According to a recent BBC News article citing a study by Heriot Watt University, music can enhance wine taste. On the same principle, can music enhance art taste? Does the taste of a one type of wine or the shade of a certain color wall effect your like or dislike for a work of art?

From my perspective, it must. A recent example of my user-experience comes from this year’s Indiana State Fair. Being a veteran 4-H’er, I’m always impressed at the increasing talent I see in the photography exhibit, including a creative/experimental category for those who like to play in the digital world. The photography exhibits are displayed in the same buildings, and bunched together on the same white walls, shrink wrapped in plastic just as they always have been. The smell of swine mixed with cotten candy wafts through the exhibit. It’s all part of the signature fair experience. I can only imagine what those photographs must look like framed on the wall of a home or art gallery with proper lighting and plenty of breathing room.

In a museum, exhibition design is usually a department unto itself. Wall colors, lighting and graphic design elements are selected with the goal of creating a canvas that best compliments an exhibition or individual work of art. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery does an exceptional job of making portraits pop, which got the attention of The Washington Post. Viewer experience is key. One sign of flattery is when visitors ask the museum staff for the specific paint number of a gallery so they can use it in their own homes. Sometimes, installation art and site-specific art does the work of the exhibit design team by taking into account the environment in which the work of art lives and the viewers’ total experience. In this way, the artist has more absolute control.

Should artists recommend the ideal environment in which to view their work, what song to listen to while looking at it, or what bottle to pop before feasting? Or should the viewer create their own unique experience or simply rely on the curator or museum to provide that for them?

Below are some works of art from the IMA. Share your music or wine recommendations for these or other favorite works:

• “Two Figures” 1968 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth
• “Phenomena Danger - Pass Left” by Paul Jenkins
• “Electric Chair” by Andy Warhol

Photo Credit: Hugh Talman, Smithsonian Institution
John Updike by Alex Katz; David Hockney Self-Portrait; Phil III by Chuck Close; and Self-Portrait with Liz by Red Grooms, as installed in “Americans Now,” National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

As numbers twirl around my head like 10-year old Chinese gymnasts (they are definitely NOT 16 that’s for sure), I thought I’d share with you some of my favorites. You can find a lot of these stats on the IMA�??s dashboard, but some of the numbers are not accessible to the public�?�until now. In the Museum�??s ongoing dedication to full transparency, here�??s IMA by the numbers:

Full-time Employees: 197

Average Daily Blog Readers: 220

To Live Forever Exhibition Attendance through Aug. 11: 18,254

IMA Members: 10,454

Pieces of Glass in the Efroymson Entrance Pavilion: 225

Days until To Live Forever Closes: 24

Tickets Sold to Summer Nights Film Rocky Horror Picture Show: 714

Percentage of Web visitors from Indiana: 52%

IMA Curators: 12

Visitors to IMA, July 2008: 47,548

Cubic Yards of Concrete poured for 2005 renovation: 25,000

Square feet of IMA building: 492,000

Nugget Factory productions on YouTube: 100

Women named Pam on Staff: 5

Designers named Matt on Staff: 3 (2 graphic & 1 web)

Days until Power and Glory: Court Arts from the Ming Dynasty opens: 73

Number of Views to IMA�??s first-ever YouTube video: 3,593

Number of days I�??ve worked at the IMA: 1,354

]]> http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2008/08/14/ima-by-the-numbers/feed/ http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2008/08/14/ima-by-the-numbers/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IndianapolisMuseumOfArtBlogMusings/~3/WUtB4DBQKkM/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IndianapolisMuseumOfArtBlogMusings/~3/n8bEo5gtsio/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IndianapolisMuseumOfArtBlogMusings/~3/h-UyLLBtOkM/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IndianapolisMuseumOfArtBlogMusings/~3/qXv8GsMJdrA/ http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2008/08/11/a-picture-is-indeed-worth-a-thousand-words/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:48:26 +0000 Skip Berry http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/?p=552 You know the old adage: �??You can�??t judge a book by its cover.�?? Nonetheless, we do. How many times have you picked up a book in the bookstore because the cover caught your eye? That�??s no accident�??book designers know that an eye-catching cover results in sales.

