Ask Oprah, and she’ll tell you she’d invite Jesus to her dream dinner party…(watch the clip below)

Ask us, and well, after last week, we might have to say Felder Rushing. IMA TV stopped to chat with the Southern gentleman in the Oldfields orchard while he was at the IMA for his talk as part of our Planet Indy series. Check out the latest IMA TV episode and you’ll see why we’re crazy for this offbeat gardening guru.

Filed under: Education, Horticulture, IMA TV, Interviews, New Media, The Toby

For the opening of the new Ancient Art of the Mediterranean gallery, I completed a couple of conservation treatments on objects that haven’t been on view in a long, long time.  One of the objects is this Canosan vase which is from the 3^rd or 2^nd century B.C.E.  Here’s a video of the IMA’s Director and CEO talking about the vessel and the new gallery he curated:

Before this more than 2,000 year old artwork came into my Objects and Variable Art conservation lab, it was safely stored in two separate boxes—one box contained the ceramic vessel, the other contained the 9 pieces that were detached from it.  There’s a photograph in the historical files dating to the early part of the 20^th century showing how the vase was assembled when it was acquired in 1928.

My job was to carefully re-assemble these pieces and fill the missing areas to make the joints appear more seamless.  Finally, I inpainted my fills to make them less visible (if you get up really close to the case, you can see my work).

Aaron Steele, the IMA’s Digital Assets Specialist & Associate Photographer, photographed this object before and after my conservation treatment up in his photo studio.  Have a look:

Before treatment photographs

After treatment photographs

Filed under: Art, Conservation, IMA TV

At the IMA, social media has become rather important. We use it to build relationships with you, our online audience, yes- but we also hope to encourage you to build relationships with each other and your community. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to tell the difference between my “personal” and “professional” social media interactions because the lines have blurred in so many ways just in the past couple of years. Yes, part of it has to do with passion for what I do, but even so- everything has become so intertwined, so to speak, when it comes to the ‘interwebs’.

This photo was snapped just this morning down in 100 Acres by Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Lisa Freiman and promptly tweeted by CEO Max Anderson:

Steel workers gather for a photo opp. on top of Free Basket by Los Carpinteros

Take for instance how social media has reshaped the world of journalism. “Citizen journalism” is the concept of members of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Examples of this can be seen through blogs, twitter, and camera phone images.

As a museum, we can employ this same idea. Staff, artists and visitors can capture events as they happen with their iPhone or a Flip Video. The following images were captured on artist duo Type A’s cell phones and then uploaded to Facebook:

The top ring of "Team Building (Align)" casts a shadow

Astronomer Brian Murphy of Butler U. and Andrew of Type A work out some calculations to place the second ring for "Team Building (Align)"

So, budding art journalists, here are some tips from caffienatedtraveller.com to get you started:

• Acknowledge the artwork and museum in the photo credits. It is time for bloggers to step up and put on a professional face.
• Post great images and not the family snap shots on your blog. Why discredit a good art exhibit.
• Flash photography? Don’t go there unless you have explicit permission from the museum. Not even when you think you’re alone.
• Leave the fanatical blogger psyche at the entry door. Spend some zen time in the moment, with the art and the space and then shoot.

In the meantime, I’ll be looking for your tweets, status updates and image uploads. And let’s continue to blur the lines together, shall we?

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Current Events, New Media, Technology

When is a lamp not a lamp?  When it’s designed by California architect Greg Lynn—who’s coming to the IMA to dialogue with IMA CEO Maxwell Anderson Wednesday evening.

Call it a mod beehive, a jaunty porous blob, a bold yellow organ.  In the hands of Greg Lynn, form reigns…with materiality a close second.  Lynn is credited with coining the term “blob architecture.”

I first heard the name Greg Lynn last year while reading a piece in The New York Times Magazine about architects with an ardor for sailing.  Guys like Lynn and Frank Gehry regularly hit the waves in sleek, complex contraptions in a true test of human-made forms vs. the energies of nature’s elements.

Preview Lynn’s design perspective with this recording of a talk at the Univ. of Michigan.

Filed under: Design, Education, Public Programs, The Toby

Rarely does anyone visit our office at the back of the Stout Library without saying “Wow, what an amazing view”.  And rightfully so.  It’s an amazingly beautiful look out into the south side of the Oldfields gardens.  With out a doubt a wonderful source of inspiration and natural beauty.

So back in March as the snow began to recede I would regularly peer out into the drab naked trees with great anticipation of watching them green up and return  to the former glory of last summer.  As luck would have it someone shared this link with me around the same time.  It’s the Timelapse group on vimeo and there are some breathtaking videos created via time lapse photography

Here is one example that blew my mind.

This all got me thinking.  What if I stuck a camera facing out of our window for a month and took a photo every half hour?   Well, sounded like there was only one way to find out.   So here is 1 month of spring as taken every half hour, condensed into 23 seconds.

Watch as the gardens go green.

Filed under: New Media, Technology