Gary Hutchinson in his IMA Blog T-Shirt

Danny Beyer in his IMA Blog T-Shirt

Need to get a blog t-shirt?  You can buy one in the IMA store or you can buy online here.  Supplies are limited don’t miss out!

And as I mentioned at the beginning, this is my last post, and tomorrow is my last day at IMA.  I have loved getting to know our online communities and will miss this work!  Please keep on contributing and help IMA create the best online art experience out there!

The Ad Generator – Give this online activity a try, and marvel at the simple complexity of advertising in your daily life.  (Mad props to Noelle for this selection.)

1000 Artworks to See Before you Die – Although I do not agree with all of these picks, it is definitely worth your time.  Anyone have ideas of their own for this list?

IMA on Facebook – Have you visited our Facebook page already?  Then give us some feedback.  We can’t go from lame to fabulous without your help on that one.

IMA Blog Categories

So, instead of making an elaborate design-based effort that would no doubt involve too many hours of Matt Gipson’s time, we thought it might be useful to show you how you can already customize your blog reading experience and see how that goes.

I am going to cover a couple of basic things here…RSS feeds and news readers or aggregators.  For some of you this may be old hat.  My feelings on the subject are best captured by a well-traveled flight attendant beginning a safety lecture to a plane full of impatient flyers…”Listen carefully, or at least be quiet.  It is always the first time for somebody.”  And so it is…so, if you’re a blog readin’ aficionado, then you might as well go back to your reader…that is if you ever clicked through…

For those of you who are now on the edge of your seat, let’ press on.

First thing to know about is the IMA Blog’s categories.  Each post we write has at least one category attached.  Most have several.

This is a feature that easily allows you to focus on what you want to read.  When you land on the IMA Blog page…notice that there is a list of categories to the right. (You see them pictured above.)  You can click in to that category page and bookmark it.  Voila! You have just created your own horticulture-only blog, or whatever category you selected.

My Blogs on Bloglines

Another option is to click that inviting orange RSS icon.  It beckons to you from the far right.  Click on it to be directed to a new page that allows you to sign up for a feed.  You can choose from a plethora of news-readers.  My personal fav is Bloglines.

I find it easy to use and has no weirdness when you move between Mac and PC worlds as I do.  News readers allow you to sign up for a nearly endless stream of content.  You can go out onto the internet and start clicking your little heart out wherever you see that orange icon and amass quite a list of things you just can’t live without reading.  Then your news reader sorts it into a list, shows you what has been recently updated and allows you to preview bits from any feed.

When I discovered the ease and joy of the news reader it was my new BFF for at least a week (which is at least a month in “online time,” it works like dog years), so I hope that you will feel the same way.

And of course, you can just visit the IMA Blog the “old-fashioned way.”  Don’t you think it is funny that there is already an old-fashioned way to read a blog?  Pretty cool in my opinion.

Tyler Green

You may recall a few mentions of Tyler Green here on our blog.  He is the author of the distinguished art blog Modern Art Notes (MAN).  Waves of giggles and high-fives have radiated through IMA each time we get a mention among the national heavyweights featured on MAN (Except this recent one, which we internalized as an interesting challenge, emboldening our collective spirit).

So you can only imagine the excitement now that he is in Indy.  He will be giving a talk at the Central Library tonight entitled, “Ten Things I Hate About Contemporary Art.” This visit has been organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.

To borrow a quote from IMCPL’s description of the program, the Wall Street Journal called MAN, “the most influential of all visual arts blogs.”  So I hope you are already checking your calendar, because this is an event not to be missed!  I hope to see many IMA blog readers there! Come say hi and collect a free IMA Blog t-shirt!  (While supplies last, of course!)

The details: Central Library (40 E. St. Clair St.), 7 PM, FREE  For more information visit IMCPL website www.imcpl.org.

Sacred Spain will be at the IMA in the fall/ winter of 2009. So why are we shooting video now? We need to make arrangements to permit our presence (cameras and all) at Holy Week events in the spring. Since the subject matter of the exhibition inherently includes religious contexts, filming events related to them is more complicated than the traditional b-roll we shoot of museum facades or ancient monuments. Under curatorial advisement and with the help of Ilenia Colon-Mendoza, an Indianapolis expert in this subject matter, we have met with a variety of people already to convey our intentions and secure local permissions. So far, so good.