One of the joys of creating a book is researching the images that will grace its pages�??or its cover. There�??s always that moment when�??leafing through yet another folder of forgotten photos�??your fingers abruptly stop, your eyes refocus and you know�??you just know�??that you�??ve found a picture that just has to be in the book. Or on its cover. For me, that moment arrived one day in the summer of 2007 when I stumbled upon a picture of a trio of boys in a gallery at the Herron Museum, the predecessor of the IMA.

Wearing the sort of clothes that told me the undated image was probably from the 1950s, the three boys stood rapt in front of a bronze sculpture of a pair of young deer seemingly caught in the middle of roughhousing�??exactly like a couple of kids at play. For me, the image captured precisely what the museum has striven to do since its earliest day�??educate young people (and not-so-young ones, too) about art by showing works apt to intrigue them.

That photo certainly intrigued me. It said more in a single frame than I could have said in a page of text about the wonder that lives inside a museum, the sense of discovery that happens over and over, generation after generation, as each of us encounters that one piece of sculpture, painting, vase, tapestry, photograph�??that speaks to us and lets us know that, yes, part of being human is communicating with one another across time, space and cultural differences.

Well, a few weeks ago, we had to pick an image for the cover of Every Way Possible, and I remembered that image, which I had pulled from the file and asked the museum�??s photography department to scan into the digital database of images we created for the book project. We pulled it up on a monitor and everyone agreed that it should be a strong contender for the cover. But then�?� well, Jim Sholly, the book�??s designer, found another image of a group of kids in a gallery that I had to agree was equally arresting. So that image became the cover shot.

But the photo of the three boys gazing at the bronze deer still got its day in the sun. It�??s prominently displayed inside the book. Look for it when Every Way Possible is released in early October.

After a few last minute tasks in the morning, Meg, my internship mentor for the summer, and I strolled over to our escape vehicle from the great indoors. A single key, a nine-person van and one destination: MUG n�?? BUN Drive-in.

Most of the Marketing department decided to join us on our journey to Indianapolis’s west side. Some were hoping to relive memories of root beer and corn dogs, and others, like myself, to experience the glory of this drive-in for the first time. We were a sight to behold in our office regalia. We scarfed down the mountain of delicious food before us: Chocolate malts, fries, root beer, burgers, coney dogs, corn dogs and cole slaw. All morsels of an afternoon at MUG n�?? BUN.

Suffice it to say, our tummies were not happy with us afterwards.

My summer at the IMA has been a revealing one. (Lesson #1: Don’t overdo it at MUG n’ BUN.) My knowledge of the museum world has grown, and I even learned a little more about myself. Gaining exposure to all departments of the Museum, by attending meetings, taking on a survey and marketing initiatives project, and getting to know the staff, has been a tremendous benefit of my few months spent at the IMA.

Some of the other interns I worked with are starting jobs or preparing for grad school. I’m heading back to Bloomington for my final undergraduate year at Indiana University and trying to figure out where I’ll end up after next May. However confusing the future may seem, the IMA has given me a whole new set of experiences from which to work. Being in the presence of so many people who are passionate about their job makes me happy I was along for the ride.

(stay tuned for a great way to experience the IMA grounds before the end of this post!)

A friend told me about how they went letterboxing on a recent vacation and was surprised that I’d never heard of it before. Letterboxing is similar to its more recent cousin, GeoCaching, and involves hiding small boxes with journals and stamps inside them. The idea being to bring your own stamp and journal with you to collect a log of all the treasures you have found! Letterboxers leave clues to the locations of boxes they have planted online for others to find. Experienced letterboxers can collect hundreds of stamps from around the country and individual boxes can stay alive for many years! As I began to learn a bit more about it… I was hooked!

