Statue of Rocky outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A group of us here recently attended the annual Museums and the Web conference, held this year in Philadelphia.  The conference brings together museums from around the world to explore the role of technology in our various initiatives – whether they be online, in the galleries, or even in how our museums function.  Between lunch runs to Reading Terminal Market (amazing), the references to Ben Franklin (ever-present), and meeting with colleagues old and new (always a highlight), we each came away with a list of projects/ideas/encounters that grabbed our attention and will inspire our work throughout the upcoming year.  Here are our top takeaways from this year’s conference:

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Filed under: Museum Community, New Media, Road Trip, Technology, Travel

Over the years, a number of interns in the Objects & Variable Art Lab have written blog posts for the IMA.  But this week, Jessica Ford and Katherine Langdon (who, you might remember, wrote “Caring for Bronze in the Community” this summer) have moved on to the proverbial “big time” to pen a two-part post on the American Institute for Conservation’s News Blog about their recent East Coast road trip to research art conservation graduate schools: Buffalo State College, New York University (my alma mater), and the University of Delaware.

The IMA’s conservation staff included graduates from each of these training programs, and former faculty from Buffalo State and University of Delaware.  Needless to say, we take training the next generation of conservators seriously around here.  So, please go over to AIC’s News Blog and check out Jessica and Katherine’s work:

• On the Road to Conservation: Pre-Program Road Trip – Part 1
  Jessica talks about making a trip out to University of Delaware and New York University to see their graduate programs.

• On the Road to Conservation: Pre-Program Road Trip – Part 2
  Katherine talks about visiting the Buffalo State College graduate program and nearby cities.

Both Jessica and Katherine are applying to conservation graduate school this year and we wish them well!

Filed under: Conservation, Travel

My friends and I have been trying to coordinate a trip back to Japan for years. We’ve finally gotten our flights booked and now we’re working out the details in anticipation, reminiscing about our previous adventures and seeking out new places to explore near Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. We’re also brushing up on the language skills that we’ve let get a little rusty over the years. I thought I would share some of the modern tools that I’m using to restore my proficiency, in the hopes that this might give our readers some ideas for similar tools to look into for studying their own foreign languages of interest.

When I first visited Japan, I bought an electronic dictionary. This saved me from looking up kanji (the complex characters borrowed from Chinese) by counting strokes and identifying radicals (the root component of a kanji character) to index into the enormous tome that I had been using. The dictionary was much lighter, and had a stylus that could be used to draw kanji. Using this sort of input method, the order that you draw the strokes still matters, but it’s much faster than flipping pages. I used this dictionary for getting around Japan, studying, reading manga, and playing video games. Years later, after the Nintendo DS came out, I upgraded using a cartridge called Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten. It uses the same stylus input method, but the results are marked up in color and it has a nicer interface, including a history of recently looked-up words, which is extremely useful. One of the other tools that I was using at the time (and still use today) is a plugin for Firefox called Rikai-chan. When enabled, this plugin allows you to hover the mouse over a word and see the definition in a pop-up.

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Filed under: Technology, Travel

Columbus, Indiana is home to some of modernism’s greatest works, including the IMA’s Eero Saarinen designed Miller House. Recently I had the privilege of venturing off the grounds of Miller House for a special tour of Columbus’ veritable treasure trove of architectural gems. It’s mecca for modernism.

Miller House

I was moved by I.M. Pei‘s sleek lines. Seduced by Eames‘ furniture design. Amazed by Harry Weese‘s understanding of light. But in all this courtship, something unexpected happened. An unmistakable tug at my heart strings and a tummy full of butterflies. I fell madly in love with landscape architect Dan Kiley. Well, to be exact, I fell in love with his landscape architecting skills.

Kiley knew the landscape a structure sits on is just as important as the structure itself. It’s a balanced, complementing relationship. A gentle dance across a crowded floor. Swoon.

I wandered through Kiley’s shaded clean grid patterns, well-trimmed shrubs and meticulously placed trees. All were in linear harmony with the horizontal and vertical lines of the structures at their center.

Kiley's work outside Saarinen's North Christian Church

I know what you’re thinking: “He’s so not your type!” Those who know me are aware “linear” and “well-trimmed” are rarely associated with my aesthetic approach. I’m more of an asymmetrical, scruffy and slightly overgrown kinda gal. So what was it about Kiley that stole my heart?

Mark Zelonis captured it in this post detailing the reverent experience he and Ed Blake (landscape architect for the IMA’s 100 Acres) shared while visiting the Miller House garden, designed by none other than my new beau, Dan.

Ed first witnessed the site decades ago while on a work assignment in Columbus. He was then only able to peek through the already tall arborvitae hedges guarding the property’s east side, but knew the place was indeed very special. After all, one of the 20th century’s masters of landscape design, Dan Kiley, had worked his magic here. For all of us in the field, this is a place for reverence.

Miller House garden

Columbus is adorned with Kiley landscapes, both public and private. Perhaps the most cherished are the grounds surrounding North Christian Church, the last building architect Eero Saarinen designed before his death in 1961. It is the last of three buildings in Columbus that Saarinen and Kiley worked on together. The building is woven into the fabric of the site like a fine Girard textile. I was lost, and found there. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Design, Horticulture, Local, Musings, Travel

I wasn’t able to attend the American Institute for Conservation’s (AIC) Annual Meeting last month in Milwaukee.  However, thanks to ArtBabble, today I’m able to watch one of the more potent discussions: The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Environmental, which was co-sponsored by International Institute for Conservation (IIC).

This discussion, which was moderated by our Director & CEO, was recently summarized in an article in the Art Newspaper, Climate control: time to change the settings.

I also want to point out what a great job AIC and IIC have been doing with their blogs to let members know about conferences and current news.  Check out the AIC blog and read all of the recent posts about the Annual Meeting.  While there’s no substitute for actually going to a meeting, the amount of information the members of AIC are sharing through the blog is impressive. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Conservation, Current Events, Travel