In some parts of the world, summer is the time where we get to relax a little more, enjoy the world outside a little more, spend a little more time with our friends and families, or maybe even have the chance to go someplace new for a little bit. Temperatures spike and we seek the coolness of the shadows. We get to dream a little more, wish a little more, and explore all those ideas and questions that we didn’t have time for during the school term.

This year, our curatorial team created four prompts for our annual Postcard Project, asking our class of 2025 to either create a MICA mascot, a meme-worthy selfie, an old-school style vacation postcard from a place real or imagined, or, to show us the social or political change that they’ve been fighting for. These prompts were inspired by the uniqueness of our incoming class; more diverse than ever in their cultural and geographical backgrounds, and more brave than ever in their navigation of a world that has never been more uncertain.

The submitted works are a reflection that despite it all, summer persists! They are proof of the strength, imagination, energy, and fearlessness of these courageous artists and designers; a group of passionate people who show us that there’s always time to make a change, that observing the world around us in all of its beauty and grit, is critical, and that despite the heaviness in this world, there is little that can’t be faced with brilliance, playfulness, and authenticity, whether that little 4”x6” card is sent across a digital or physical ocean.