A Brief History of Letterboxing

Apparently, letterboxing has been around for a long time. Wikipedia’s article on letterboxing says that it originated in England around 150 years ago! Letterboxing seems to have gained popularity in North America in the late 1990’s. In exploring this a bit more online, I was stunned to find out how many boxes exist right around the corner! One popular letterboxing website lists over 46,000 registered letterboxes in the United States and over 1000 in the state of Indiana. There are even 2 letterboxes close by for our blog readers in Zimbabwe… What… am I living in a cave? How could I have missed this one? The thought of all these stealthy hidden little boxes brings out the pirate in me… Arggh!

(A Google Map of Letterbox locations around Indianapolis)

Letterboxing Resources

I’ve found a few great sites to fuel your burning letterboxing habit! Lately, I’ve been looking these sites up on my phone as we sail around with the top down on the Jeep looking for stamps to fill our journal. A good primer on what you need to start letterboxing can be found on this “Getting Started” page.

When you’re ready to find some boxes to search for these are some great links to start with:

• Search Letterboxes on AtlasQuest.com
• Search for Letterboxes on Letterboxing.org

Letterboxing @ IMA

So, why talk about a crazy hobby like letterboxing on the IMA’s blog? Well besides the obvious craft involved in creating some of the stamps I’ve seen… I was stunned to find out that there are two, count ‘em, two letterboxes already hidden on the grounds of the IMA. I’d be breaking the secret code of letterboxers if I gave away their exact locations… but here are the links to the clues so you can find them yourself. We’ve found both of them in the last two weeks, so I know their both still safe and sound. I wonder if our grounds keeping staff knows about these?

• IMA - planted by “Trail Mail Junkie”
• Robert Indiana - planted by “Dream a Dream”

I’m thinking that we’ll have to take it upon ourselves as proud IMA-staffers to plant a few more of these puppies out in the Art and Nature Park before it opens! Any ideas of some good hiding spots?

What I did on my Summer Vacation

or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and be a Good Intern

No kidding, internships have the potential to be awful. You could be stuck on coffee and filing duty. If you�??re in that situation, you kind of have to put your ego to the side and be willing to do the grunt work. You can think about it as the chance to earn the respect of the people you are interning for, thus leading to your acquiring more thought provoking projects. A truly lucky intern will have both a boss that lets them manage some projects throughout their time at the institution, and the foresight to take advantage of this opportunity.

Even if you have a great situation with your boss, it can be difficult to get comfortable in your duties. In the beginning, one of the hardest parts for me was feeling confident in taking initiative. Not because I am not capable of it, but because I really wanted to make sure I was doing everything right.

As I was vacillating about the details of my summer project, one of the most helpful things Despi said was, “I can write this for you, but I think it will be more valuable to have you try it yourself.” She gave me the permission I needed to take control of the project, but also to potentially fail. Project management is one of the most difficult types of experience to gain, because it can only be learned through hard work, trial and error. It�??s those ‘real life’ experiences of deadlines and organization that make internships a vital part of the learning experience.

So, I’ve learned a lot this summer. I�??ve learned to write down everything. Simple but effective; this also really helps fight ‘the yawns’ in a boring meeting. I’ve also learned not to be afraid to ask all the clarifying questions you need. Your manager will not be annoyed, but instead will be thankful that they have someone who pays attention to details. Try to make yourself indispensable! Another major goal of interning is to meet the people in your future field. When a position opens up at the museum, you want every person you worked for to think of your name.

• Always say yes when another opportunity to help arises. Be flexible and available. (this one’s from me!)
• “Be open minded and willing to try new things. Look for opportunities to grow. Don’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t pan out. “- Emily Blyze, Development Researcher
• “Don’t be afraid to ask for the job you want. If there’s an opening, go for it! Internships are an opportunity to get your foot in the door.” - Amber Laibe, Manager of Affiliate and Volunteer Services
• “Get involved in as many things at the organization as possible. Put yourself out there!” -Meg Liffick, Communications Manager
• “Other than hygiene? Make the most of it.”- Daniel Incandela, Director of New Media

If you have advice about internships in general, or to someone thinking about interning at the IMA, leave a comment!

