Thoughts, Things, and Theories…What Is Culture?
“Thoughts, Things, and Theories…What Is Culture?” examines the nature of culture through the exploration of cultural traditions surrounding life stages and universal needs. Runs through March 16, 2014.

Assessing Authenticity: Museum Fakes and Mistakes
This exhibit explores issues surrounding object identification and authentication within museums. Runs through March 16, 2014.

From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything
This exhibit examines history on a large scale, through the exploration of cosmic, biological, and human origins. Runs through March 16, 2014.

Ojibwe Public Art, Ostrom Private Lives
“Ojibwe Public Art, Ostrom Private Lives” explores works by late 20th century Ojibwe artists of Manitoulin Island, Canada, collected by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. The exhibit was curated by a team of IU graduate students through a project partially supported by the IU College of Arts and Sciences Ostrom Grants Program. Runs through March 16, 2014.

Rhythms of the World Audio Exhibit
Rhythms of the World is a free audioguide tour of musical instruments from around the globe featured in exhibits throughout the museum. The audioguide includes narration and musical clips of the highlighted instruments. Runs through March 16, 2014.

Mather Museum Hours: Tues. – Fri., 9 am – 4:30 pm; Sat. & Sun., 1 – 4:30 pm

Is it magic or is it science? Have great fun exploring the surprising tricks mirrors can play on your brain! This special hands-on exhibition for people of all ages is on display at WonderLab (Tuesday – Sunday) through April 13.

The 23rd annual Indiana Heritage Quilt Show will feature more than 200 quilts, expanded vendor booths in downtown Bloomington, and three full days of workshops. The 2014 show will run March 6-8. For more information on the show and registration for workshops, visit ihqs.org

Browse multiple art galleries in a beautiful, historic, downtown setting.

Youth Art Month 2014–Middle & High School Art from the Monroe County Community School Corporation, various media; Recent Works–Lucia Bennett, metal sculpture. M-F, 9-7; Sat 9-5. Closed Sun.

The Ivy Tech Waldron is an Ivy Tech Community College facility whose galleries are open to the public and free. Featuring local, regional, and international art. Housed in Bloomington’s 1913 City Hall, a Beaux Arts limestone architectural gem, along with two theatre spaces and several arts classrooms.

Is it magic or is it science? Have great fun exploring the surprising tricks mirrors can play on your brain! This special hands-on exhibition for people of all ages is on display at WonderLab (Tuesday – Sunday) through April 13.

Museum hours:
Tuesday-Saturday: 9:30 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 – 5:00 p.m. Sunday: Noon – 5:00 p.m.

Special Exhibition: ‘Faculty Artists from IU’s Hope School of Fine Arts’
January 25–March 9, 2014 Special Exhibitions Gallery and Judi and Milt Stewart Hexagon Gallery, first floor Featuring ca. forty artists (both current and emeriti faculty) from IU’s renowned Hope School of Fine Art, this exhibition offers a survey of recent works in a wide range of media, including ceramics, digital art, graphic design, painting, sculpture, metals, photography, printmaking, and textiles.

Focalpoint: Personal Objects: Art from Eastern and Southern Africa
January 14–May 11, 2014 Raymond and Laura Wielgus Gallery of the Arts of Africa, the South Pacific, and the Americas, Focalpoint, third floor From jewelry and headdresses to household objects such as containers, headrests, and spoons, the art of eastern and southern Africa for the most part is intimately connected with the individual. Though these regions of Africa do not have the large numbers of masks and figural sculpture for which western and central Africa are known, the personal objects found there frequently reflect the deep cultural significances and attention to form and detail seen elsewhere on the continent. This installation has been organized to coincide with the A352/A552, Art of Eastern and Southern Africa, a course being taught during the spring 2014 semester in the Department of the History of Art.

New in the Galleries: ‘Max Beckmann’s Woodcuts’
Gallery of the Art of the Western World, Doris Steinmetz Kellett Endowed Gallery of Twentieth-Century Art, first floor
February 4–June 22, 2014
Although the German Expressionist artist Max Beckmann was a prolific graphic artist (producing 374 prints during his lifetime), he created fewer than 20 woodcuts. Most were produced during the 1920s, when Germany was experiencing a revival of interest in the medium. Seven prints from this period will be featured in this installation.

Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: Noon – 5:00 p.m.

March 1–March 31, 2013
Thomas T. Solley Atrium, second floor
Featuring works of art by K–6 Monroe County students, selected and submitted by area art teachers.

“Community Voices Gallery: League of Women Voters”
League of Women Voters exhibit, open now through March 29, 2014, through photos, documents, written history and objects you will be able to see the involvement of the Bloomington Chapter of this nationwide organization. Please note, museum hours are Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm.

“Giants in Cornfield, Civil War Sesquicentennial”
“Giants in Cornfield, Civil War Sesquicentennial” exhibit open now through April 12, 2014, gives an incredible look at the soldiers from Monroe County and their role in the battles of the Civil War. Please note, museum hours are Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm.

“The Life and Times of Local Author, Ross Lockridge”
Ross Lockridge, Jr was born in Bloomington, IN 1914 where he attended Bloomington High School and Indiana University and aspired to write the next great American Novel. He began writing Raintree County in the mid-1940s. The 1,060 page novel was published in 1948. The novel explored nineteenth-century Midwestern history, folklore, and landscape all set in a single day, July 4, 1892. The exhibit explores his life before writing Raintree County and after, including the Midwestern iconography that inspired his book. Runs through May 31.

“Cracking the Code: Quilt Pattern Meanings”
In the past many thought that Quilts made during the mid-to late part of the 19th century were created to aid travelers on the Underground Railroad. Now, research shows that there is no documentation regarding quilt patterns as a form of communication for Underground Railroad Travelers. This exhibit will examine different patterns and their purported meanings. Convention Center Quilt Show is March 6-8, 2014. The show and exhibit are on the bus route and FREE with IHQS wristband or hand stamp,during quilt show only. Runs through August 1.

Now on display in the Upper Loft Gallery through April 30: A selection of spring paintings from the Marie Goth Estate Collection. Also on display: Brown County Art Guild’s Member Artists Spring Exhibit; two floors of all new artwork by 45 of the Midwest’s finest artists! Reception: Second Saturday, April, 12, 5-8 pm during the Village Art Walk. Hours: Tuesday– Sat: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, Sunday: 12:00 – 5:00 pm (Closed Mondays).

Pictura Gallery presents ‘When Morning Comes’, an photo exhibition of life in the Mississippi Delta, by Brandon Thibodeaux.

“When Morning Comes falls somewhere between a poem and a documentation. We may not need to call this documentary photography, but the work relates to that genre in that what’s presented feels like the truth. In theory, documentary photography is about presenting just what you see. But in its best expression, it can also be a very personal extension of the inner self.

Brandon’s photographs are sincere and unassuming, quite likely because he is that way himself. His photographs reflect the person in front of him as well as his internal encounter with that person. It may be most helpful to think of this work as portrait photography, with honest portraits laying out the path to good storytelling.”

Exhibit runs until March 29. Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am – 7 pm.