Author Archive
Chairs Remix
It is snowing. On the ground it turns out to be more ice and water than snowflakes. This seems early for Indianapolis. Halloween is a week away and only the maple leaves are earnestly turning yellow. Autumn still has a lot to do before winter takes over. It’s impossible not to conjure up little weather […]
Matisse
I’m slowly circling around the parking lot at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I’m stunned by the cherry red Fiat, the cobolt blue Prius, a bright orange Jeep. Where did this stuff come from? Oh, and there is the early autumn rust, like nails left outside, of a half dozen spindly trees. The green above […]
Gym
This morning at the gym I did something completely unexpected – I took off my headphones. The world came rushing in from all around me and I found myself having a TEDx Moment in multiples. By “TEDx Moment” I’m referring to the moment of bright insight that often accompanies the experience of listening to or […]
Chairs
“We put red chairs down on Monument Circle.” This was the sentence that came out of my mouth during a business meeting with a client yesterday. He had just asked me about TOI’s current projects. “What?” I repeated the sentence, “We put red chairs down on Monument Circle”. At this point it became clear to […]
I M A
In a gallery at the back of the Indianapolis Museum of Art I pause to simply stare out the window. I’m looking but, after an hour of wandering and gawking at some remarkable paintings, I’m seeing differently. The world I see through the floor-to-ceiling glass feels somehow more relevant to me. My eyes continue to […]
Indy Loves You: Downtown
If you walk out of the Starbucks on Monument Circle, at the center of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana and cast your gaze to the east toward the City Market what you’ll see the ubiquitous street scene. The details are made up of “pedestrians”, automobiles and trucks looking for parking spaces, a jumble of street lights, store […]
Central Library and the Grand Canyon
Standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon with my father a few years back he commented, “It’s too big.” My dad doesn’t know how to sip a moment. He gulps down places as if he were dying of thirst for experience. And if the experience of a place is too big to fit […]
My Summer Executive Retreat
I don’t own a motorcycle. “I’m never going to learn how to ride a motorcycle.” This was the sentence that popped into my head while I was working on a set of designs for activating underused public spaces in Indianapolis. Much of the work Rebecca and I do addresses the difficulties inherent in bringing people […]
River
“Creativity is a river. It has its slow parts and its fast parts. It’s always flowing. (pause) And, I’m beginning to figure out how to stay in my water.” These words were spoken last Friday by an eleven-year-old artist at a Theater of Inclusion week-long day camp. The camp is designed to be an arts […]
Burning House
Listening is part of a master set of skills. It doesn’t matter whether you are a bicyclist listening to the traffic behind you, a museum visitor taking in the words of your companion, or the leader of a project trying to run a meeting. Listening carefully to your surroundings and the people sharing those surroundings […]