Well, here we go plunging head first into a new year. What horticulture delights are in store for the future? Will we have last Spring’s incredibly long show? No way to know. Will we have a late freeze that beats the crap out of tender new plant growth (and leathery old horticulturists)? No way to know that either. A year ago at this time we were having temperatures in the 60’s, fabulous for us humans that tire of winter after a spell but not good for plants at all. So I think while we plant people (professional and amateur) are forever optimistic – we put a little seed in the ground and actually believe it can become an 80 foot tall tree – we also make sure to appreciate what is in front of us right now.

Because we know, do we ever know, that a squirrel or a freeze or a lightening strike can take it away in a blink of the eye. For instance, on true wintery days like today we are very appreciative of plants with colorful twigs and berries.

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Filed under: Horticulture

A few weeks ago, in 2008, I got on my Commodore 64 and wrote about technology moving into the physical museum environment.  I was thinking mainly about the differences between our online IMA visitors and those that physically visit the museum. How will our in-house visitors interact with our online content?  I still don’t know, but we’re inching closer to the opening of this technology-focused space, The Davis LAB, on January 24th.  As a sneak peak, I thought I would share some design concepts of the space, including some of the innovative graphic design work being created by IMA’s Design Studio.

Initial graphic treatment by Matt K

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Filed under: Design, Exhibitions, New Media, Technology

I received an email the other day from a good friend with whom I attended the Cleveland Institute of Art in the mid 1990’s. He had been back to Cleveland for a visit, and had met up with another CIA painting alum to walk the galleries at the Cleveland Museum of Art. He wrote about revisiting paintings that had been important to him during school, like Rubens’ Portrait of Isabella Brant and about other paintings that stood out now, at this different moment in his life, including an Inness landscape. I haven’t been back to Cleveland since 1999, and I’m curious about which paintings might stop me now, and how different the list might be for me today than it would have been 10 years ago. To tell the truth, it isn’t necessary to travel to a museum that I haven’t been to for many years to have a similar experience. I’ve been working at the IMA for a little over five years, and I am amazed by how often a work of art that I haven’t paid much attention to suddenly asserts itself.

Isabel Bishop’s Tidying Up

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Filed under: Art, Exhibitions, Musings

The 'Head'

I had planned to go out in the gardens today and get some pictures of the various shrubs with good fruit for this blog. The weather didn’t exactly cooperate. I’m writing this on Tuesday and so far at 2 in the afternoon we have gone from bitter cold with wind to freezing drizzle, oh yea, there was that brief little snow fury, and later we are to get some wintery mix followed by more freezing drizzle and some sleet. Can you tell I’m just thrilled to the bone? But no sense dwelling on it too long. It will be what it will be and I really have no control though I keep trying. Pity. So instead I am going to tell you about some of our summer annuals for next year. Looking at summery plant porn always makes me feel better. Not warmer, but happier, thus making accepting what I cannot control a bit easier.

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Filed under: Horticulture

A Look Back at Works of Art Newly Displayed at the IMA in 2008

If you visited the IMA’s permanent galleries more than once this year, it is likely you did not see the same works of art. Each month the IMA rotates different works of art in an effort to display the breadth of the Museum’s collection. The scheduled rotation is determined through a collaboration between curators and conservators. Curators decide which works are displayed and their display time frame, while the conservators regulate the exposure time of certain sensitive artworks. Below are just a handful of the hundreds of works newly displayed in the IMA’s galleries in 2008:

For a look at all the works that went on view in 2008, visit the IMA’s Dashboard.

In celebration of the IMA’s 125th anniversary, the Museum also sought to acquire 125 new gifts to add to its collection this year. Stay tuned for a complete recap of this project.

Filed under: Art, Current Events