When I joined the project team for the Art & Nature Park nearly five years ago, the IMA’s journey of park development was well underway.  The process would eventually span a decade or more, culminating in the grand opening of 100 Acres in June 2010.  Now, the recent announcement of the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion as a 2012 National AIA honor award winner has provided the final underscore for the initial launch of 100 Acres, as well as a new standard for the park as it moves into the future as a space in constant evolution.

Although the park as a whole was a wide ranging, multi-faceted project, the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion always served as the nucleus for the entire endeavor, and in my mind the benchmark of success or failure for the park overall.  The constant challenge throughout the development of the park was to implement eight unique, autonomous commissioned artwork installations and a network of landscape and infrastructure improvements, yet weave them together into a coherent, holistic visitor experience.  It became apparent early in the process that the Visitors Pavilion was to be the center point, around which the rest of the park would live in context.  It was important that the park be a place for multi-faceted experiences, a place which celebrates the gray areas between man and nature, between art and architecture, between carefully programmed experiences and organic, meditative spaces.  The role of the Visitors Pavilion was at the same time clear and elusive: to serve as the flagship space where these gray areas could be called out.

The first set of development drawings I saw in 2007 showed the essence of the final product, but in a much different incarnation.  Marlon Blackwell Architects had been working hand-in-hand for years with landscape architect Ed Blake, artist Mary Miss, and the IMA project team to develop the comprehensive architectural plan for the park, and a structure known as the Interpretive Pavilion was the architectural workhorse of that plan.  It was to serve practical needs such as shelter, restrooms, and a hub for communications.  It was also to serve as the programming hub for the park, providing a home for educational initiatives, events, and temporary exhibitions.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park

Well, time to start a new year of life and a new year of blogs. ‘Tis true what they say. The years do go faster as you get older. Scary fast!

Designs for the coming year are pretty much done. We’ll have to wait to hear from some suppliers whether what we want will be available. It’s always good to have a back-up plant or two tucked away in one’s head just in case. Adaptability is rather important in horticulture.

We haven’t needed to shovel any snow thus far. Quite different from last year when it seemed the only time the world wasn’t snow covered between November and March was that freaky New Year’s Eve day when it was 61. That temperature didn’t last long and we were soon covered again by the white stuff.

Like last year, this winter is not terribly cold. But the mild temperatures are interrupted often enough by cold to remind me it
is indeed winter. This past Monday (the 2^nd) was WINTER with temperatures dropping to the teens and a vicious wind. Vicious I tell you. Friday (the 6^th) however will be spring at something like 50 degrees or warmer. Weather anymore is a roller coaster freak show of a ride.

It was so beautiful out on Thursday I took a break from the computer to have a look around the gardens. It felt like a January thaw except we really haven’t had a January freeze. I wasn’t sure what I would find but soon realized I had to walk back and get my camera. Things were a-poppin’.

One is not surprised at Hamamelis (witchhazel) in bloom when we have a mild streak. But I still so appreciate these amazing plants. The individual flowers are so intricate. They seem so delicate but in fact are tough as nails, unfurling on mild days, curling back tight on harsh days. They put on a show that lasts for weeks, sometimes months.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

The Indianapolis Museum of Art is issuing a call for proposals for a summer 2012 six-week residency on Andrea Zittel’s Indianapolis Island within the IMA’s 100 Acres. Graduate and undergraduate students, as well as emerging professionals in the fields of art, design, architecture and performing arts are encouraged to apply to customize and reside on the Island.

Anchored in the 35-acre lake within 100 Acres, Indianapolis Island is a habitable “off-the-grid” structure accessible by rowboat. The 2012 residency will be the third to take place there. During the artwork’s inaugural summer in 2010, Herron School of Art and Design students Jessica Dunn and Michael Runge activated the installation with their project Give and Take, which consisted of a series of visitor interactions based on a system of exchange. The 2011 island resident was Katherine Ball, a student of Portland State University’s Art + Social Practice MFA program. Over the course of her residency, titled No Swimming, Ball initiated a series of ecological interventions in the lake and engaged a local audience through a series of public programs centered on the topic of water.

