This spring we are interviewing some of the generous MFA alumni who donated work to our new MFA 2020 Fund via the MCAD Art Sale. This new fund will support scholarships for future Black, Indigenous, and People of Color MFA students. Jacob Yeates '17 is a freelance illustrator and art educator from Iowa City, Iowa. Driven by a love of art and literature, he received his Drawing BFA and English minor from the University of Iowa in 2013, and his MFA in Visual Studies at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2017. His work has been featured by Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, The Matador Review, 3x3, Creative Quarterly, Paper Darts, Illozine, IH8 WAR and Little Village Magazine. He currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and teaches illustration in the design department at MCAD. Over the next year, with the funding assistance provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, he will be developing the first two chapters of his first long-form graphic novel, a nonfiction, visual history addressing and critiquing the legacies of U.S. law enforcement. Which year did you graduate and what brought you to MCAD for your MFA? Could you speak a little bit about your background? I graduated in Spring 2017. Prior to the MCAD MFA program, I grew up in Iowa City, IA, where I attended the University of Iowa in undergrad and received a BFA in Drawing and an English minor in Fall 2013. By the time I graduated from the U of I, I had just begun to really dive into what an illustration-specific practice could look like. I was doing a little freelance here and there for local publications and felt very excited by how rewarding the process was. I was also working four other part-time jobs and figured that if I could find a program or institution that was really capable of helping out with organizing a freelance career, then I’d be set. Minneapolis has a good reputation from a publishing standpoint in the Midwest and MCAD has strong support for illustration as a mode of art, so that all made sense. I figured I’d apply, and move to the Twin Cities regardless of what happened. It was the only grad program I applied to, which was kind of a ridiculous thing to do, but I got lucky. How did your art change while you were at MCAD? Though I went to MCAD initially thinking of my time there as a sort of “professional development” decision to solidify a freelance career, I think I realized how much more expansive my artistic practice could be, and really leaned into that. From a technical level, I continued to improve drawing all of the sweaty, horrible things that I do, and I learned a great deal from my mentor and other instructors about freelance illustration. However, as the program went on, I became more and more engaged with researching and presenting written narratives as much as making imagery. On the other side of things, I also hadn’t given teaching any sort of thought prior to MCAD, but after taking the Teaching Practicum, I realized how rewarding art education can be, as well. How has your work evolved since your time at MCAD? In a lot of ways it’s maintained the trajectory that I had throughout the program. I’ve continued focusing on incorporating research, written narratives, and visual elements together in both short and long-form frameworks. This opened a number of doors to freelance opportunities, exhibitions, and grant funding for larger-scale project proposals. If someone were to be generous, a lot of what I do now could be described as “visual narratives” and “prose poetry” (or, in more honest terms, “essays that nobody asked for”). Alongside this, I began teaching illustration in the MCAD Design Department as an adjunct in the Fall 2017 semester, and every course that I’ve been subsequently involved with has also expanded how I think about my practice. What is next? Any new projects or jobs that are in the pipeline? From a job standpoint, I’ll be teaching undergraduate courses at MCAD in the spring, and I hope to continue doing so far as long as they’ll have me (so far so good!). I’m also scoping out a few engaging freelance assignments here and there. Studio-wise there’s always a number of things going on. Some of the bigger stuff is getting back to work on my Minnesota State Arts Board Visual Artist Grant project, which is a visual narrative of US policing and its historical roles in political suppression (spoiler alert, it’s a lot). This was originally meant to be completed in February, but COVID has extended everything into Summer 2022. Closer to now, I have a small solo show at the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Memorial Union that will be taking place in February, and this summer, likely in some sort of online format, I’ll be participating in Chicago’s CAKE [Chicago Alternative Comics Expo]. There are also plenty of other one-off, personal projects that will likely happen as well to keep things interesting and stave off the crushing weight of that ol’ COVID depression. You donated work for the MCAD Art Sale to support our MFA 2020 Fund, which benefits future Black, Indigenous, and People of Color MFA students - thank you! What motivated you to contribute to this scholarship effort? A large part of what was so valuable about my experience in this program was the sheer amount of uninterrupted time and space it allowed me to devote to developing my practice. I don’t believe graduate school is in any way a requirement to being a successful artist (whatever your personal definition of success may be), but having two years of institutional support and a cohort of other engaged artists/instructors does a great deal depending on what you’re interested in pursuing. But let’s be real: most modes of higher education are monstrously expensive, and grad school is certainly no different. Given that the genesis of the U.S. was grounded in actively harming/disenfranchising Black, Indigenous, and other people/communities of color (and more often than not continues to do so), I feel that if I can use some of my artwork to try and help provide additional assistance for folks looking to get access to this space, that’s great. To make a donation, please follow these directions: Online - go to: https://mcad.edu/about-mcad/support/make-gift In the "Designation" section, select "Other", and in the box that appears, put "MFA 2020 Fund" (This is important-- please don't just select the pre-populated "MCAD Scholarships" option.) Complete the online donation form. By check - make the check out to MCAD put "MFA 2020 Fund" either in the memo line or enclose a note saying that's how you'd like the donation to be directed--even a post it note is fine Mail to: MCAD Institutional Advancement, 2501 Stevens Ave S, Minneapolis MN 5540 If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Ellen Mueller at emueller@mcad.edu. Photos courtesy of Jacob Yeates For more information: Jacob Yeates Categories All Alumni MFA 2020 Fund