Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

Image from iainclaridge.net

I’m not afraid to admit it: I rarely have an original idea.

And this blog post is a perfect example. As I was reading Emily’s latest musings on inspiration, it got me thinking about how my own creative process works. More often than not, the ideas I come up with are born only after I have seen/read/heard something from someone else. Most people work like this, right? Don’t get me wrong, I never want to outright steal an idea, I just like to start with a well-established ball of clay and mold/spin/tweak it until it’s my own. That’s right folks, I’m a tweaker.

I’m also the collage queen. The very first picture I ever ripped out of a magazine was of Gwen Stefani (back when she was covered in henna tattoos and wore a bindi) on the cover of Seventeen. Ever since then, when I see a person, place, or thing that strikes my fancy, I rip it out and paste together with others in a way that expresses what I am all about.

Gwen Stefani, style icon

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New Media, Developers, our IT staff, members of the Design Studio, and Marketing are currently working on a new space in the museum.  It’s an area that in the past has experimented with visitor-focused technology.  Some of these projects have included an interactive approach to exploring highlights of IMA’s collection, a chance to interact with Asian objects in a dream-like, 3-D environment, and the opportunity to explore the Roman Forum, virtually of course.

The X Room, shortly after the IMA reopened in 2005

2009 will bring a new approach to this tech environment, that I hope encourages our museum visitors to talk back to us.

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The comments in my last post about our new computed radiography (CR) system spurred me into writing a second post about this topic.

In the comments on that last post Karen T discussed the importance of being able to make a 1:1 comparison between a radiograph and a painting, and then Christina responded with some first-hand experience with our new system. I confess, though: I cheated a bit and asked Christina to answer that question because, after all, Christina is an experienced paintings conservator here at the IMA, and I’m not.

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In the spirit of narcissism, I am using my blog space to talk about what I like. Right now my favs include iTunes U and ArtShare.

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