In closing,

To the staff in MIS, Education, Marketing, and Development, thank you for a wonderful Summer. I was very lucky to get to interact with so many departments. To New Media, I hope I haven’t scarred you too much. I had a great time!

I quit �??trying so hard.�?? I wrote like I was writing to my best friend. I added facts. It�??s just not right.

I�??ve made things in Star Studio. I go to Art Openings. I work at every exhibition opening event and spend time in the galleries. So why can�??t I pick up a brush, pen, piece of chalk, prick my finger and write in blood, whatever �?? and spill my brilliance into a sketchbook or an electronic diary? Throughout my life I�??ve owned countless notebooks and sketch pads that I�??ve bought only to sit in a corner and get dusty. Packs of markers of every width and color that I draw the same ol�?? Ninja Turtle(usually Donatello �?? but only because I have a fondness for purple).

Some of my work is on the wall at Zest �?? the great restaurant on 54th St., where they have placemats you can draw on and a glass of crayons. But it�??s no Picasso. I think I even asked the my dining guests at the table �??What should I draw?�?? It was winter. I made a snowman. It�??s hanging next to �?? you guessed it �?? a little kids drawing of a Ninja Turtle.

Lately I�??ve gotten it into my head that I want to illustrate children’s books. As long as someone were to write the story, I could draw the pictures that go along with it. And I have recently discovered that a knack I do have is for scrap-booking. But I want to be a blogger �?? a GOOD blogger. So I guess I�??m asking this �?? what inspires you? I could join the Army to Be All I Can Be, but how do you get over a creative block? My inner Martha Stewart is trapped. Please, set her free�?�

Full contact rock paper scissors. Passing an ice bucket from person to person with only your feet. Hurling rubber chickens and stuffed monkeys. Primal screams. It�??s all in a days work at the IMA.

I will never deny that working in a museum is fun, but nothing has compared to Monday and Tuesday of this week. From playful games to thoughtful discussions, a group of IMA staff led by the artist collective (and former guest bloggers) Type A spent 2 full days participating in team-building exercises focused on the IMA�??s forthcoming Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. These games, challenges and discussions were meant to not only help strengthen the bonds between a diverse group of IMA staff, but ultimately to inform the final commissioned work that Type A will create for the Art and Nature Park.

I�??m not gonna lie. I walked into the first day of team-building exercises skeptical. Eating my blueberry bagel at breakfast on the first day, I asked myself: �??What are 2 artists going to be able to teach us? Wouldn�??t it be more beneficial to actually work on the plans for the Art and Nature Park than discuss them and play games?�?? I assumed there would be a lot of hugging and praising and not a lot of actual progress. Really and truly I don’ t mind the hugging and praising, but ultimately I�??m a person who prefers to just do something rather than talk about it. However, I�??ve been impressed and surprised; talking about concepts and goals can ultimately lead to progress. Type A has done a really great job of blurring the lines between artists and facilitators.

As Adam and Andrew often asked us, �??What were the lessons we learned?�?? I�??ve had a few days to ponder the question and here�??s what I�??ve determined. Stated simply: I have a better understanding of the struggles, stresses and successes of my colleagues. I have a greater appreciation for the teamwork and collaboration necessary for a project as small as creating a postcard and as large as creating a 100 acre park. I also have a richer knowledge of my unique role as part of the Art and Nature Park team.

I�??ve learned a lot and will take a lot with me from this week�??s activities. Beyond the important life lessons, I�??m going to have to find a way to incorporate the rubber chicken and full contact rock paper scissors into my daily job functions at the IMA. Or perhaps, just the primal screams�?�

In September the IMA will launch a special web presence for Type A�??s project that will provide documentation of the work that we�??ve all done (video, pictures, etc.) as well as serve as a forum for discussion. In the meantime, you can check out some of the participant�??s photos by visiting the Type A Flickr Group.

