I had planned on a summer of writing, but what I needed was a summer of reading. I needed rest, I needed pleasure, I needed spaciousness. I needed to go to the library and let myself be pulled to intriguing books on the shelves. I needed to let myself devour books with no other motive than pleasure […]
Read More“What I bring to the table is rich.” Those words are from Detra, the latest subject of a Humans of New York series. Her words keep sticking with me. They reveal a woman who knows her own worth, who isn’t waiting for permission to love how she shows up in the world. This past week, I’ve been trying her words on for size […]
Read MoreI’ve had the curious experience recently of going outside with a question, and getting an answer. Yesterday, I was sitting by a river, feeling creatively stuck and wondering what would help get me unblocked. Bam! Three separate flocks of honking geese flew over me, one after the other. Oh, I needed community, people to create […]
Read MoreImposter syndrome is raging fiercely in me. I am coming up against three academic writing deadlines. And as I gaze up at these huge mountains looming ahead of me, I find that I'm having a hard time lifting my feet to take the next steps forward. It feels like each individual step has the power to make or break my entire journey up the […]
I’m in a phase of my PhD journey where I am writing, writing, writing. Until recently I was in a place where I was plotting out what I would eventually write, but now I’m actually writing. Real sentences that real eyes will read. When I sit at my computer with my document open on the screen, my fingers poised at the keyboard, I […]
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 is an installment of Creative September on the theme of Beginnings (if you missed it, check out a description of the project here!). I wanted to find the oldest object in the Musée du Louvre. For a museum with the aim of being "universal" and showing humanity's heritage, where did they [...]
Read MoreThis is part of Museum User Guides, a series with ideas for how to “use” museums. The activities suggested here propose a fresh way to understand and experience a particular collection. Choose a day with moody weather–a cloudy day in October, for example–and make the trek up to Montmartre to the [ ... ]
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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.
