According to a recent BBC News article citing a study by Heriot Watt University, music can enhance wine taste. On the same principle, can music enhance art taste? Does the taste of a one type of wine or the shade of a certain color wall effect your like or dislike for a work of art?

From my perspective, it must. A recent example of my user-experience comes from this year’s Indiana State Fair. Being a veteran 4-H’er, I’m always impressed at the increasing talent I see in the photography exhibit, including a creative/experimental category for those who like to play in the digital world. The photography exhibits are displayed in the same buildings, and bunched together on the same white walls, shrink wrapped in plastic just as they always have been. The smell of swine mixed with cotten candy wafts through the exhibit. It’s all part of the signature fair experience. I can only imagine what those photographs must look like framed on the wall of a home or art gallery with proper lighting and plenty of breathing room.

In a museum, exhibition design is usually a department unto itself. Wall colors, lighting and graphic design elements are selected with the goal of creating a canvas that best compliments an exhibition or individual work of art. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery does an exceptional job of making portraits pop, which got the attention of The Washington Post. Viewer experience is key. One sign of flattery is when visitors ask the museum staff for the specific paint number of a gallery so they can use it in their own homes. Sometimes, installation art and site-specific art does the work of the exhibit design team by taking into account the environment in which the work of art lives and the viewers’ total experience. In this way, the artist has more absolute control.

Should artists recommend the ideal environment in which to view their work, what song to listen to while looking at it, or what bottle to pop before feasting? Or should the viewer create their own unique experience or simply rely on the curator or museum to provide that for them?

Below are some works of art from the IMA. Share your music or wine recommendations for these or other favorite works:

• “Two Figures” 1968 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth
• “Phenomena Danger - Pass Left” by Paul Jenkins
• “Electric Chair” by Andy Warhol

Photo Credit: Hugh Talman, Smithsonian Institution
John Updike by Alex Katz; David Hockney Self-Portrait; Phil III by Chuck Close; and Self-Portrait with Liz by Red Grooms, as installed in “Americans Now,” National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

After a few last minute tasks in the morning, Meg, my internship mentor for the summer, and I strolled over to our escape vehicle from the great indoors. A single key, a nine-person van and one destination: MUG n’ BUN Drive-in.

Most of the Marketing department decided to join us on our journey to Indianapolis’s west side. Some were hoping to relive memories of root beer and corn dogs, and others, like myself, to experience the glory of this drive-in for the first time. We were a sight to behold in our office regalia. We scarfed down the mountain of delicious food before us: Chocolate malts, fries, root beer, burgers, coney dogs, corn dogs and cole slaw. All morsels of an afternoon at MUG n’ BUN.

Suffice it to say, our tummies were not happy with us afterwards.

My summer at the IMA has been a revealing one. (Lesson #1: Don’t overdo it at MUG n’ BUN.) My knowledge of the museum world has grown, and I even learned a little more about myself. Gaining exposure to all departments of the Museum, by attending meetings, taking on a survey and marketing initiatives project, and getting to know the staff, has been a tremendous benefit of my few months spent at the IMA.

Some of the other interns I worked with are starting jobs or preparing for grad school. I’m heading back to Bloomington for my final undergraduate year at Indiana University and trying to figure out where I’ll end up after next May. However confusing the future may seem, the IMA has given me a whole new set of experiences from which to work. Being in the presence of so many people who are passionate about their job makes me happy I was along for the ride.

Beginning with McCain, he expresses his strong military background and personal heritage through his logo and with merchandise including a nautical lapel pin and Irish buttons. McCain also appeals to coalitions and branches of the armed forces through a variety of apparel. Perhaps the most noticeable difference from the other candidates is that McCain chooses to employ few images of himself. Clinton and Obama both have artists’ renderings of themselves for posters. McCain only uses unaltered photographs of himself on merchandise.

Next up is Clinton with her surprising portrait with “rising sun” found in the accessories section of her official campaign Web site’s online store. According to the site, this original Hillary Clinton print, designed by Hollywood screenwriter Tony Puryear (”Eraser”), is an exclusive to Hillarystore.com. The posters (there are two versions) are “Union printed in USA using 100% wind power and vegetable-based inks.”

“Senator Clinton is a beautiful, strong and inspiring woman, and I wanted to make a poster that reflected that. Rather than putting a slogan on the poster, I chose to put her name, because she is surely the only leader at this level with whom we are all on a first-name basis, and to me, that reflects her personal warmth and connection with ordinary Americans.” - Tony Puryear

One can’t help but reference the resemblance to Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist party in China, and his popular depiction in front of a “rising sun.”

