that caught my attention during class. Having the opportunity to be in their physical presence for an extended amount of time gave a new dimension to my understanding.

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Anna Stasek: 2015

Destination: Ireland

The Burren, Ireland trip in the city of Ballyvaughan was an enlightening experience. My artistic work has transformed with a strong emphasis on natural history’s relationship with human history and the way the two subjects manipulate one another. The more I learned of the Burren’s history, the more creative connections I made while conceiving my abstract animation. My animation tells the ecological story of the Burren while connecting religious transition, deforestation and The Great Famine of Ireland into one concept.

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Joshua Kochis: 2015

Destination: Ireland

Through my study abroad experience in Ireland, I was able to discover the intimate proximity of the history that is literally buried beneath our feet. For the first time, geology became a platform for artistic expression, building upon my past interest in rock formations for their tactile and visual qualities. I discovered a way of seeing and engaging with my surroundings, a method of making and writing that I’d developed throughout my undergraduate education, now brought into a new level of clarity and focus.

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Ian Klipa: 2015

Destination: Zanzibar

I began to notice beautiful gates and other bits of metal work that were scattered throughout the city. I realized what really inspired me was this opportunity to take an up close look at a making culture -­‐ a culture where hand making is still a necessity as opposed to a novelty -­‐ and how these ideals differed from the consumer driven realities in my own country.

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Katy Dresner: 2015

Destination: Japan

Being in Tokyo for Spring semester of my Junior year helped me to make connections and expanded my fascination with creating immersive interactive environments. Studying abroad was a critical foundation for the work I made during my senior Integrative Project.

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Theo Zizka: 2014

Destination: Denmark, Sweden, & Finland

Prior to studying abroad, I wanted to be an industrial designer, and I chose the Danish Institute for Study Abroad simply to add furniture to my repertoire. However, I fell unpredictably in love with chair design and therefore spent my entire thesis investigating seating, materials, and furniture.

I no longer want to design for industrial production — I want to work on my craftsmanship to try and achieve the level of craft I witnessed throughout Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. The projects that I have planned for the coming years stem from the same honest materials, joinery, and aesthetics that I fell in love with while studying abroad.

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Ian Matchett: 2014

Destination: Costa Rica & Cuba

…returning to the United States, I was most struck by the hollowness of the refrain that the government cannot afford to provide healthcare, education, food, and housing for its people. It is a question of priorities, not resources: we have the money, what we currently lack is empathy. Directly experiencing the divide between Latin America and the US planted this idea deeper than any textbook ever could. My art has evolved along with these experiences, as I’ve tried to deal with some of the complexities surrounding radical social change.

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Taylor Ross: 2014

Destination: Tanzania

The best word I can use to describe the soil of Tanzania is magical. The iron-rich red soil was unlike anything I had ever seen growing up in Northern Michigan, and it still has a power over me that I cannot seem to describe with words. Naturally occurring with the perfect percentage of clay, the soil is mixed with water and spread thick over a network of woven branches by the local Maasai women to build the walls of their homes. In my brief but unforgettable three weeks in rural Tanzania, we used the smooth red soil in the same ways as the Maasai, mixing it with cow manure and water to make an adobe mixture …to build fuel-efficient wood-burning cookstoves, designed with exhaust systems to remove smoke from the homes (and eyes and lungs) of the women.

I started IP this past fall not expecting to be influenced by my trip to Tanzania… but in my second semester started to experiment with terra cotta, an iron-rich red clay body with a distinct orange glow when fired.

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Tarah Douglas: 2014

Destination: Ghana & India

During my community engagement program in Ghana, I confronted my race, and found space to learn about a history I had always been connected with, but never felt connected to. During my semester in India, I found a voice. Surrounded by people similar in appearance, but shared few of my identities, I found space to grow my own truths and learn from others first hand.

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Sarah Brennan: 2014

Destination: Tanzania

…what I have come back to time and time again about my experience in Tanzania is how similar we all are at our core. We are all human beings with hopes, fears, desires, all incredibly complex individuals and at once simple in our connection. It sounds so simple, something that I always knew, but before Tanzania didnʼt truly understand.

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