We hope the result of our work will shed some insight on the art featured in the exhibition which include a variety of works from the Baroque era. I must resist the temptation to name drop here as I do not have curatorial permission to do so, and I would not want to steal any insitutional thunder. Maybe if you ask for more, our curator (Ronda Kasl) will respond to your inquiries…In the meantime, you can see photos documenting our trip on IMA’s Flickr page. Enjoy!

• “Blog your art out” by Eric
• “Future IMA Guest Blogger” by Despi (that’s me)
• “Like you have something better to do” by Henry
• Front “Ping” Back “www.imamuseum.org/blog” by Lindsey
• “When you need a good poll” by Despi (yep, two from me)

The poll winner was Eric, by a landslide.  So it is his slogan that made its way onto the t shirt.

Slogan conceived by Eric, design perfected by IMA

Designed by IMA Apps Team member and Web Designer, Matt Gipson, these tees are available for sale in the IMA gift shop ($20).  For those of you who submitted suggestions for the poll, you should have received an e-mail from the awesome Emily (also known as Demily) asking for your address.  If you responded a t-shirt is on its way to you right now!

So what should the next poll be?

The site will feature some cool new media stuff.  Dan Dark, Senior New Media Producer, is currently working on a series of videos that will give you the inside scoop about some featured objects from the show presented by the curators from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.  (They organized the show.)

In addition to the video, we have pulled together a selection of IMA objects that you can find in our permanent collection. Along these same lines, the Nugget Factory is working with IMA curator, Jim Robinson to record an audio tour of our Asian Art galleries.

You will also be able to download free wallpapers (ala To Live Forever) and of course, get the skinny on programs and events.

We will give you a heads up when the site officially launches…we are shooting for Monday.  Hold your breath and cross your fingers

Check out this photo on Flickr to see a diagram of my crazy.

This is a super-busy time for the Nugget Factory and it just sort of happened.  For a couple of days last week, Daniel was out of the office with Dan shooting some video in San Francisco for the upcoming show, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty. I found myself sitting at my desk, working at a normal pace…and bored out of my mind.  Two days later, with the full factory back in action, things sort of erupted, with new tasks flying in at every angle.  I guess I prefer it that way…Check out this selection of stuff we have coming soon:

• A new Flickr project giving you a look at some conservation work done by IMA conservators in conjunction with the exhibition, Preserving a Legacy: Wishard Hospital Murals (coming January 2009)
  
• The website for Power and Glory, which will integrate video in a way we have never tried before (coming October 2008)
• A full length documentary on Maya Lin that is in the home stretch, we hope you can see this late 2008
• The special web presence featuring Type A, in the final stages of editing, getting ready for the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park groundbreaking on September 18th
• A new Flickr group called “Class Picture Day” – submit your own class photo inspired by the exhibition, Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey (You should submit your class photo, but even if you don’t you can find mine on there!)
• Two audio tracks recorded by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for you to enjoy, inspired by works of art in the American Galleries

So that is a just a taste for the next couple of months.  We’ll keep you posted as new things come up.  Next year will be bringing some super exciting things that you will definitely hear about here, so stay tuned!!

Here is an excerpt from Andrea’s description of the project.

Here at the IMA we are preparing for a new design center. One of the recently acquired pieces is a side board by architect and designer Eliel Saarinen. Saarinen was a Finnish architect who is better noted for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century, and national romantic style than for his furniture.  Our side board was created in 1929, shortly after Saarinen immigrated to the United States. … The side board is a 49 5/16 x 77 9/16 x 20 13/16 in. rectangular chest on four legs, with four doors on the front of the piece, covering three compartments (two sides and one larger, central)and its surface is decorated with a diamond pattern of walnut and burl wood veneers. The diamond appliqué follows an alternating pattern of light and dark burled wood over most of the planar surfaces of the piece.  The piece when acquired has diverse cosmetic and structural issues to its surface. For this specialized treatment the IMA’s conservation lab invited conservator and wood specialist Mark Minor to work on the piece.  In addition to the stabilization and preservation of the cabinet, the goal of the treatment was to bring the artist/designer’s intent back to view—to reduce the muddiness of the varnish and clarify the grain/figure of the veneers.

Sounds cool, right?  Did you know that we also have another IMA conservation project on Flickr?  Don’t miss the treatment of a Thornton Dial work.