Given my experience, I figured helping produce a book about a place I thought I knew pretty well would be easy�??especially since in its first incarnation, it was going to consist of 125 vignettes about people, collections, events, and departments that had helped shape the museum�??s history. Little did I know what was in store for us. Over the first few months, everything seemed to be going just fine�??each writer was assigned topics to research and write about. Like chunks of firewood, the stories began to stack up.

Now, one thing I�??ve learned over the years about researching books is to resist tangents, as much as possible. Research is a seductive pastime. In the course of tracking down the information you need, you�??re apt to uncover some other information you don�??t�??letters written by someone who�??s central to your research, but who�??s writing about subjects that have little or nothing to do with your needs. But a well-written letter is like a drug: it pulls you in, lulls you into thinking you�??ve uncovered something vitally interesting, then distracts you from your task at hand. And suddenly you�??re off on a tangent�??which may well lead you to another, then another�?� well, you see the drug correlation.

That�??s what happened with the IMA project. Each of us involved got seduced by one topic or another, and we all began writing pieces much longer than they were supposed to be. That wasn�??t necessarily bad, but it was going to make a book much longer than we had anticipated. By late 2007 it was clear that we needed to rethink the book�??s organization: instead of 125 individual stories, we realized that what we needed to do was cover the IMA�??s 125-year history chronologically, integrating much of the text we�??d written already into a cohesive narrative. But by that time, two of the original writers had finished the work they�??d contracted to do, so they left the project.

The remaining two of us then took on the task of weaving together much of the previously written material�??and doing more research to fill in the gaps of the larger story we had chosen to tell. This time there was no time to get seduced by research. We had a book to get done, and not a lot of time left to do it. Well, you can guess how the story ends�??with some adjustments to the design and production schedules and the help of two very fine editors, we got it done. It will be available in early October. It�??s titled Every Way Possible. Watch for it.

Looking back at the moment when I signed on to the project, I have to smile. Did I really think it was going to be as easy as it sounded at the time? Of course not. But I didn�??t think it would become as difficult as it did. Yet I�??ve enjoyed the entire process. The pleasure of doing a book is that, no matter how much you think you know about the subject when you start, by the time you finish you�??ve learned a lot more�??not only about the subject, but about yourself. A book pushes and prods you to go beyond what you�??ve done before, to develop new skills, to become better professionally and personally. This one certainly did.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. It still does.

Good news, right? Until the day when scientific advancements make living forever possible, everyday blogger-types like myself can pursue other life-extending options gleaned from those who do it best.

The Danish people seem to have figured something out. Ranked (once again) as the “happiest people in the world” in a recent international survey, one would expect the Danes to also have a longer life expectancy. Some suspect it’s low expectations that keep them content, while others say it’s the city’s way of life, with nearly one-third of Danes biking to work and another one-third taking public transit. Others suggest it’s the laid-back, carefree lifestyle they lead with free healthcare and top-notch education systems. I am not sure how Americans can avoid worry, but Hoosiers can certainly benefit from a better public transit system. The sooner it is on track, the sooner we’ll be whistling our way to work.

Next up, Japan boasts the healthiest population in the world, with a woman’s life expectancy averaging 86 years. A diet rich in fish, rice and seaweed helps keep heart disease and cancer under control, while government-sponsored fitness programs help the Japanese stay trim. My advice — spin class and sushi for dinner tonight. I hear the Wii Fit is also to die for.

Leading the world in smarts, the Finnish students come out on top. They attribute a good education system to student-teacher relationships, pupils’ enthusiasm to learn and an environment conducive to learning mathematics, with strict rules minus the high anxiety. Determining the smartest population is impossible because there is no standardized global exam. Staying mentally fit has been a proven factor in reducing the onset of disease. So it’s back to reading Middlemarch and playing Settlers of Catan next Friday for me.

To state the obvious, I think we can agree that happiness, health and intelligence all contribute to longevity. So my plug for an instant fix — RSVP for tomorrow’s exhibition preview and party for To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum at the IMA. Bring a friend, have a drink and learn a little about the ancient Egyptians’ quest to live forever.

• Get your tickets here