At about twenty feet in diameter, the Island serves as an experimental living structure that examines the daily needs of contemporary human beings. Residents collaborate with Zittel by adapting and modifying the structure according to their individual needs. The project blends elements of environmental art, sculpture, design and performance in a unique way, offering a challenging and experimental forum for exploring ideas about individualism and self-sufficiency.

If you’d like to be the 2012 Indianapolis Island resident, visit www.imamuseum.org/islandresidency for more information, including photos and renderings of the structure and to learn how to apply. Proposals are due Friday, January 13, 2012.

If you’d feel more at ease watching the residency unfold from the 100 Acres lake shore or online, stay tuned to the IMA’s blog in spring 2012 to find out who will be the next person to call Indianapolis Island home.

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Contemporary

Snow!!! All I could think when I came out of Meijer last night and saw the roof of my car covered in snow was “Crap. It feels cold.” In the meantime, I have my plants around my desk to remind of a better day to come.

And in truth, it is November. Snow in November isn’t exactly a miracle or a sign of the arrival of the End of Days.

All the same, I was not amused. It had been spitting snow off and on for a few hours but I never figured it would really get to the point of covering anything. When I arrived home, the wind-gathered leaves were heavily dusted with it. Plants in the garden had it clinging to their leaves and spent flowers. My gazing globes were covered with it, though under the full moon they looked rather delightful.

Fortunately earlier in the week I had gathered the last of my tropicals from my IMA gardens. At home, I collected the last of my most crucial plants and hauled them down to the basement on Monday evening. It gets dark so damn early I barely get started before I can’t see where to dig. With only four minutes of daylight after I get home in the evening, I gotta move fast. I only got four minutes to save my plants!

I still have cannas and dahlias to dig. Still have some agaves outside in pots (and one XMangave – Manfreda X Agave). Oh shit. I just realized I left my yellow-leaved fig out. Oh, I hope it’s okay. Damn. I don’t know where I can get another and it was not cheap. Dammit. Oh well. I said I was not going to try to save everything this year. Guess I’m just keeping myself true to my word.

Here at work, we are keeping more plants in the offices since we are trying to save money by not heating the old over-wintering greenhouse we used in the past. We concentrated on the tough stuff that can handle less than ideal conditions. It’s good to have some large specimens to put out so there is a bit of maturity to a design from the get-go.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

For many, fall is best appreciated for the beautiful display of leaf color and irresistible weather – typically mild, sunny and dry here in central Indiana.  This fall, however, conditions were right for recognizing an old favorite in the landscape – giant puffball mushrooms.  We’ve found many of these delightful specimens throughout the IMA gardens; they keep popping out all over the place!  Giant puffballs are often found in more open woods and grassy areas, which makes them both visible and easily accessible.  Sadly, a good number were kicked apart prematurely by folks attempting to explode the trillions of spores encased inside the ballooning gleba (white mass that houses the spores) and release a puffy cloud of spores into the air.  I realize it’s irresistible, the desire to destroy these alien-looking, spongy bubbles.  How can one deny an urge that so exemplifies the spirit of a child’s delight with nature?  Yet I know that the anticipation was met with a rather anticlimactic squelching; the spores were not yet ripe.  The result was a disappointingly flat pile of flaky white chunks that just doesn’t garner the same reaction as that of a soaring spore cloud.

Result of dropping immature giant puffball mushrooms off the Interurban Bridge.

The mushrooms were fresh and new, with firm white flesh that is at its best for flavor and edibility.  It’s not until the puffball has turned brown, discolored and inedible, when the outer flesh has started to break apart, that they are primed and ready to be sent sailing through the air.  I wish people would wait until the mushrooms are ready, when they aren’t as visually appealing, so other people can enjoy seeing them in the garden and perhaps have the opportunity to share something unfamiliar and intriguing with their kiddos.  Please consider this before acting on perfunctory impulse.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture