First Thursday

Art by Debra Grindhart Dragoo at The Artist Within Art by Debra Grindhart Dragoo at The Artist Within Art by Mary Ann Rahe at Gallery 308 Art by Mary Ann Rahe at Gallery 308 Art by Carol Blakney at Gallery 308 Art by Carol Blakney at Gallery 308 Art by Alan Patrick at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Art by Alan Patrick at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Art by Alan Patrick at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Art by Alan Patrick at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Photography by Andrew Wit on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Andrew Wit on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Andrew Wit on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Andrew Wit on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Andrew Wit on display at Muncie Makes Lab Art by Cynthia McHone at Rose Court

111 Arts Gallery
111 E Main

Craig Mathis bsu grad lucky rabbit tattoo artist painting in acrylic in found boards various folk art themes incorporating comic like feel outside of the tattoo art spectrum ,, this is Craig's first solo show he's tattooed in Muncie over 10 years at the lucky rabbit tattoo studio

The Artist Within
313 S Walnut
Aerosol and Old Lace – Series Seven

The Artist Within will feature new art by local visual artist, poet, and artivist Deborah Gindhart Dragoo. Layers of vibrant colours, textures, and vintage plastic lace motifs create this new stunning series of canvas brilliance. There will be also be PINK earrings designed specifically for The Little Red Door of Delaware County / ECI. After reading the courageous cancer journey of Muncie's own Sonya Paul, the artist chooses to share her art gifts. These special earrings will be on sale for $10 per pair with all proceeds to benefit The Little Red Door for their breast cancer awareness programs.

A "Meet the Artist" opening reception with light refreshments will be held Thursday September 4th from 5-8pm; ALSO, there shall be CAKE! Celebrate "62" with the artist...YUM!

Cornerstone Center for The Arts
520 E Main

5pm to 9pm: Electronic Arts Showcase in Great Room of Cornerstone (second floor). Kinect, Oculus Rift, and LED lighting on display.

6pm: Live performance by Lavonte Pugh (ala Bit_Slayer) and  featuring LED hula-hooping by Cassie Gabriel and Ashley Downing.

Gallery 308
308 E Main
Conversations About Nature Through Art and Poetry

A two-woman exhibit featuring artists Carol Blakney and Mary Ann Rahe opens First Thursday at Gallery 308 on September 4.  “CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NATURE through art and poetry” features prints by Carol Blakney, ceramics by Mary Ann Rahe and poetry by Mike Brockley, Karen Hiday, and Jeffery Owen Pearson. The opening reception for the new exhibit will be held from 5 to 8pm on First Thursday.

Blakney explains the exhibit, “It’s a collection of the observations, inspirations, and memories of local artists in a collaborative exhibit of prints, ceramics, and poetry, inspired by our local wildlife and environment.“ Blakney stated she is interested in individuality, intelligence, and metaphor in nature.  She created a series of Abobe Artistic Filter prints of the wide variety of creatures she has discovered in her Muncie garden.

Mary Ann Rahe uses ceramic forms and surfaces to explore themes of nature. She added, “For me, art inspired by nature engages the observer in both formal issues of design and imaginative interpretation. In addition, invited poets will contribute verse related to themes of nature. “

According to the two artists, “NATURE” is full of powerful and often contradictory meanings.  We recognize the sounds and landscapes and familiar creatures of our local environment as part of what “home” is.  The more welcoming we are of nature in all its forms, the more creative and healthy our home will be.  A place where in parks and gardens and wild places we can still learn about form and color, life and death, and how we are in the universe”

A Muncie native, Rahe attended St. Louis University and earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in ceramics from Ball State University.  During the nineteen-eighties, she was resident potter at Sinclair Shops, Hartford City, Indiana.  She taught ceramics at Yorktown High School during most of the nineties and has taught for the Art Department and School of Extended Education at BSU for fourteen years.

Blakney received her BFA in Fine Arts and Art Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1982.  She taught art and reading in a public school resource room until she was hired as the first project manager for the Oxford Guide to Classical Subject in the Arts, published in 1993.  She has traveled extensively to photograph and illustrate the landscapes and wildlife of Turkey, England, Ireland, Mexico and the eastern United States.  The daughter of missionaries, she was born into civil unrest that toppled the apartheid government of Rhodesia.  She has remained engaged in social and environmental activism in the United States.

