Come to the IMA for a pairing of great documentaries about people driven to make music. This program is closed captioned and ASL interpreted.

The details: Double-Shot Music Documentary Day at the IMA
Saturday, March 13
1-5 pm
The Toby

Wug Laku, local artist and member of ArtsWORK Indiana fills us in on the events taking place this weekend as part of Disabilities Awareness Month at the IMA:

The new IMA website provides many ways to discover works of art in our collection.  Today I want to highlight how we have integrated tagging into the website to make each work easier to find and interactive.

Tags on Artworks

When viewing an artwork on the website you will notice a section called TELL US WHAT YOU SEE in the right sidebar.  This is the area where you can interact with the page by providing your own tags.  It also displays the top tags provided by users for this work.  When you enter your own tags they will be highlighted in a color matching the IMA logo on the page.

The larger the tag the more times it has been used to describe this work.  You can even hover your mouse over each tag to get a tool-tip that shows how many times that tag has been used. Clicking on a tag will take you to the Collection Search and perform a search for other works with that tag. Read the rest of this entry »

Warmer weather has finally arrived and with it the early spring-flowering bulbs. These so-called minor bulbs are such a welcome sight after our Midwest winters.

Crocus seiberi ‘Tricolor’ around Sutphin Fountain.

The three colors in ‘Tricolor’.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) still make me happy no matter how many years I’ve seen their spring show.

Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) are very happy little bulbs.

Even on a gray day their bright yellow color absolutely glows.

The honey bees love them. Look at all the pollen on the bees leg.

The bees tended to take flight just as I was ready to snap the photograph.

Bee butt.

Now get your butt to the IMA and enjoy this glorious weather.

I’m going to attempt to do this as a reoccurring theme and see how it goes. Basically “Geeking Out on Art” will be a review/news of the latest innovative technology applications to the art world that I stumble across. If you have something you you think I should check out and write about, shoot me a tweet!!

This week I wanted to talk about the iPhone app “Is This Art?“.

Made with love in the STEEL City, this app is collaborative endeavor produced by the Pittsburgh-based artists and developers at Deeplocal and the Mattress Factory. Extra-special assistance was lent by C-Monster and WNYC in New York. This project was inspired by a tweet from Nina K. Simon.

First, I think this is a great collaboration of local Pittsburgh artists and organizations to make something for the whole art community. And the best part is that it’s free of course! If you have an iphone, simply fire up the app and take a photo of an object you want to check out to see if it is art… or not art.

Clearly this is an epic question that is nearly impossible to answer, but I love the humor the collaborators have injected into the app. From what I’ve seen, the results are actually pretty accurate! Also, it’s nice to have the content users are submitting added to the website on the fly if the app user chooses to do so. I’m a big fan of the super simple app interface. A job well done indeed to all those involved!

More Info: http://isthisart.org/

March is Disability Awareness Month. This year they are encouraging everyone to “Free Your Mind”.

(via indianadisabilityawareness.org)

Last year my blog at this time concentrated on what we do in the gardens to make them accessible to as many people as possible. All of that information is still relevant so check it here.

With 100 Acres – The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park opening June 20 I decided to take a look at it this year. Since it does not have an asphalt road running through it, or concrete walks, it won’t be as easily accessed for those with mobility issues as the rest of our gardens and grounds. But there will still be much to experience and enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »