Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

As I get ready for another busy summer of maintaining the outdoor sculptures here at the IMA, I thought I would share some information about some work I completed last summer with the fine help of intern Cydney Campbell (she is also an undergrad at Herron and a world-renown Irish dancer – here’s a picture of her in mid dance).

During the muggiest weeks of August we completed a pretty major treatment on one of the more important sculptures on the Oldfields estate, the Three Graces. Consisting of a solid piece of carved white marble perched on a limestone base, the sculpture had become pretty dirty over recent years. Here’s how it look before we got started:

Side note #1, though we have a good idea of when and why the sculpture was placed in this important location of Percival Gallagher’s landscape design we don’t have a clear sense of who actually made it. (Side note #2, I desperately wanted to put a link to Gallagher’s Wikipedia article, but sadly one doesn’t exist. There is some info on him in the book Pioneers of American Landscape Design, published by LALH)

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May through September marks “high season” for weddings. Planning such a special event offers exciting opportunities to express your personal style. Whether art lovers or artists, there are unlimited ways to incorporate art into your wedding:

Location: Surround yourself and your guests with art by choosing a museum as your wedding venue. Tie the knot at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the State Museum, the Eiteljorg or as our development events manager Jane will do on May 25, at the Columbus Museum of Art. Feel too formal? Try a smaller, local art gallery for a more intimate setting.

Invitations: Have your invitations custom made by a graphic designer rather than a stationary representative or company. You’ll find that most graphic designers are happy to take a break from their daily grind to help you out.

Dress: Find inspiration for your wedding attire at Breaking the Mode or other museum fashion exhibitions. You’ll have a better understanding of construction, materials, form and concept, so when you get to the store, you’ll be the expert. Read the rest of this entry »

I love my DNA! I love your DNA! I love everybody’s DNA (Is that a double helix in your pocket or are you glad to see me?). It’s what makes each of us our own little traveling Freak Show. I have always been interested in genetic diversity when I think about it. I grew up in a family of 9 children. Alright, alright, I will tell you. I am 8 of 9. My parents both had essentially black hair in their youth, but the 9 offspring? Let me see – black, dirty blonde, black, dark brunette, black, auburn, brunette, coffee bean brown, dirty blonde. Can you tell which one is me? I swear in the 5th grade if someone said my hair was black I would say, “No, it’s coffee bean brown” (shut up Chad). I got it from a hair dye ad. It’s no wonder I was picked after the ugly girls for softball.

I also remember a picture of my oldest brother taken with one of those Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum cameras – I am so damn old and this is not the Joe of my youth. He was sitting out in the yard in jeans and a flannel shirt I think, about 8 probably. When I was about 6 I would cry because people would say it wasn’t me. Read the rest of this entry »

This won’t be a long post, because I’m exhausted! It’s a good tired though, and I would not give up the last 48 hours for all the sleep in the world. Just yesterday morning I was gearing up for the art parade in Indianapolis, and now I’m in Denver at the American Association of Museum’s (AAM) annual conference. Phew…It’s been quite the whirlwind.

I’ve got exciting news to share from the Mile-High City…The IMA Dashboard received the top prize of gold at the 19th annual AAM Museum and Technology Committee Muse Awards. Just a few hours ago, I was happy to accept the award on behalf of the entire Museum and the amazingly talented IMA Web team that collaborated to produce the site.

The Muse award is the second news story from the IMA’s history-making weekend. The first, of course, was the parade on Saturday. As promised, the weather couldn’t have been better, and the air of Fountain Square was filled with an overwhelming excitement as hundreds of participants marched and hundreds of spectators watched art in the streets of Indianapolis. Check out images from the day by clicking here.

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I’ve been obsessed with the forecast this week. Almost every hour from sunrise to sunup, I’ve visited weather.com to assess the temperature and rain chance for Saturday. On Monday and Tuesday the forecast called for rain. Yesterday thing improved significantly when the chance for rain dropped from 40% to 20%. Today, all weather stations are calling for mid-60 degree temps with no rain in the afternoon. PHEW! Mother Nature apparently is a fan of the parade. And why wouldn’t she be? Music, art, families, and projects with such fun and fantastic names as: “A Bag of Bees,” “Cinderella in the City,” and “Revenge of the Pinatas,” there’s something for everyone this Saturday.

So here are my final thoughts for all my loyal parade-lovin’ readers:

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