John Vanausdall
President and CEO
Eiteljorg Museum
500 West Washington St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Dear John,
A few days ago, on May 5th, 2006, I was one of the thousands of people that flooded your city to participate in the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon. I decided to come down a day early to visit your museum. This was my second visit to your campus and it looks like you have really grown since my last trip six years ago when I was an undergraduate at Indiana University – Bloomington.
I think that your museum perfectly captures the Zeitgeist of the early American West. It seems that every detail, from the architecture to the signage to the selected gallery pieces, helps to enhance the visitor’s appreciation of the beauty and hardships of the past. Additionally, your contemporary gallery always treats me to what issues current artists are grappling with.
However, during my last visit one thing detracted from my experience of the wonderfully fluid Remington statues, the semi-abstractionist works of O’Keeffe, and the masterful use of light in Hulling’s “Wash Day”. The only thing that broke the trance and silence of the West was the two security guards in the Gund Gallery and the Art of the American West Gallery and their incessant talking.
Throughout my trip, they walked next to each other talking, not in museum voices mind you, about friends who were mixed up in drugs, a relative who “is dating part-Hispanic”, and other personal issues. When I visit other museums, it is hard enough to get a “hello” out of the security guards because of the respect for other patrons so to see two employees chatting it up for at least 90 minutes was frustrating - to put it nicely. I even found myself rushing through one of my favorite museums or neglecting certain pieces because of the proximity to the guards.
No doubt, one day soon I will come back to your museum, it is too much of a treasure to pass up when I am visiting Indianapolis. However, in my recommendations and recollections of the Eiteljorg, the employee’s rude behavior will unfortunately taint the memory of an otherwise outstanding weekend.
Sincerely,
JM
cc: Lezlie Laxton, HR Manager