Clinton assumes first name recognition with most of her campaign design and merchandise, including her logo of “Hillary for President,” noting her cause, above a strip of the American flag. Her merchandise varies from simple yard signs to the more peculiar “Hillary Cares” piggy banks and goldtone glitter pins.

Finally, Obama, noted in the press for consistent campaign design and use of Gotham typeface, doesn’t shy away from the man in the mirror. His logo features an “O” (Did somebody say “O”prah?) or circle, a horizon, flag and his name and the year 2008. Obama is the only candidate to include the year ‘08 in his logo. Perhaps the others are planning to run again.

Obama also features an “Artists for Obama” gallery where art and merchandise donated to the campaign by artists are for sale. Most striking is the limited edition Obama “CHANGE” portrait created by contemporary artist Shepard Fairey. Obama’s Web site says to stay tuned for additional prints in the days ahead.

Again, one can’t help but recognize some strange similarity to the popular depiction of communist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. I’m not saying Clinton or Obama should be compared to the likes of Mao or Che in character or governing style, but perhaps there’s a connection in the artistic depiction of power and authority that strikes the same chord.

After the election is over, the president is selected, and the years pass, it will be interesting to see what visual portrait of the 44th U.S. president history paints. For a look back on past presidents, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., holds the record in its permanent exhibition America’s Presidents. You may even find Hillary’s portrait around the corner.

It all started at an early age. As a young girl growing up in Southwestern Indiana, my Aunt Donna was far and away the most fashionable person I knew. She owned a few designer handbags, quite a few pairs of Ferragamo shoes, and an extensive jewelry collection. Always an impeccable dresser, she was the height of fashion in my young world.

20 years later, my passion for fashion has expanded significantly, but my Aunt is still at the heart of it all. I have inherited her shoes, her handbags, some of her jewelry, and most importantly, her appreciation for all things chic. I work hard at emulating her style. I’m not going to lie…I subscribe to 5 different fashion magazines. I also do my fair share of internet reading. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Web sites and blogs dedicated to fashion and I probably read about half of them.

Until recently I felt guilty about my style addiction. I only read www.style.com behind closed doors, because I felt it was frivolous and indulgent. However, with the opening of the IMA’s latest exhibition, Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the tutorial of the IMA’s curator of textile and fashion arts, Niloo Paydar, I have learned that my love for fashion is another variation of my passion for art. PHEW!…I’m not nearly as shallow and superficial as I thought I was!

With all of this said, let me tell you why I’m so unbelievably, uncontrollably excited today: A fashion icon is coming to the IMA to speak. In case you don’t know yet, The Sartorialist (a.k.a. Scott Schuman) will be speaking TONIGHT in DeBoest Lecture Hall at 7:00 pm. Schuman is a journalist who is most famous for his blog on which he features images of stylish people on the streets of cities all over the world. The diversity of the images—colorful street fashion in India to haute couture in Paris—reveals that style is more than just a label; it is also a personal expression. The success of The Sartorlialist blog has gained Schuman a great deal of accolades and attention. He was recently named by Time magazine as one of the fashion world’s 100 most influential people.

While, I wasn’t on that list (maybe next year), Schuman and I still have a lot in common. We blog. We love photography. We love to travel. We love fashion. And perhaps most astounding of all, Schuman is also a native Hoosier. I’m pretty sure we’re destined to be best friends. I have grand notions that we will spend hours after the lecture tonight discussing fashion, our influences, and our childhoods in Indiana. I’ve got a few really good stories about my aunt to tell him. However, if for any reason Schuman doesn’t want to be my best friend for the day (I can’t imagine!), I have a backup plan. I’ll be packing a Sharpie and a few of my favorite Vogues from over the years for him to autograph. It’s not nearly as fun, but I think this plan is a bit more realistic.

So, please join me tonight at 7:00 pm for Scott Schuman’s lecture “Street & Elite: The Sartorialist’s World of Fashion.” Grab a drink at Happy Hour before hand, and afterwards, head up and see the Breaking the Mode exhibition. Stop by and say hello if you come. I’ll be the girl in the front row with the markers and the stack of magazines!

A giant mobile 40 feet across and almost equally as tall, Dream Maker is a sight to behold (even if you’re not laying flat in front of the ticketing counter as I was today to snap the above photograph). As you approach the Museum you can see the brightly colored structures floating in the entrance. Even when viewing it from the parking lot, the piece generates a sense of wonder and awe. But it isn’t until you walk under the structure that the true joy of Dream Maker hits you. It’s just unbelievably happy. Honestly, you can’t help but smile as it smiles at you. And who doesn’t want to see something that’s going to make them smile.

