Monday I attended the tradeshow at the OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio.

This was only my second visit and I again traveled with Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp -the Hoosier Gardener and fellow GWA member. It’s nice to have another plant geek along to help me see things I might miss in my rush to see everything in one day – which sadly I did not do. You may be wondering what in the hell the OFA Short Course is. Well, to quote their website – “For more than 80 years, the horticulture industry has met at the OFA Short Course. Considered the largest and most important industry event, attendees from across the world come to learn, be inspired, and connect with peers, great ideas, and business solutions.”

My favorite part is seeing all the new plant varieties. This is where the high rollers display all their latest botanical creations. I’m so ecstatic over all the new varieties I’m like a cat in 40 acres of catnip – or am I like a cat in heat rubbing against everything and yowling “I want it! I want it!”? Anyway, the point is I really like seeing all the new stuff. Time is still at a premium so I can’t go into a lot of detail about every plant so I’m gonna throw a few highlights at you with little detail. That’s the best I can do for you.

From the Proven Winners Graceful Grasses program is a new Pennisetum purpurpeum called Vertigo^TM.

The ones in the showroom were wonderfully fountain-like. The ones in the Ohio State trial gardens less so but they were smaller. I like the look of this plant both for the color and the architecture. You might say it makes me dizzy.

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Filed under: Horticulture

It’s amazing how time flies.  It seems like yesterday that ArtBabble officially launched, all the way back in April.  I remember many of the IMA staff, and even our friends at Art:21 working into the early hours of the night to make sure everything was ready for the launch.  I might have even enjoyed a glass of scotch to celebrate when I finally went to bed around 3am.  It was a proud accomplishment for many of us at the IMA who had poured a tremendous amount of effort into creating the site.  On top of that, we were beyond thrilled to partner with organizations like Art:21, LACMA, SFMoMA, MoMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and NYPL.

But, you might be quick to point out, that’s yesterdays news.  And you’re right.

Goodies on ArtBabble

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Filed under: New Media, Technology

To say that social media is a growing field would be quite the understatement. Whether you’re an avid tweeter blowing up my Twitter feed (cough cough, John Mayer!) or a soccer mom that uploads the latest school pictures onto Flickr, almost everyone I know actively participates in at least one social networking site – even my grandma is on Facebook.

But it’s not only individuals using these sites. Here at the IMA, as most of you know, we embrace social media as a useful tool in reaching our audiences and fulfilling our mission. And we’re not the only ones – LACMA, SFMoMa, and Walker Art Center are just a couple of our peers actively engaging online audiences. Even the Art Institution of Chicago recently announced here, that they’ll soon be launching a Twitter account.

But as museums and museum employees continue to grow their online activity – both personal and institutional – we’re faced with the challenge of exploring policies and guidelines online activity. Should there be employee policies in place for personal use of such sites? Should museums implement a clearly detailed policy for institutional use of such sites? And if so, what would either one of these policies look like and what purposes would they serve? Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Marketing, Musings, New Media, Technology

We’ve not launched the perfect, complete site for European Design Since 1985: Shaping the Century. But we have launched a beautiful site, filled with information, and with weeks remaining before the exhibition opening, plenty of time to hit you with additional art content. Last year at SXSW, I heard the founders of I Can Has Cheezburger? discuss the way their site gained momentum, their approach to online marketing, and how they launch sites.

plenty more here

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Filed under: Exhibitions, New Media, Technology

and use it’s energy to charge my portable devices. I have also found a way to defeat a few of the vampires that lurk in my house. No, I haven’t discovered a mystic artifact that one might find in a compendium of undead lore. What I have found are two modern gadgets to use in my quest for higher energy efficiency.

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Filed under: Technology