Northern Michigan University’s School of Art and Design has established a bilateral partnership with the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca in Romania. The agreement includes student and faculty exchanges, beginning with the winter semester. Other objectives include collaborations with art institutions worldwide and enhanced international visibility for NMU.

“The University of Art and Design is one of the most dynamic institutions of its kind in Romania,” said Brian Kakas, an NMU ceramics professor who organized the program. “UAD offers exceptional opportunities for artistic expression and creation, both by providing exhibition spaces of its own and through internal and international partnerships with museums, academies, universities and art institutions. Representatives of UAD can make direct contact with the trends and directions of contemporary art today, yet leave a personal touch of creativity and authenticity that is Transylvanian or Romanian.” 

Ceramics major Meagan Douglass is the first NMU student selected for a study-abroad program at UAD. She will engage in a curriculum that includes painting, ceramics surface investigations and sculpture from February-June 2017.

Also during the winter semester, Kakas will be the first NMU faculty/visiting artist as part of the exchange agreement. He will spend a week at UAD teaching workshops and giving lectures related to his research in plaster mold-making techniques and soda vapor firing methods. Two faculty members from UAD will serve as visiting artists at Northern. The first UAD students will arrive on campus next fall.

The partnership was established through Erasmus+ Programme. For more information on the University of Art & Design Cluj-Napoca, visit http://www.uad.ro/. For more information on Erasmus+ Mobilities, visit https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en.