Friends With You is an artist collective based out of Miami. You can look up more information about them on Wikipedia (that’ll make Richard happy), but I thought I would tell you a little bit about the group right here in the blog. Created in 2002 by Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval, the group promotes its message of magic, luck, and friendship in popular culture by creating and sharing designer toys, multimedia, paintings, sculptures, performances and art installations. Check out their Web site to see more about their work. You can also stop by the IMA Store or Gnosis in Indy’s Fountain Square to purchase some of their art toys.

I’m a huge fan of these guys for several reasons. First, I think everyone needs to believe in magic, luck and friendship. They all seem like pretty good things to me. Second, all the works of Friends With You are really fresh, vibrant and cool. It’s just a great aesthetic. Finally, while I love all art, I especially love works that inspire child-like joy. It’s rare to feel like skipping or giggling or doing cartwheels once you reach a certain age, but the works of Friends With You make me want to do all of those things.

Need a little more joy? Stop by the IMA and check out Friends With You’s Dream Maker in the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion. I recommend lying down in the middle of the floor and staring up at it, but that’s just me.

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.

Participants, Spectators, Trailblazers, Protesters, Merry Makers, and Performers - Thank you to everyone who made the day a such an enormous success!

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

You’re gonna love Fritz Haeg! – On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to see Fritz’s lecture at the Herron School of Art and Design. For over 90 minutes, Haeg shared his diverse and intriguing body of work with the audience. From gardens–called edible estates–to interpretive dance, Haeg was incredibly generous in his sincere descriptions of his processes and motivations. As the choreographer of the parade and creator of the East Meets West Interchange Overpass Parade, Haeg is one of the featured parade projects this Saturday. After spending time with him over the last few days there’s one thing I’m sure of: You’re gonna love Fritz ! It’s hard not to. Visit his Web site and read about his work. Then, come to the parade and see his art in action. You’ll become a huge fan, I promise!

Bring a Camera – Cars disguised as spaceships…Electric powered motorcycles…A giant mousetrap! There’s gonna be a lot of incredible things you’ll want to tell friends about and without pictures, they might not believe you.

Have a Flickr account? Upload your images to the IMA’s “Art Parades” group. Here’s how:

1. While signed in to your account, join the “Art Parades” group, here.
2. Upload or click on the photo you’d like to submit from “Your Photos”.
3. Above the photo, choose “send to group” and select the “Art Parades” option that will be listed.

Done.

Hop on the Bus – After the parade, the IMA is hosting a party from 3:00 -7:00 pm on the front lawn of the museum. Preview the gallery portion of the exhibition, see some of the parade floats up close, sing a little karaoke and enjoy the spring day. Don’t worry about driving…shuttles will run back and forth from Fountain Square to the IMA immediately following the parade until 8:00 pm.

As a special parade-day bonus, the IMA’s special exhibition, Breaking the Mode, will be 50% off to all visitors!

As LeVar Burton says on one of my favorite childhood tv shows Reading Rainbow: “But don’t just take my word for it.”

Here’s what other folks are saying about the parade:

Fox 59
On Procession at Big Car Gallery in Fountain Square

Nuvo
IMA loves a parade

Indy.com
Fountain Square Procession is part of IMA exhibit

Sara Pugh and Sarah Zuckerman create papier-mache ….

On The Cusp
Read the blog post about what may “perhaps be the greatest art battle to sweep the Midwest in recent years.”

Big Car Gallery
Read their blog post about it.
See a video on YouTube.
See images on Flickr.

Okay, that’s all from parade central. We’ll see you Saturday at Noon in Fountain Square! I cannot wait!

A couple weeks ago, Daniel gave you a prompt to submit ideas for a new IMA Blog t-shirt slogan. We had a couple dozen contributors, many of which are IMA employees. So before you get all worked up about the unfairness of our contest, we decided to go ahead and be the good guys and give every person who submitted a comment(by April 15th) a free t-shirt with the winning slogan.

That being said, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try harder next time. I mean, c’mon, 3 out of 5 of the best slogans were submitted by IMA employees, and 2 of them were mine! To be fair, we might have chosen some of the other submissions if we could have reconciled the concerns surrounding them. An IMA favorite was “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days,” submitted by Ben, but we figured there was no truth in that advertising. Another fan favorite mentioned some names in a certain CEO’s title. We feared this might leave those outside the IMA circle clueless and that we might have some explaining to do if we selected that one.

