Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

No knack. I don’t get it. I work in a wonderful world of creativity surrounded by artists and generally brilliant people, and I have the ultimate creative block. I can’t put a brush to canvas to save my life. Now mind you, I have canvases at home. I even had an easel till I sold it to my more creative neighbor Trevor in my garage sale a few weeks ago. And don’t get me started on my blogging ability. I just don’t think I’m a good blogger. I believe Despi and the cool kids asked me to blog thinking I could spread some of my everyday humor into this thing, but I’m just not funny in a blog. My wit and quirkiness is lost on paper. Go ahead, quit reading now – you’re just wasting your time. I’ve had suggestions of just being around scribes who can record my funniness in type, or maybe I’d be the first blogger to turn in a blog on video or podcast. After all – the Nugget Factory gave me a Flip Camera for On Procession, and those videos turned out pretty stinkin’ hilarious, If-I-do-say-so-myself.

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Sean Miller is a participating artist in the exhibition On Procession. His project, the John Erikson Museum of Art, takes the form of miniature, portable museum galleries which he uses as a platform to host rotating exhibitions of other artists’ works. JEMA, named after Miller’s great-grandfather, was marched through the 2007 Art Parade presented by Deitch Projects, Paper Magazine and Creative Time. The Art Parade, an annual SoHo event since 2005, combines artworks solicited from an open call, museum-sponsored floats, and all types of rock n’ roll spectacle.

JEMA has been presented in other contexts, including other museums’ galleries. Beyond its obvious humor, JEMA offers an alternative vision of what it is to make an exhibition. As a portable museum, JEMA’s open construction and minimized logistical operations allow for more flexible or experimental programming than other kinds of museum galleries. Read the rest of this entry »

You may be familiar with a miniature horse named Cheesecake who warmed the hearts of spectators at the April 26 On Procession parade in Fountain Square. What you may not know is the tale behind the parade that brought him to that day. This is my personal account of Cheesecake, the miniature horse who could.

Wednesday, April 23
Three days and counting until parade day. My husband and I were checking out the parade route and scoping out bike racks in Fountain Square. We decided to ride our bikes over to Garfield Park and discovered the Pleasant Run Trail. After perusing in the spring air for an hour, it was time to head back home. Still on the trail, I slowed down upon catching sight of an adorably plump, but unusually small statured horse being brushed on a front porch. I excitedly shouted something like, “Look at the little horse!” and sped past. My more patient husband stopped for a closer look before catching up with me. How often to you see something like that? Read the rest of this entry »

This won’t be a long post, because I’m exhausted! It’s a good tired though, and I would not give up the last 48 hours for all the sleep in the world. Just yesterday morning I was gearing up for the art parade in Indianapolis, and now I’m in Denver at the American Association of Museum’s (AAM) annual conference. Phew…It’s been quite the whirlwind.

I’ve got exciting news to share from the Mile-High City…The IMA Dashboard received the top prize of gold at the 19th annual AAM Museum and Technology Committee Muse Awards. Just a few hours ago, I was happy to accept the award on behalf of the entire Museum and the amazingly talented IMA Web team that collaborated to produce the site.

The Muse award is the second news story from the IMA’s history-making weekend. The first, of course, was the parade on Saturday. As promised, the weather couldn’t have been better, and the air of Fountain Square was filled with an overwhelming excitement as hundreds of participants marched and hundreds of spectators watched art in the streets of Indianapolis. Check out images from the day by clicking here.

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I’ve been obsessed with the forecast this week. Almost every hour from sunrise to sunup, I’ve visited weather.com to assess the temperature and rain chance for Saturday. On Monday and Tuesday the forecast called for rain. Yesterday thing improved significantly when the chance for rain dropped from 40% to 20%. Today, all weather stations are calling for mid-60 degree temps with no rain in the afternoon. PHEW! Mother Nature apparently is a fan of the parade. And why wouldn’t she be? Music, art, families, and projects with such fun and fantastic names as: “A Bag of Bees,” “Cinderella in the City,” and “Revenge of the Pinatas,” there’s something for everyone this Saturday.

So here are my final thoughts for all my loyal parade-lovin’ readers:

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