For immediate release: November 12, 2010

IUPUI Students Bring Important Artworks to Light

Members of the Indiana General Assembly will have some extra company at the Indiana State House for Organization Day of the 2011 Session. On Tuesday, November 16, students from the IUPUI Museum Studies Program aim to bring attention to artworks in the State House that are often hidden in plain sight.

From 1:00pm to 4:00pm students enrolled in the IUPUI Collections Care and Management graduate course will be examaning, measuring, documenting, and then later researching the more than 40 artworks in and around the State House. Ultimately, students will produce individual Wikipedia articles about each artwork at the State House and uploading hundreds of their images to Flickr.

The goal of this documentation project is to increase public awareness of the state’s cultural heritage and make that information accessible in Wikipedia and Flickr, two of world's most consulted web pages. Students are using they and other have created through the international project Wikipedia Saves Public Art, which recently rose to national attention from a feature story in the The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Scholars Use Wikipedia to Save Public Art from the Dustbin of History."

The course is taught by Richard McCoy, Adjunct Instructor at IUPUI and Associate Conservator of Objects and Variable Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. "This project is designed to highlight the significance of the many artworks at the State House and serve as a teaching tool for the more than 20 students in the class," said McCoy.

The importance of the students' research to Indianapolis is underscored by the city's resurgence of support for its public art. Central to this resurgence is the addition of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and the public artwork installed along its sidewalks. The artworks at the State House, however, are among the oldest in the city. Further, Indianapolis has the second largest number of memorials of any city in the United States, (Washington, D.C. being the first) but little information is available online about these important memorials and artworks.

The students undertaking the project hope their work sparks others to act as public stewards of the city's important collections of public art. According to Jennifer Hodge, Tour Office Coordinator for the Indiana State House, the impact of the research will be immediate.

"The work being done by IUPUI Museum Studies students to research and bring attention to the public art collection at the State House and surrounding grounds will be a valuable addition to the history of this amazing building, to the grounds, and to the State itself," said Hodge. "This project will bring to light information--in some cases silent and forgotten--about the artists and the stories accompanying their creations."

The Tour Office looks forward to seeing the articles develop in Wikipedia and having online visitors from all over the state, country, and world enjoy a part of Indiana's cultural heritage. Further, it is believed that this project will provide the structure for keeping records on future additions to the collection.

About the Indiana State House

Indiana’s State House, a building of outstanding architectural beauty, has served as a center of civic life in Indiana since 1888. Indianapolis architect Edwin May designed the capital building and Adolph Scherrer oversaw the construction. Elected and appointed representatives of all three branches of government work at the State House.

About IUPUI Museum Studies Program

Museum Studies at IUPUI prepares people to be self-reflective leaders in the museum field. Faculty and students produce research that advances the scholarship of museums and their communities. The Museum Studies Program is housed in the IU School of Liberal Arts on the IUPUI campus. Hands-on learning and community engagement are hallmarks of the program. IUPUI is an urban university within walking distance of half a dozen museums and an easy commute to many others throughout Indianapolis. The Museum Studies program has close connections with area museums, and classes incorporate museum projects, applied research, and guest lecturers to help students connect concepts, theories, and methods to real-world practice.

Media Contacts

Student Leaders

Rosemary Arnold
rearnold@iupui.edu

Don Riefler
driefler@umail.iu.edu

Instructor

Richard McCoy
rmccoy@imamuseum.org

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