Given that they're taking the high-end home- and furniture-design world by storm, it's appropriate that the 3D Design program in the University of Iowa School of Art & Art History works out of a former home-improvement box store.

Since the 2008 flood destroyed the original UI Art Building, the School's Studio Art Division has operated out of an old Menard's store in Iowa City, affectionately dubbed "Menarts" by its inhabitants. There—until the beautiful new Art Building is finished in 2016—student and faculty painters, printmakers, metalsmiths, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers, intermedia artists, animators, and designers form a buzzing community of creativity and inspiration.

Among those artists is Hailey Kurtz (Class of 2015), of Ottumwa, Iowa. As a student in the 3D Design program (led by Associate Professor Monica Correia), Hailey and her fellow undergraduate and graduate 3D designers have put the University of Iowa on the national and international map.

Check out the year they've had:

• November 2014: The program was invited to exhibit their work and compete against top U.S. design schools at SOFA in Chicago. SOFA is an annual world-renowned art fair dedicated to sculpture, objects, functional art & design that draws tens of thousands of visitors eager to see the latest innovations in design. Just being invited is an honor—and the UI program went on to win the design-school competition, beating out the Pratt Institute and other top-tier schools.
• April 2015: The program was invited to Milan, Italy, to show their work at the internationally prestigious Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano, or Milan Furniture Fair. Of 17 schools from around the world, the UI was one of only two American schools to be invited.
• May 2015: The program won another top prize at another highly prestigious furniture and design fair, ICFF in New York City. This time, they won the 2015 Editors' Award for Best School—judged by editors of major national design magazines—over the Rhode Island School of Design and other world-famous programs.

As satisfying as victories and honors are, the most important aspect of Hailey's year has been her growth as an artist and an individual, preparing her to make her mark on the world of design with her University of Iowa education. Watch the video for a peek inside Hailey's amazing year.

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Iowa is a comprehensive college comprising the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. More than 16,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students study each year in the College’s 39 departments, led by professors at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all UI undergraduates through the General Education Program, and confers about 70 percent of the UI's bachelor's degrees each academic year.