It’s things like this that remind me how lucky I am to work where I do. How many workplaces do you know that have a talent show!? You won’t see this in any of our galleries, at least not anytime soon, but it’s all amazing stuff!

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Filed under: Art, Local, Marketing

Welcome our newest addition to the IMA Blogger list, Harriet Warkel, Curator of American Art.

The American galleries are changing. At least a part of these spaces will look different after July 14. We are always rotating works in the galleries, sometimes reinstalling the entire galleries incorporating different pieces, and even renovating galleries by changing the position of walls and painting them different colors or repainting them the same color when they look like they need it. We are rotating, reinstalling and renovating part of the American galleries on July 14.

A work in the American Modernist section of the galleries is going out on loan and another painting is going up to replace it – this is a rotation.

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Filed under: Art

Well, nothing says “Time to write your first blog,” like being home sick from work on a rainy day. Staring at my walls, which are covered by works of all types, waiting for Ellen DeGeneres to come on, I’m uber-inspired to tell you about my very own museum I live in.

A lot of times when people find out I work at the IMA they assume I have an art background or have at least taken one Art History class. This is, in fact, not true. I do remember making a paper mache’ fish when at the IMA in the summer when I was about 7, at some of our Summer Art classes.

I began collecting art about 6 years ago when I got out of college and didn’t know what to do with all my free time now that I was in the “real world.” I started going to Goodwill, garage sales, thrift stores, and other places I could actually afford and started picking up art that makes me smile. It doesn’t mean I’m not a great art collector, it means I’m a treasure hunter. After all, how great is it that you can find treasures anywhere, like IMA’s new collection of Weegee photos that a couple of ladies found in a trunk at a Kentucky yard sale?

People also ask what my favorite kind of art is and if you walked into my house you’d realize it’s an eclectic mix, similar to my movie collection, my taste in music – heck, even my friends. Right inside the front door, before you head up the stairs, is a canvas reproduction on “American Gothic.”

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Filed under: Art, Musings