Wandering around the apple orchard, I made art. I could try to tell you that I made this flower-covered apple wand for my son, but that would not be true. He was busy running down the orchard alleys with a long branch that had fallen off one of the trees, alternating between yelling “Hockey!” and “Vacuum!” My mom was […]
Read MoreThis summer, during my three-day retreat in the Met Museum, Museum Hack invited me on one of their Un-Highlights Tours. I had heard intriguing things about their museum tours, and I was excited to finally see for myself what all the buzz was about [...]
Read MoreMontreal’s Château Ramezay has a fuzzy past. The grand house was originally built for Claude de Ramezay, the governor of Montreal from 1703 to 1724. But Ramezay went a little overboard, spending way too much of his own money on the building project. After his widow’s death in 1745, the heirs sold the property to the West Indies Company, which had a monopoly on the export of beaver [...]
Read MoreIf you’ve been following along this month, you know that Imaginibus's museum theme for August is PLAY. Today, I’m excited to (re)introduce you to Nolwenn, a dear friend from Paris and fellow blogger. I sent her a MusEmvelope and asked her to play in a museum. I’ll let Nolwenn take it from here [...]
Read MoreAlexander Hamilton played a major role in my three-day retreat in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As I wrote about here, I was nervous as I approached the Met on the morning of the retreat's first day. I literally started getting panicky as I crossed Central Park, feeling overwhelmed by the vast collection of the Met and worrying that I wouldn’t be able to structure my time well. That’s when [...]
Read MoreDo you ever find yourself in a museum, looking but not seeing? This happened to me recently on my three-day retreat in the Metropolitan Museum. On my second morning, I was wandering from gallery to gallery, and I couldn’t quite register what I was seeing. I was so inundated with beauty that it was all blurring together. That’s when I decided to go on a photo safari, a trick in my museum toolbox that [...]
Read MoreAugust's museum theme is PLAY. My favorite museum memories involve some sense of play. It can be such a great way to appropriate a museum visit and to claim the space as your own. But, as an adult, thinking of ways to play can be a lot of work! I find myself tapping into a childlike energy when I am playful; it makes me think of the quote by Picasso: “Every child is an artist. The problem is [...]
Read MoreI have lived in Montreal for six months, and I have visited six museums. The shame! There are over forty museums on the island, so a grand total of six museums (albeit visited multiple times) is not a great batting average. I've had a lot on my plate with adjusting to life in Montreal: finding and fluffing a nest, dealing with Canadian immigration, and figuring out what my [...]
Read MoreMy first ever museum was the glorious University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor. UMMA has always been a magical place for me. As my hometown museum, it was a cabinet of curiosities for my young self. I saw things there unlike anything I had ever seen: intriguing objects from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. During a trip this month to see my family in Ann Arbor [...]
Read MoreI am (still) in the midst of furnishing my new Montréal apartment. I have spent hours searching for fun and functional furniture and decorations to make this nest feel like home. After spending a recent morning assembling furniture, I decided to treat myself with a visit to the Montreal Museum of [...]
Read MoreThis month's Creativity Theme is CELEBRATION. So, with Christmas approaching, I gave myself a challenge for my visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: find a way to celebrate Christmas inspired by artwork seen in the museum. I figured the most literal way to be inspired would be by [...]
Read MoreI had been waiting all morning for the Creativity Factory to open. I was visiting the Montreal Science Centre with two of my favorite kiddos (and their mom and dad), and we had spent the morning learning about the human body. But I was anxious to get to an exhibit called Fabrik - Creativity Factory. "What [...]
Read MoreThe Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has a great collection of Dutch Golden Age paintings, from Gerard ter Borch’s satiny skirts to Rembrandt’s moody lighting. On a recent visit of these galleries, as this month's creativity theme is CELEBRATION, I considered how best to celebrate these marvels. I [...]
Read MoreThis month's creativity theme is CELEBRATION. For my first December museum visit, I went to the Redpath Museum, McGill University's natural history museum. The museum feels very old school: temple-like stone façade, lots of carved wood, the occasional hand-written label... The museum also [...]
Read MoreThis video is what happens when one listens to "#SELFIE" by the Chainsmokers on the walk home from a visit to the Louvre:
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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
IMAGINIBUS is a blog about playing in museums, with a focus on imagination and creativity.
This blog is a place to be inspired to use your imagination around artworks—and to see the art of your daily life.
When we engage creatively with art, museums can become playgrounds and laboratories to experiment with attention, mindfulness, and imagination. Interesting things happen when we use that museum gaze to look at our daily lives like a work of art.
Find more inspiration for playing with new ways of paying attention to your daily life here.
Hello! I'm Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies PhD candidate, and mother currently living in Quebec. I take playing in museums very seriously.
Read more about the blog here.
Check out my newsletter on Substack to be inspired to see the art in your daily life.
