Enhance your family’s gallery experience as a docent guides you through the IMA’s collection. Family tours are 30 minutes and for children of all ages.

December topic: Winter Holidays

New York-based artist Josephine Meckseper has gained international renown for her conceptually based works that employ a variety of media to raise questions about the connections between consumerism and politics in contemporary society. In this talk, Meckseper discusses her diverse body of works, including her two recent films on display in the Carmen and Mark Holeman Video Gallery from October 16, 2009 to February 7, 2010.

Related exhibition: Josephine Meckseper: Recent Films

Tuya’s Marriage / Tuya de hun shi(dir. Quanan Wang, China, 2006, 86 mins.)

Take a Spanish-language tour of the special exhibition Sacred Spain: Art & Belief in the Spanish World. All levels of proficiency are welcome.

Powerful images often deliver unintended messages that can result in a greater understanding of a given culture. S. Brent Rodriguez Plate, visiting professor at Hamilton College, explores the power of blasphemous images. In 2006, Plate published a book that includes dozens of the most notorious religious or anti-religious artworks of our time. Join Plate for a talk addressing the impact that blasphemous images can have on history and culture.

Enjoy a fun, approachable four-course menu with paired beverages featuring one main ingredient. December features braised meats and vegetables with a soup, a salad, an entrée and a dessert.

Join us for an evening of holiday shopping and festivities at the Museum Store and Design Center. Be the first to see the newest additions to our textile, glass, accessory and home decor collections plus peruse holiday gifts, cards and ornaments. Highlights of the exclusive evening include a Patricia Locke trunk show and jewelry designs by Susan Goodwin and Solange Zelman.

The Alliance Studio Tours visit Indiana artists who work within a variety of mediums including jewelry, glassing blowing, furniture/woodworking, contemporary, traditional, plein-air, and portrait painting.

Artists often use expressive means to convey an emotion or experience that is intangible. Many of the objects featured in Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World feature images used to arouse wonder and devotion. Join Ivan Gaskell, Harvard University, and David Morgan, Duke University, for this public conversation about the use of popular images to inspire belief.

IMA and IUPUI co-host the ninth annual festival of queer cinema in Indianapolis. Produced under the auspices of the Indiana Youth Group, the festival features a line-up of dozens of features, documentaries and shorts. Enjoy the premiere of The Big Gay Musical at 8:00 pm in The Toby Friday night, and a full day of film on Saturday. For a complete festival schedule, visit www.indylgbtfilmfest.com or look for printed programs around town.