Holiday ornamentation at the Miller House will be minimal this year, partly due to the greatly reduced winter tour schedule, but also because the Miller House team is still inventorying the objects in the house and developing the program for collections rotation.

Nevertheless, visitors who have an affinity for Italian glass or crèche scenes will be pleased. Some of the pieces that were chosen to be on display at the Miller House this holiday season include two nativity scenes from Mrs. Miller’s extensive collection from around the world, and several small Murano glass Christmas trees.

An early 19th-century Ecuadorian crèche scene, displayed on the storage wall in a lighted enclosure designed by Alexander Girard, the talent behind the interior design of the home.

A Greek pottery crèche scene on the baker’s table in the main living area.

Several Murano glass Christmas trees in the living room and conversation pit.

A small enameled copper dish was discovered when conducting an inventory of the Miller House barn this past fall.

With the change of the seasons, we also decided to change some other elements of the interior that will remain on display well after the holidays are over.

Visitors can now see a new setting on the dining room table, which includes Alexander Girard’s “Carolus Magnus” dinner plates designed for Georg Jensen (adaptations are available for purchase at the IMA’s Museum Store), a set of colorful Venini drinking glasses designed by Gio Ponti, and Steuben glass candlesticks designed by Don Pollard. I particularly love how the playful designs on the plates complement the design on the rug!

Another newly displayed object  is a white Marco vase, designed by Sergio Asti for Salviati, which nicely accents the children’s play room.

In Mr. Miller’s handsome mid-century office, three Venini vases demonstrate the “incalmo” technique of glassmaking. Incalmo means graft, and is used in glassmaking to describe the seamless fusing together of two different pieces of glass by an expert glassmaker.

A tri-colored “doppio incalmo” tapering vase, designed by Fulvio Bianconi, around 1960.

Two mauve incalmo vases, designed by Ludovico Diaz de Santillana around 1968.

As we continue to inventory objects in the collection, we hope to discover more pieces to display in future holiday seasons. (We are still looking for the perfect pink aluminum Christmas tree!)  What is your favorite item of holiday decoration?

Be sure to visit the Miller House soon to see these beautiful pieces on display!

Wayne Kimball, "Chairing Thanksgiving," 1982.

Just like that odd distant relative engaging you in awkward small talk for the entirety of the family dinner, Wayne Kimball’s quirky but meticulously crafted lithograph allows us a chance to appreciate that which often goes unnoticed or makes us uncomfortable. Kimball states, “My perceptions of certain past movements in art (most notably Northern Renaissance and Islamic Painting) coupled with idiosyncrasy…lead me to making some rather odd pictures…the compilation, arrangement and execution (and material quality) combine to hint at symbolic interpretations.”

Norman Rockwell, "Ours To Fight For, Freedom From Want," 1943.

Rockwell’s iconic image of the American gathering is more than likely etched in the back of everyone’s minds as we celebrate this season. Culturally significant now for its representation of American nostalgia, it was complementary in its own time to FDR’s “Four Freedom’s” speech given in 1942 to aid the war effort. This lithograph is based on one from a series of four themed paintings:  Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of Worship (the Tenants of FDR’s speech).

Emile Bernard, "Le Moissonneur (The Harvester)," 1889.

Thanksgiving is said to have been born out of an English tradition of appreciative agrarians gathering as a community, not only to give thanks for their fall harvest, but also to rest and celebrate their hard work throughout the summer months. Bernard’s Breton farmers engaged in back-breaking labor to gather wheat from the field with their scythes. Bernard’s primitive technique and subject matter allows the viewer to be transported back in a time where the harvest was well-earned – where one didn’t go to the big-box store to grab a turkey from a freezer section, make stuffing from a box, or pick up a plastic wrapped Pumpkin pie and canned whipped cream.

Workshop of Jan Brueghel the younger, "The Sense of Taste," 1618.

This image is our urging of how not to eat today. Thanksgiving is a notorious diet breaker, and even the strongest-willed dieter can easily crumble at the mouth watering smell of Grandma’s homemade yams or Aunt Becky’s mashed potatoes. Jan Brueghel’s image contains a gluttonous feast, drunkenness, and if you look hard enough in the (bottom center left) you will see a small monkey. This is the artist’s representation of the devil being present in the scene (a common symbol in artwork during this time period). Lesson to be learned: Stuff the turkey, not yourself.

That cloak is the relic venerated today in a church built on the hill of Tepeyac, outside Mexico City, where Mary originally appeared to Juan Diego.  Her protection of the diverse populations of Mexico—Indians and creoles, rich and poor—lead to fervent devotion, and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe remains a potent symbol of Mexican identity and culture even today.

The IMA is proud to highlight an important recent acquisition featuring the Virgin of Guadalupe. The painting was created in Mexico around 1700, and copies the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe as she appears on the relic of Juan Diego’s cloak. The central image of the Virgin is embellished by symbolic elements and by narrative scenes in the four corners that illustrate her four appearances to Juan Diego.

The IMA’s Virgin of Guadalupe was also featured in a pair of ArtBabble videos: a conversation between IMA director Maxwell Anderson and curator Ronda Kasl about the painting’s history, and conservator Christina O’Connell’s discussion of its conservation treatment. See the videos below and learn more about this tremendous work.

Love this work? You can come see it in celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day this weekend. The painting is prominently displayed in the gallery, just in front of the elevators on the museum’s second floor, directly off Pulliam Great Hall.

(via hanginthere)

Happy Holidays everyone!

After a full day of shouting “Watch your eyes!” as the strobes went off, we found the results well worth our efforts. The shoot took place on a Monday in the IMA’s new Design Center (store) for easy access to product. Our challenge was to include items from the Museum Store, Design Center, Greenhouse Shop and the newly opened Nourish Café. Keeping a consistent look and feel between these entities took some extensive product planning, and having holiday products in early September also posed some limits. Luckily, we had Tascha as our pro photo editor, Matt the daring designer, and Tad and Mike, two amazing photographers on the team.

A little humor you won’t spot in the published pages of the magazine — We included a pair of cat salt and pepper shakers in the shoot full of bird decorative items. A porcelain origami crane ornament took the hungry kitties’ place in the final shot. We also all fell in love with the Charles and Ray Eames House Bird available in the Design Center for $210. You might call that funny too…

Look for the “Shop & Celebrate” photo spread in the new issue of the magazine this October, and have your holiday shopping list handy.

The book Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thorton is another excellent find. “A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton’s entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture,” according to the book’s publisher. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s at the top of my wish-list. Read a review from The Washington Post.

Those are my two finds. I’m leaving the rest up to you. Your prime shopping date: Friday, December 5 – “First Friday” offers your best bet to buy art at the local galleries. Share your finds below…