As the last bits and pieces of the garden get picked up and the house is about to burst from all the plants I’m trying to save I need an occasional reminder of why I do all this. Okay, I need multiple reminders some days. One of the reasons for my plant obsession (besides just being a plant pig) is the excitement of trying new plants. So in addition to my can’t-garden-without-it-every-year plants I like to add some new material to the mix. These may be completely new species or just new cultivars of plants I’ve grown for decades. Whichever the case, this new plant material revitalizes the garden and the gardener. So what did I try this year that has a chance of being asked to come back next year? So glad you asked. I’ll tell you of just a few.

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Filed under: Horticulture

First things first, let me start by highlighting one of the The Nugget Factory’s latest productions – Welcome to the IMA.  This is piece we produced in part for the 125th Gala, this past weekend, to appear in the new Indianapolis Airport and for other multi-purpose uses.  Please enjoy.

And speaking of the 125th Gala, we uploaded images from this incredible event to our Flickr account.  Have fun.

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Filed under: New Media, Technology

I spent my weekend stumbling around. Instead of writing a blog post, I decided to play with StumbleUpon — since I’m convinced I don’t know enough about all the Internet communities out there using social networking tools such as Delicious, Digg, Twitter and Mixx. Unfortunately, I didn’t come to any groundbreaking conclusions using StumbleUpon. We haven’t discussed StumbleUpon on the IMA Blog yet, but now is as good of time as any. The Wikepedia definition is helpful if you are unfamiliar with this technology and want to learn about its history, how it works and its line of owners. “Stumble Upon is an Internet community that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos and videos. It is a personalized recommendation engine which uses peer and social-networking principles.” (Of note — In May 2007, eBay acquired StumbleUpon for $75 million from the original post-graduate school developers but has hired Deutsche Bank to try to sell it again.)

My first impression of StumbleUpon was that it is a fun tool. Before I had it figured out, (you do literally stumble around for awhile), I spent at least an hour in MoJoe’s looking at animals in love, making snowflakes, gawking at street installations in Washington, D.C., and oohing and awwing over some human creative painting. Most of the reviewed and rated sites are novel — odd and wacky, interactive or display amazing talent. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Marketing, Musings, New Media

An amazing product has emerged from Microsoft’s Live Labs.  Photosynth allows anyone to create an immersible and interactive experience given just a set of digital photographs of an area.  I’ll just warn up front that this is a Windows only product at this point, but its novelty more than justifies the download and installation.

Photosynth screen capture showing the Asian Gallery at the IMA

As you read on, you’ll probably discover that I had way too much fun with this tool, and I hope you will as well.

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Filed under: Technology

Last week I helped host a speaker from West Africa at the IMA. Dr. Boureima Diamitani is the Executive Director of the West African Museums Programme. It’s currently based in Dakar Senegal, but will move during the next few months to Niger. During his short visit Boureima participated in meetings with IMA staff and local community leaders, and held a public conversation with IMA Director Maxwell Anderson on a range of issues.

Talking with Boureima during his short stay, I became conscious of the inherent contradictions that African museums represent. Contemporary African museums inherited their collections from the European colonial governments that established them. Colonial museums in Africa were originally created for the enjoyment of white visitors; black Africans were not admitted.

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Filed under: Art, Education, Public Programs