I expect that you are reading this post and thinking, “My submission was SO much better than what they picked!” and that is okay. You can disagree, but we just want you to know that we took this assignment really seriously, and had an hour-long meeting to argue about which slogans should be selected as finalists. So, without further ado, please have at it. Vote for your favorite slogan and we’ll make a t-shirt with the winning phrase.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The poll closes on May 5. You can only vote once (sorry, but it is the only fair way!).

We’ll be in touch soon to collect info to distribute free shirts.

On Procession FAQs

Is there a Web site where I can find more information about the parade and the exhibition? Sure is! Visit www.OnProcession.org to learn more.

Can I still be in the parade? How can I sign up on the day of the parade?
Yes! You can still be part of the parade. You can register your project on the morning of the parade between 10:00 and 11:30 am at either end of the parade route. Registration tents will be located near the intersection of Virginia Avenue & S. East Street (WEST end) and near the intersection of Virginia Avenue, Shelby Avenue & Prospect Street (EAST end). If you’re not sure whether you are EAST or WEST, click here for more information.

I want to be a spectator on parade day. What are the vantage points?
The parade route will run the one-mile stretch of Virginia Avenue between the Anthem Building (located at the intersection of Shelby St., East St., and Virginia Ave.) and the Fountain (located at the intersection of Virginia Ave. and Prospect St.). Anywhere along the parade route will be traffic-proofed and ready for spectators! Click here to see the map.

Where should I park?

While there is no designated parking for this event, the following is a list of free public parking that will be available on parade day:
*SEND public parking lot at intersection of Woodlawn Avenue & Shelby Street
*Fountain Square Center Parking Lot, 901 S Shelby Street
*White Castle Parking Lot, 921 Virginia Avenue (corner of Virginia Ave. & Leonard St.). Please enter off of Leonard St.
* Teamsters Union lot, 1233 Shelby Street

Can I bring my children? What about my pets?
Yes! All are welcome to come and watch the parade. However, no animals are allowed in the parade itself. For those who plan to march in the parade, please note that the parade route is approximately 1 mile long, so be sure everyone can cover the distance and wear comfy shoes!

What if it rains or the weather is poor?

The parade is rain or shine! Click here for the weather forecast.

What do I do after the parade is finished?
The party continues! Shuttles will be taking paraders and spectators to the IMA for the On Procession party and exhibition preview. The celebration will take place on the Sutphin Mall from 3:00-7:00 pm. (Tickets are Free for members, $5 for students & parade participants, and $10 for the public and can be purchased online by clicking here.) Surrounded by featured works from the parade, you are invited to enjoy refreshments, karaoke and a special sneak peek of On Procession in the Forefront Galleries. Shuttles will pick up at SEND public parking lot at intersection of Woodlawn Avenue & Shelby Street in Fountain Square and take you to the IMA (or vice versa) approximately every 25 minutes.

This phenomenal example of entrepreneurship and arts marketing was brought to my attention this weekend by my should’ve-been-a-geneticist mother. It’s every marketer’s dream — the big idea — and together Web consultant Adrian Salamunovic and biotech imaging specialist Nazim Ahmed found it in a string of DNA. They started a company called DNA 11 that catapulted them into the media spotlight with personalized portraits of people’s DNA images. Clients first choose a color scheme, size and frame option. Several weeks after submitting their DNA sample, they receive an original, one-of-a-kind work of art.

Co-founders Salamunovic and Ahmed started their business in a small apartment with $2,000 and netted a $1 million the first year. They’ve received international press coverage and were featured on CSI:NY. They also sell their service in The Museum of Modern Art stores, in both New York and Tokyo. They’ve branched out into FingerPrint Portraits and KISS Portraits. I’m intrigued by the innovative idea, the comprehensive Web site (with blog) and DNA 11’s goodwill efforts which have accompanied its success.

Clearly, the popularity of DNA 11 comes from a new idea and the ability to execute it with state-of-the-art technology, but will a DNA Portrait from DNA 11 ever hang in the MoMa? Or is this just a novelty, a contemporary decorator’s dream? What if it were a DNA Portrait of the Dalai Lama or the Pope? Or another twist — how about a FingerPrint Portrait of O.J. Simpson? Would that elevate the status of this art to museum worthy or just increase the demand for reproductions of an even more novel product?

Note: The title of this post is a branding slogan by DNA 11.