My heart goes pitter-patter every time I ride up the escalator and catch a glimpse of the spectacular Gravity’s Loom. Hear from the artists who created the commanding yet ethereal work:

Have you had a chance to see it? What do you think?

Filed under: Art, Interviews

Fellow blogger Matt Gipson brought it to my attention that some funny things had been turning up in the Miller House archives.

Eero, the Miller House gremlin

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Filed under: Musings

You may notice a little ‘pardon our dust’ beginning this week in the Efroymson Entrance Pavilion of the IMA. Heather Rowe’s installation, Tenuous Arrangements has left the building. In case you missed it, check out her talk on ArtBabble below:

What’s coming to take it’s place? Architecture and design fans, rejoice! Los Angeles-based design team Ball-Nogues Studio will create an immersive, site-specific installation called Gravity’s Loom.

Ball-Nogues Studio, Feathered Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

The space will be filled with multicolored strings configured in catenary curves, arcs naturally assumed by the strings as they respond to the force of gravity. Trained as architects, Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues are working with the pavilion’s architecture to develop an installation related to the function of the space as a thoroughfare and meeting point for visitors.

Check out this wicked installation video from The Arts Council for Long Beach:

Filed under: Art, Current Events, Exhibitions

The planting within and around Alfredo Jaar’s the Park of the Laments has been upper most on our to-do list lately. Of all the inaugural installations at 100 Acres this one has the greatest number of new plants associated with it. All of the species used are listed in Charles Deam’s seminal work, Flora of Indiana.

Let’s take a look at the vomitorium (I hear that is the term being used in meetings). That would be the exit. Or egress if you wanna get all fancy with your talk and use two-dollar words. We’ve balanced like mountain goats on the slopes of the entrance to Jaar’s piece, tucking our toes into the soil as we planted the grasses and sumac.

Heading down the entrance path.

In the tunnel (a little X Files feel here).

The 45 degree slopes. Covered in plastic to keep them dry prior to planting.

Katie clinging to the wall with one hand while removing the plastic.

Removing excess soil.

Planting Panicum virgatum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’ (switch grass).

This is actually a different side from the next image so just pretend it’s the same. Work with me people. I don’t really have time for blogging this spring.

Panicum all along the top of the bank just behind the benches where you can relax (after they are built and the Park is ready – June 20).

Planting the Rhus aromatica ‘Grow-Lo’. This cultivar of fragrant sumac gets about 2-3 feet tall and roots along its stems. That along with the geo-webbing will help hold the steep banks. It has very fragrant foliage when bruised – the foliage not you. And good fall color tending toward the reds and oranges.

A mostly finished bank.

We have just a little more planting to do in the vomitorium this week. Planting the interior of this piece is well underway. We have quite a bit planted on the exterior as well. Maybe I can get something to you about that real soon. Maybe not.

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Current Events, Horticulture, Local

After a long journey to Indianapolis, Atelier Van Lieshout’s Funky Bones benches arrived last week and were unloaded on the grounds of 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park.

Last month, 22 benches were packed in a 40 foot ocean-going freight container at the artist’s studio in Rotterdam. After an Atlantic ocean crossing, U.S. customs clearance, and a few truck trips, the container arrived at the park.

IMA staff assembled on the morning of arrival ready to unload and unpack. We opened the container to find each bench thoughtfully packed and placed within the container. As is typical with artwork in transit, extra materials were used to pad and protect each piece. However, given the size of the work, these “extra materials” amounted to a huge pile of Styrofoam.

Feeling a little guilty about leaving the Styrofoam in a dumpster for trash pickup, I began to ask coworkers if they knew of any places in Indy where we could take the foam to be recycled. Sure enough, just up the road from the IMA, we found exactly what we were looking for. We threw the first of two loads into an IMA Horticulture dump truck and headed to our destination. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park