I’ve been playing the piano at the IMA for over 30 years in several different capacities. I recently came across some old programs from several chamber music concerts in the 1980s and a solo recital I played there in 1982. Through the years, I’ve played for several openings, including an exhibition of work by Félix Vallotton (an artist currently featured in the exhibition Snapshot), and in the galleries. For 20 years I was the pianist for the Cameo Trio, which gave many concerts at the IMA and became Piano Trio in Residence there a few years before it was disbanded in 2003. In addition, I played the harpsichord for “Christmas at Lilly” for six years.

When Ellen Lee invited me to play for the exhibition Snapshot, she mentioned the name Misia Natanson. This was a great clue for me to follow when selecting music to play for this exhibition. While Misia – a pianist who hosted an artistic salon in Paris – was a muse to visual artists (she’s featured throughout the exhibition in works by Édouard Vuillard, among others), she served as inspiration for composers, as well. Misia’s piano teacher, Gabriel Fauré, introduced her to Maurice Ravel, who was a student of his at the time. Ravel later dedicated a composition, Le Cygne, to Misia and his work Sonatine is dedicated to Misia’s brother and his wife. Also present was Claude Debussy, whose works Misia loved. Ravel and Debussy were friends of Erik Satie, who later dedicated his ballet, Parade, to Misia. I selected music by these composers to play at the opening event and in the galleries, and it was a treat for me to add to the ambience of this wonderful exhibition.  If you’re interested in learning more about this fascinating woman, a good resource is the publication Misia by Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale.

For more information on performances inspired by Snapshot, visit the IMA’s events page.

Filed under: Exhibitions, Guest Bloggers, Uncategorized

It’s finally here!  Perennial Premiere is this weekend, and I can hardly wait.  In the four years since I started working at the IMA, the perennial plant sale has grown into an event for the whole family, and it’s something I always look forward to.  Every year on this Saturday morning as I’m walking out the door for a day of work inundated with exciting plants my husband always reminds me exactly how much is remaining in my plant budget.  Well, I suppose the next best thing to buying plants for your own garden is sharing your knowledge and excitement with someone else who can grow it in theirs!  There will be many tempting plants this weekend, but I get to share just a few with you that I think are worth getting really excited about.

Japanese sweet flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’) is a great option for getting a little bit of chartreuse into the landscape without going overboard.  It is a grass-like perennial, similar to a Siberian iris, which prefers a bit of moisture, even having the ability to grow in boggy conditions. If you site this in sun to part shade and in consistently moist soil, it will be a fairly low-maintenance perennial that will spread slowly.  The flowers are pretty insignificant, so grow this one for the lovely, tufted, gold-variegated foliage that will reach about a foot tall and provide a fine-textured accent for bold-leafed perennials.  It could also be quite effective as a groundcover for a smaller area, such as next to a water feature, or used as an accent in a container.  In any garden, Acorus ‘Ogon’ is a very graceful, versatile plant.

Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ (in front)

There are many bugelweeds to choose from; all have that great blue flower in the spring and are effective and quick-growing groundcovers.  The one that I’ve been the most impressed with for looking great even after it has finished blooming is Ajuga ’Chocolate Chip,’ and I’m going to be sure to nab a few of these for my own home garden this year!  ‘Chocolate Chip’ is shorter than other bugleweeds at only 2” tall (3-4” with the flower spike), with lovely bronze to deep green foliage that retains its healthy vigor throughout the growing season.  Some of the other Ajugas have flowers that tend to look a bit weedy after blooming, but it has been my observation that ‘Chocolate Chip’ maintains its neat appearance throughout the growing season.  Site this little guy in a sunny or fairly shaded location between stepping stones or as a border edge; it won’t let you down!

Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’, photo courtesy of Classy Groundcovers

Dwarf goat’s beard, Aruncus aethusifolius, is another lovely, compact perennial only reaching about 12” tall.  It has an overall appearance similar to that of Astilbe, but its ferny foliage will not shrivel up and turn crispy brown in the drier spells of summer, allowing the opportunity for a nice yellow-orange leaf color to develop in the fall.  It has white flower plumes in early to mid-summer, and would be a great, underused alternative in shady conditions for those who are looking for a good companion with Hosta, Epimedium or Brunnera.

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Filed under: Greenhouse, Horticulture, Uncategorized

Join us tonight for a lecture by New York-based artists Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher about their new body of work for the exhibition Some People.  For Some People, the artists have filled the IMA’s McCormack Forefront Galleries with four expansive video installations that, together, confront the artists’ complex feelings in relation to conflict in the Middle East. Aziz + Cucher have distilled years of research and travel into these videos, which take recent and current conflicts out of a specific place and time to speak about the seemingly never-ending cycle of senseless destruction.

Here’s a sneak peek into the galleries, where Aziz + Cucher have been fine-tuning their work:

Sammy Cucher, in front of "By Aporia, Pure and Simple"

Anthony Aziz, in front of "By Aporia, Pure and Simple"

Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher of Aziz + Cucher

Filed under: Uncategorized

Well, by now it is hardly a secret that the Pantone Color of the Year is Tango Tangerine.

courtesy of Pantone.

It is a deep shade of orange but here’s a more detailed description.

Yes, tango and tangerine all in one color.

The tango – filled with sensuality, barely repressed animal sexuality and total control of staccato yet fluid movement.

Tangerine – filled with aromatic oils, sticky sweet yet tart juice, and so round and firm in the hand.

What a combination!

I’m a big fan of orange and the many shades of orange. Here are a few things I found about my house last night.

This does not include clothing, my yoga mat, or my fabulous piece of carry-on luggage.

In my designs, orange has played a role for years. I was unaware of people’s resistance to orange when I started using it. A good many have come around to my point of view. In truth, it goes with about any other color. You do have to watch with lavender (BIG mistake as a rule). And you must choose your pinks carefully. But a hot pink with a hot orange is, well…… HOT. And the right magenta with the right orange is true paradise.

We have several perennials to choose from for orange. So many new Echinaceas I lose track at times.

‘Tiki Torch’ from Terra Nova has been a favorite since I grew it a few years back. I know they have newer ones but the color on this one is so good.

Photo(s) courtesy of Terra Nova® Nurseries, Inc.

Of course their ‘Tangerine Dream’ looks good too.

Photo(s) courtesy of Terra Nova® Nurseries, Inc.

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Filed under: Horticulture, Uncategorized

Since The Toby opened in 2009, we have held a Winter Nights film festival in January and February. This winter the theme for our Winter Nights 2012 series is Technicolor.

Design is generally a pretty subjective endeavor, so when starting a new project I like to do a little research into the subject in order to guide the generation of formal elements. Fortunately Technicolor offers a wealth of visual elements to play with, but the methods and appearance of color film varies a lot depending on the time. The earliest versions of color motion pictures involved three separate rolls of film—black, cyan, and magenta—that were layered together in order to produce the color projection. It’s a very distinctive look, and is wholly different from the colors you see in The Godfather: Part II, the last American film made using Technicolor’s dye transfer process. The early three-strip technique provided inspiration for the initial Winter Nights designs, involving a large and somewhat abstract W made from shaded cubes to reference a frigid, icy winter.

While working on this abstract and wintry version, we also pursued a more literal direction using film as the starting point. Keeping the W, this solution retains the grainy texture that characterizes many of those older movies. While each had its merits, ultimately we decided to go with the film-centric version for this year’s series, and a final version was created that made very clear the series’ relationship with film, as well as including the Technicolor theme in the graphic.

Using film stills in a campaign for Technicolor movies is a no-brainer, but this was not as straightforward as one might think. In the 1940s, Technicolor threw out a large volume of color negatives after the studios didn’t reclaim them, and unless they’ve been re-mastered those movies are now only available in black and white. Fortunately, we were able to find some great color images from Charade and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The beauty of these movies speak for themselves when you see them, and in order to try imparting some of that drama and motion in print pieces, I relied on careful crops.

One particularly seductive image of Marilyn Monroe offers plenty of details to highlight—Marilyn’s face, her eyes lightly closed, could be mistaken for being asleep when viewed alone. The diamond bracelet and thick gray fur are a glimpse of luxury, sensuality, and elegant excess. The full image, my favorite among Marilyn’s publicity shots for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, shows the actress dressed in red, wrapped in fur, and draped in diamonds. Her open mouth, even more red than her dress, completes a frozen moment of ecstasy, and was the perfect image to use for our Winter Nights banner.

Filed under: Design, Marketing, Public Programs, Uncategorized