Well, here I am in Atlanta at the Perennial Plant Symposium, on the bus waiting to start today’s tours of gardens, growers, and retail establishments. It’s actually been hotter in Indianapolis. The Hort folks left behind have been working like firemen to keep the plants alive.

It’s been a good week. Lots of good lectures. Lots of good gardens.  Lots of good plants. Lots of good people. I will be reporting on some of that later. I ran out of time to do it properly today.

I will mention the world of Echinaceas continues to expand – more sizes, more colors, more trials. These will continue to improve.  Amazing plants are on the way.

The new “it” perennial is probably going to be Kniphofia, the red hot pokers. More colors coming, longer blooming, shorter (not too short please!!!).

A bit of personal news, yours truly is the new Great Lakes Regional Director for the Perennial Plant Association. It was an honor just being nominated. I will try my best.

That’s it for now. Here’s hoping for cooler temps and some rain.

Filed under: Horticulture, Travel

On the last day of my two-month experiment in Dutch living, I squeezed in a visit to the vaunted Kröller-Müller Museum and Sculpture Garden near Otterlo, the Netherlands. It had always been on my to-see list because of Claes Oldenburg’s Trowel I (1971-76)—one of his earliest large-scale projects—but I was also curious to think about the sculpture garden in relation to our very own 100 Acres.

The Kröller-Müller is located on about 60 acres, set within De Hoge Veluwe National Park, and visitors can either park their cars nearby and take a brief walk to the museum, or leave their cars in several locations along the park border and pick up a free bike to cycle to the museum. Taking the latter option, I started to think about the art-viewing pilgrimage—whether it’s climbing the steps of a neoclassical art temple, riding in a van across the New Mexico countryside to reach The Lightning Field, or wending your way through the IMA’s formal gardens and crossing the canal into 100 Acres.  Before the art viewing, there is the preparing for the art viewing.  Not a walk for the sake of a walk, but a palate cleanser in anticipation of a specific, intentional sensory experience.

Along this same vein, I recently enjoyed encountering several empty galleries at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. As part of its temporary program during the construction of its new wing, the Stedelijk has reopened its renovated original building with a changing installation of works from their permanent collection. Interspersed between galleries that for the most part contain single artworks, are unlit vacant spaces that are at first curious, and, upon further consideration, revelatory. These spaces were designed in part as a creative solution to the fact that the museum is still under construction—insufficient climate control, the need for light blocks for new media works—but they also provide a fascinating pause between artworks: a breath in the often-overwhelming bam-bam-bam of artworks presented in quick succession. The rooms draw your attention to the building itself—its architecture, its history, its key role in the framing of each work on display.

Dan Graham, "Two Adjacent Pavilions," first version 1978, second version 2001.

Most important about the darkened rooms is that they do a fine job of affirming one’s place in the world/city/building/room, urging you to consider your presence as a body in space (phenomenology, if you will). Also very successful at accomplishing this is Dan Graham’s Two Adjacent Pavilions (first version 1978, second version 2001), which is sited near the entrance of the Kröller-Müller Museum. Made of glass and steel, Two Adjacent Pavilions is part architecture, part sculpture, and its reflective surfaces frame and mirror the lush grounds, the more traditional sculpture nearby (Mark Di Suvero’s K-piece, 1972), and also your own encounter with the structure.  Entering the glass cubes (the doors were propped open), I was immediately hurtled into an unstable ground between experiencing the work and being the work. The subject/object relationship was upended marvelously, and I was made acutely aware of my own presence, the proximity of others, and Graham’s expert insistence upon his art’s integration with its context. His art is the context.

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Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Contemporary, IMA Staff, Travel

Though divided by thousands of miles of water and differences in language, what is one thing that Indianapolis and Venice have in common? Canals! Though Venice’s infrastructure is based on these waterways, the original purpose of the Indiana Central Canal was to provide a trade route, connecting the Wabash and Erie Canal to the Ohio River. Due to budgetary shortfalls, the full scope of the project was never completed, with the operational Canal now serving as a place of recreation, adding to the beauty of our city.

Here’s the Central Canal in 1894, in a work from the IMA’s collection by Richard Buckner Gruelle:

Richard Buckner Gruelle, "The Canal Morning Effect," 1894, John Herron Fund.

Venice’s Grand Canal also has its roots in trade, and provides the main connecting thoroughfare in the heart of Venice.  We’ve been getting to know the Grand Canal very well – it’s our main route to and from the U.S. Pavilion and the evening events (that is – when we’re not walking, which is another experience in itself!).  Here’s a work by Vaughn Trowbridge (featured in the Venetian Views exhibition!) created eleven years after Gruelle’s view of the Indiana Canal:

Vaughn Trowbridge, "The Grand Canal, Venice," 1905; Bequest to Delavan Smith.

And here a photo of the Grand Canal today, as we head towards work:

The boats have been updated, and it’s definitely more crowded (and even more so, now that the Biennale crowd has kicked in), but a lot remains the same from that 1905 artwork.  Being surrounded by that level of preserved history is something we are conscious of every day, even if it means reminding ourselves to pause in between work to look around and take it all in.  Plus, it’s been pretty surreal taking a boat to work every day – maybe it’s something I should look at working into my IMA commute?

Filed under: Art, Exhibitions, The Collection, Travel, Venice Biennale

This past weekend, the IMA’s video team (Daniel Beyer and I) arrived in Venice to film the installment and opening of Gloria by Allora & Calzadilla at the U.S. Pavilion for the 54^th Biennale di Venezia. Venice is a glorious backdrop, it is as romantic and complicated and ancient as it looks in pictures. In fact, it is hard to take a photo or video shot that doesn’t look suitable for a postcard or commercial. Everything is just too perfectly picturesque. Because of this, Venice makes a great foil for telling stories about the global cutting edge contemporary art scene, all of which it seems, lands here every other year for the Biennale.

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Filed under: Art, Exhibitions, New Media, Travel, Venice Biennale

Claude Monet, "The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice;" 1908; The Lockton Collection.

“It seemed in the distance like a floating city, its domes, spires, cupolas, and towers, glittering in the sunbeams, and looked so glorious, that I could have fancied it one of those optical illusions presented by a mirage.” – Marguerite, Countess of Blessington, 1882.

Paris may be the City of Light, but nothing can quite compare to the luminescence of Venice.  Monet – in this work from the IMA’s collection – highlights this experience better than most, with his masterful approach to capturing the reflections of water and light.

In addition to showing you the behind-the-scenes workings at the Biennale, I’ll be highlighting works in the IMA’s collection that relate to Venice – plus an upcoming exhibition of artists who, similar to us, traveled here from America and documented what they saw.

The last group of IMA staffers arrived today, ready for a busy opening week.  It’s not exactly Monet, but here’s a glimpse of  the light at play in Venice, soon after I arrived in town:

Filed under: Art, The Collection, Travel, Venice Biennale