On the day before, my the long awaited spring break, I visited Indianapolis" Elitejorg Museum with the Attractions Management class. I was a quick tour of awesome collection of Western and Indian Art. The museum was founded and opened over ten years ago, and it has been growing ever since. There is another section of the Elitejorg museum over by Eagle Creek which I found interesting, that only carries Indian artifacts. These museums are all non-profit organizations where a lot of people volunteers work as guides, and gift shop clerks. At the museum there are many temporary exhibits that go on in order for repeat visit to the museum. Throughout the tour I found many different pieces that I really enjoyed. First was the Remington and Russell pieces of cowboys in the west. The sculpture by Russell called, "Where the Best of Riders Quit," got my attention, because my parents own horses and have horse things in there house and barn. I learned a bit about the Taos Society, Victor Higgins of Shelbyville, had a interesting collection with its Russian influence. The pueblo painting by Nikolai Fechin, Leon Gaspord, and Georgia O"Keeffe were interesting because the were all similar but yet very different. By far, my favorite was the glass pieces by Dale Chihuly. All the pieces were so different and colorful, it was amazing. I was surprised that the were selling pieces in their gift shop. After the Chihuly exhibit, we saw the video, computer, hands on, and demonstration area of the museum, which would be very neat for someone who had time to sit and look at the exhibits.
After the quick tour, we sit in with the Marketing Director, Rodney Lomax, and tourism director, Lisa Shemba. They gave us interesting information about their education background, experience in tourism industry, career paths, and job duties fro current job. These is always my favorite part of guest speakers because it shows me jobs in our field out in the real world.