By Eleni Bow, Blog & Communications Intern

In the summer of 2023, before my freshman year at Ball State, my family took a trip across central Europe. We spent a handful of days each in the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. I naturally loved every stop for its special reasons, but even three years later, I can still vividly remember a pivotal moment.

We devoted an afternoon in Vienna, Austria, to wandering the galleries of the Belvedere Museum. My mother knew what she wanted to see before arriving – the famous paintings of Gustav Klimt, such as The Kiss. I knew that I enjoyed impressionist era paintings and still-lifes, but there wasn’t one in particular that I aimed to see beforehand. I certainly did not plan on discovering my all-time favorite painting.

Standing at over seven feet tall and over five feet wide, Johann Knapp’s Jacquins Denkmal stopped me in my tracks.

The flowers. The seashells. A monkey examining the array of exotic fruits. Every time I looked back at it, I would notice a new insect. It was tantalizing to my curious eyes. Knapp created the work honoring the scientists who developed the binomial nomenclature system for all living things as we know them today. This moment solidified my belief that art can resonate with people through their interests, dreams, and perspectives.

And now here I am, interning at the David Owsley Museum of Art. I utilize the skills I developed as a journalism and Spanish major to tell the stories of the museum and its people. I see the privilege of being the blog manager as being the conduit between people and artworks. Until last month, the DOMA Insider had been inactive for two years. Now that it has been reintroduced, however, I figured it would be appropriate to introduce its new manager.

Hello!

With this being a blog all about a museum of art, I thought, “What better way to tell readers about myself than through our collection?” I hope you enjoy the tidbits I share below and perhaps inspire you to think about how you see yourself in DOMA works.

I quite enjoy impressionist paintings

There is something about the characteristic brush strokes of this art style that satisfies my eyes. Siren’s Grotto by Childe Hassam, in particular, features a lot of cool colors, including my favorite color, purple. Hassam uses the art style to capture the ocean’s mystifying qualities. It makes me curious about what lies under the surface and therefore daydream about going shelling again. This work is also special because it was one of the first acquisitions for the Muncie Art Association, DOMA’s predecessor. I feel that impressionist art allows for extra interpretation by viewers, since a characteristic of impressionism is to emphasize that a painting is made of paint and not an illusion of reality.

My favorite flower is a marigold

There are plenty of other flowers that I enjoy (hence my appreciation for Jacquins Denkmal), but marigolds take the top spot. I love their range of warm colors and seemingly infinite petals. This flower also holds a special meaning in Hispanic culture, which I have been able to study through my Spanish major. They are popular during the autumnal Día de Los Muertos celebration, as the flowers’ fragrance is said to lead souls from their burial place back to their family homes. I find comfort in growing a small flowerpot of marigolds each summer and into fall.

Every day for me begins with a cup of coffee

My mother took a photo of me outside a restaurant, at age four, holding a cup of decaf coffee. I only stuck with decaf until about middle school when I switched to caffeinated. One of my most prized possessions is my single-serve Keurig machine. I tend to drink coffee with only a splash of cream. When I order coffee at cafes or restaurants, I like to try whatever unique flavor options are offered, such as blueberry or honeycomb. Something controversial – I actually quite enjoyed the hot version of Starbucks’ oleato. 

I love trying new food

I always tell people it is much easier for me to name the foods I won’t like versus the ones I will like. I can’t get behind the rough texture of a plain pear, though I like the fruit’s flavor. There are some foods that I would prefer to eat over others, but there really isn’t anything else that I straight up won’t eat or try again. My life so far has given me the opportunities to try foods like suckling pig, huitlacoche and madeleines in their native countries. Locally, I enjoy the tofu Pad Si Ew from Tuppee Tong Thai and Belgian-style waffles from Café at the Crossing.

I have lived in Muncie my entire life

I am what some people on campus refer to as a “mocal” or a Muncie local. I went through the county school system and have volunteered for various organizations in town. I played on the now-defunct wooden playground at Burris in the summers. I admire the dazzling sights during the annual Enchanted Luminaria Walk at Minnetrista in the winter. Some of the best memories I have with my grandmother are being taken to story time at the Muncie Public Library’s Kennedy branch. My response when people say this town has “nothing to do” is simply explore. If you don’t look around and see what Muncie has to offer, you’ll likely never know that the area boasts a Filipino restaurant, an aerial silks studio, and a 27-acre wetland preserve. I think it’s a pretty good place to live.

Nice to meet you!

I am excited to once again be in a storytelling role and fuel my passion for nonprofit work. I hope this personal introduction reignites your interest in reading the blog and how the people of the museum uphold its wonder. The DOMA is a place where people from all backgrounds can find pieces of themselves in the works. How could others meet you through art?

As always, thank you for reading the DOMA Insider! DOMA is free and open to the public; we are open Tuesday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., and Saturday from 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Check out our website at https://www.bsu.edu/doma.