Gallery 308, which provides space for local and regional artists with monthly “First Thursday” exhibits, is in its 14th year as a nonprofit art gallery.  For more information about the Gallery 308 ArtsWalk exhibit opening, contact sherry@jackscamera.com. The gallery is open Fridays from 3-7pm and Saturdays from 12:30 – 5:00pm.  Admission is free. The show continues through September 26.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E Main
Here and There:  Recent Paintings by Alan Patrick

When Alan Patrick needs to look for new subject matter for his oil paintings, he doesn’t travel far. He and wife, Cindy, live the artist’s life on their small farm just outside Albany, IN. Well-tended gardens, a fish pond,  greenhouse and separate studio provide just about everything an artist could hope for, in the way of subject matter. Often, the award-winning Patrick paints flowers and still life scenes in the comfort of his studio. But sometimes, he just has to get out and tromp around in the woods to find his next inspiration. Nearby streams and a river provide both compelling scenes and a strong reflective light that bounces off tree trunks and leaves. Many artists paint beautiful stream scenes. What sets Patrick’s paintings apart has to be his technique of layers and layers of translucent colors that give a depth and brilliance even cameras can’t convey.

“I am interested in common-place subjects. If they are important, it is because of the formal elements such as line, shape and color. I do hope that they strike a chord with people, but the meaning is in the drawing and brushwork rather than the subject matter,” the prolific painter offers. He continues, “I can pass by a place a hundred times and that place is just ordinary. Then, one day, it’s magic. It has color, form, light and drama. It has suddenly become a wonderful place to look at. I know there is a painting there.”

He continues, “I photograph places and then return to my studio and think about the subject. What feeling does it evoke? What forms and colors work in the composition? I usually do compositional studies in charcoal first, working out the structure of line and value. Then I think about color. I spend a lot of time on a painting before I ever touch a brush.”

The public is invited to view the exhibit during the First Thursday’s Arts Walk on September 4, 2014 from 5 to 8 PM. The artist will give a short talk and answer questions about his work beginning at 6:15 PM. Light refreshments will be served. Gordy Fine Art & Framing is located downtown at 224 East Main Street, next door to Muncie Civic Theatre. For more information, visit http://www.gordyframing.com, or the Gordy Fine Art & Framing page on Facebook.

Heorot Pub & Draught House (21+)
219 S Walnut

Janelle Summers will be the featured artist at Heorot this month. Summers focuses on drawing as an exploration of form, the figure, and at times the grotesque.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S Walnut

Graduate students from Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning, along with architecture professors Gernot Riether and Andrew Wit, designed and built an innovative pavilion during their summer coursework.  Conceived of as a “traveling pavilion for the city,” the pavilion’s initial rendition and location served as a test of concept, structural ideas and durability.  This open house exhibition shows the design process (research into computational design and fabrication methods, drawings, models, detail studies), and end result (photographs and component pieces).  Students will also be present to demonstrate the fabrication of tensegrity units.  The pavilion is currently located on the outskirts of Muncie, Indiana, standing in stark contrast to lush natural surroundings. Perched between a lake and a forest, the stretched lycra tensegrity structure appears to float as it lightly grazes the earth.

Mutual Bank Marble Wall
110 E Charles
Afterhours Art Reels – Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Muncie Downtown Development will host outdoor “Afterhours Art Reels” following the First Thursday Gallery Walks, June-September.  Films will be projected onto the Mutual Bank wall on Charles St. at dusk.  Seating will be available on the Fickle Peach patio located at 117 E. Charles St. for guests 21 and up.

Rose Court
125 E Charles
Doodles, Down Time Patterns

Rose Court is pleased to host artist Cynthia McHone and her exhibit entitled:  'Doodles, Down Time Patterns'  for September's First Thursday.   Cynthia's primary medium is pen and ink. Here is what Cynthia has to say about her work:

"When I moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Muncie, Indiana I knew that life would bring me new opportunities. I had no idea that in my leisure/down time I would find relaxation and enjoyment through random doodling. Albuquerque averages 310 days of sunshine a year and since Muncie's weather patterns are quite different I found myself appreciating indoor activities a great deal more. One day, while watching the evening news I picked up a sketch book and a few color pens and began to draw.

"The dictionary describes a doodle as a simple drawing that is unconsciously created while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. Often done to relieve boredom, I found that these repetitive patterns were relaxing and somewhat addictive.

"This exhibit celebrates the rhythms, geometries, textures, and abstract landscapes created under the influences/echoes of Gustav Klimt, William Morris, Owen Jones, and appliqué quilting. I hope you enjoy these little works of art to find that these abstract harmonies lessen the stresses of your day as they have done for me. "