Here’s a blog post from my summer intern, and former IUPUI student, Elizabeth Basile, who will complete her master’s degree in Museum Studies at IUPUI this December.

In the summer of 2010, I was fortunate to intern in the Variable Art Conservation Department with Richard McCoy. In 12 short weeks I examined ten years of planning and implementation documents for 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. When I wasn’t wading through concepts and plans, I got to stomp around in a very unusual, very soggy, construction site filled with a fantastic tunnel and a basketball court that was transforming into seemingly unending arcs of red and blue.

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Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Conservation

This summer I am fortunate to have two dedicated and hard-working interns working with me in the Public Affairs Department.  The following is a post by Steph Gray, the marketing and promotions intern who is also starting her senior year in Theatre Performance and Arts Administration at Butler University, about her experiences at the Museum this summer.

IMA Summer Intern Steph Gray

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Filed under: Current Events, Marketing

This summer I am fortunate to have two dedicated and hard-working interns working with me to help take care of the IMA’s many outdoor sculptures.  Here is a post by Jessica Ford and Katherine Langdon discussing their experiences treating the Sewall Memorial Torches which are on loan to Herron High School. Katherine and Jessica take their work very seriously and are pursuing careers in conservation.

Historic photograph of Sewall Memorial Torches

“Hey, I have a new project for you guys,” Richard greeted us as we came into the conservation lab one morning. “The museum owns a pair of bronze lampposts that have just been loaned to Herron High School and installed at their original location at 16^th and Deleware. The school is really excited to have them back. Since they are IMA property, we are responsible for taking care of them. That’ll be our job, so start researching bronze. Chop, chop!”

Thus began our first adventure into the world of outdoor bronze treatment and our blossoming knowledge of the subject. Our research fell into two categories: the history of the Sewall torches themselves, and the characteristics and treatment of outdoor bronze sculpture. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Conservation, Guest Bloggers, Local

Here is a post from one of my summer interns, Lucie Alig, that speaks for itself.

My desk in the conservation lab was situated amongst Renaissance sculptures, ornately painted vases, African artifacts, and yet I was there to devote myself to one specific artwork far too large for any lab: Robert Indiana’s 1970 sculpture, LOVE. Needless to say, it is a piece that prompts a nod of recognition. Whether identifiable from its centralized positioning on the grounds of the IMA, or through its plastic incarnation as a dangling, mass-produced key chain, most everyone seems familiar with the trademark tilt of LOVE’s “O,” as it has been so hopefully interpreted to symbolize a movement forward or—in the case of my research of LOVE’s conservation history—a rather complicated stepping back.

Lucie Alig considers LOVE

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Filed under: Art, Conservation, Guest Bloggers

“Has anyone seen our intern?” This blog series follows the IMA’s Public Affairs Intern, Jennifer Anderson, as she escapes the office space for a little R&R in the galleries…

If you were out Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis and happened to see a sculpture flying mid-air across town, don’t worry — you weren’t imagining things.

The sculpture, East Gate/West Gate by Sasson Soffer took flight at around 6 pm and safely landed about ten minutes later. The work is one of four outdoor sculptures the IMA has loaned to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis — otherwise known as IUPUI. Three of the sculptures were relocated earlier in the year, but East Gate/West Gate was too big to transfer via truck. Measuring 24 x 40 x 30 feet, the sculpture could only be moved via helicopter. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Current Events, Local