Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

Though I am listed as author of this post, it was, in fact, written by Katie Zarich, PR Manager at IMA. Even though she is not a regular IMA blogger, this is a story best told in her own words.

I’ve had a few brushes with fame and significant individuals in my lifetime. Through my work with the youth journalism program Y-Press, I met and interviewed Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. When I traveled to Northern Ireland with Y-Press, I interviewed Sinn Fein politician Martin McGuinness in his home. When we returned to the States, we interviewed his colleague Gerry Adams by phone.

Lately, my brushes with celebrity have been a little more close-to-home. Peyton Manning came into Harry & Izzys and ate dinner at the bar while my husband and I were having drinks there. (He is a part owner of the restaurant.) I saw his teammate, Jeff Saturday, having his car valet parked downtown a few months ago. And former Pacers star Reggie Miller was sitting discreetly in the corner of a popular restaurant I visited once this winter. Really, it’s pretty easy to run into athletes in this town. And, in my line of work, I tend to run into visiting artists pretty frequently too.

But my favorite brush with fame is my most recent. I got to meet my favorite journalist, Tim Russert at the IMA almost 2 months ago.

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2008 is a defining year in political history with the culmination of months of campaigning, rhetoric and staging by the three final contenders for the next President of the United States: John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But which candidates truly mastered the art of portrayal? Their official campaign merchandise is a telling visual portrait of how they wish to be represented.

Beginning with McCain, he expresses his strong military background and personal heritage through his logo and with merchandise including a nautical lapel pin and Irish buttons. McCain also appeals to coalitions and branches of the armed forces through a variety of apparel. Perhaps the most noticeable difference from the other candidates is that McCain chooses to employ few images of himself. Clinton and Obama both have artists’ renderings of themselves for posters. McCain only uses unaltered photographs of himself on merchandise.

Next up is Clinton with her surprising portrait with “rising sun” found in the accessories section of her official campaign Web site’s online store. According to the site, this original Hillary Clinton print, designed by Hollywood screenwriter Tony Puryear (”Eraser”), is an exclusive to Hillarystore.com. The posters (there are two versions) are “Union printed in USA using 100% wind power and vegetable-based inks.”

“Senator Clinton is a beautiful, strong and inspiring woman, and I wanted to make a poster that reflected that. Rather than putting a slogan on the poster, I chose to put her name, because she is surely the only leader at this level with whom we are all on a first-name basis, and to me, that reflects her personal warmth and connection with ordinary Americans.” - Tony Puryear

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Prostitution. Politics. Humiliation. The headline of The New York Times yesterday read, “Foes of Sex Trade Are Stung by a Champion’s Fall” in bold letters. For most people a cover story about the sexual exploits of a major politician would stop them at page one. Not me.

Don’t get me wrong, the downfall of a two-timing governor is fascinating. Typically, I’d be all over that story, but Wednesday’s The New York Times (NYT) had more thrilling tales buried deep within…

What could possibly be more captivating than a bona fide sex scandal? If you peel yourself away from page 1 and dig deep into the paper, past sections B, C, and D, and continue all the way to section H, you’ll find the NYT’s annual special section on Museums. It’s 44 pages dedicated to the art, business, and people of museums.

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