December's First Thursday (full listing)

Light up DWNTWN Katherine Thomas, "Place in Between," The Atrium Gallery BFA Thesis Exhibition, The Atrium Gallery Annual Holiday Showcase, Gordy Fine Art and Framing Eugene Boyd, Cornerstone Center for the Arts Jasen Combs, Cornerstone Center for the Arts Virtual Downhill Ski Jump, IDIA Lab Holiday Open House, Kirk's Bike Shop Glass Ornament Sale, Glass Alliance at Ball State University, Made in Muncie "100 Stories, 100 Dreams," Muncie Land Bank, Madjax Muncie GindhART at Madjax Muncie Community Garden Master Plan, Maring-Hunt Library “Beef Baby, Beef Baby, Beef Baby,” Muncie Makes Lab White Chocolate Peppermint Truffles, Queer Chocolatier Blues Jam, Valhalla

“Light Up DWNTWN”
Various locations in Downtown Muncie

Light Up DWNTWN, powered by AEP will be held on First Thursday, December 7th, from 5-8pm throughout Downtown Muncie. Galleries, restaurants, and retailers invite you to spend the evening with them as we kick off the holiday shopping season. 

The Community Tree Lighting ceremony will take place at Canan Commons (located in the 500 block of S. Walnut St.) @ 6:00pm. Join us as Santa, Charlie Cardinal,and Muncie Fire Department light up the community holiday tree! MCS Elementary School Choirs will perform with Muncie Civic Theater singers at 5:45pm along. Everyone is invited to join inthe festivities. Afterward, the choir will be performing in front of the theatre where there will be a hot chocolate bar. 

Canan Commons will also be the location for the “Holiday Makers Market”, featuring nearly 50 artists, in a heated tent. Kiddie Express train, fire pits, and concessions will also be available. Brian Blair’s holiday sculptures will be on display at the park throughout the holiday season.

For more information, please visit our website @ downtownmuncie.org.

The Atrium Gallery
Arts and Journalism Building, 1st floor, Ball State University campus

The School of Art Atrium Art Gallery will have extended hours from 4-8pm for an opening reception for four BFA Exhibitions from School of Art students. The show will feature the work of Katherine Thomas, Griffith Williams, Sasan Kayyad, and Thomas Williamson.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts
520 E. Main

“Cornerstone Center for the Arts Ceramics Showcase”

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts for a gallery exhibition of art created through Cornerstone’s ceramic classes. This showcase will feature artwork by skilled instructors Jasen Combs and Eugene Boyd as well as many of their talented students. The student work ranges from those that have been working with clay for a short time, to students that have worked with clay for nearly a decade. The exhibition features a range of ceramic pieces, from vases and bowls to elaborate wall hangings, many of which will be for sale. Cornerstone is proud to showcase instructors Jasen Combs and Eugene Boyd along with their students.

Jasen Combs has been teaching at Cornerstone Center for the Arts for 14 years. Combs received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Ball State University in 1996 and went on to receive his Masters Degree in Ceramics in 2001. He creates both wheel thrown pottery as well as hand built altered wall hangings. His teaching philosophy is to let the students experience the clay with all their senses.  He wants them to touch, feel and make the clay move. Combs loves it when they have no previous experience with clay and he can watch how they develop and grow in the class.

Eugene Boyd became familiar with Cornerstone Center for Arts when his granddaughter began taking ballet and piano classes. Boyd took a ceramics class in 2011 at Cornerstone, and fell in love with clay. He continued taking classes at Cornerstone as well as working with a well-known potter in the community. Now, Boyd has his own studio, and teaches ceramics to adults and children at Cornerstone. He enjoys the opportunity to share his passion with his students and hopes they enjoy working with clay as much as he does.

The opening reception for the Cornerstone Ceramics Showcase, will take place on Thursday, December 7, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Cornerstone Art Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone Center for the Arts. The show will be on display and open to the public throughout the month of December.

For more information about the gallery exhibition, call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts is a non-profit organization with a mission to nurture community connections by providing opportunities for creative expression, educational programs, and events in a historic setting.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E. Main

“Annual Holiday Art Showcase and the Introduction of Online ART sales”

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Company will celebrate its ongoing Holiday Art Showcase on First Thursday, December 7th from 5-8 PM. A feast for the eyes, the Holiday Art Showcase offers works of art by more than 25 East Central Indiana artists as dozens of drawings, jewelry, paintings, prints, and pottery pieces fill the gallery. Carl and Barbara Schafer will discuss the show during a brief talk at 6:15. They will also introduce the new Online ART sales now featured on gordyframing.com   The event is open to the public and light refreshments will be served giving customers the opportunity to buy unique objects created by local artists for holiday decorating and gift giving.

Holiday Art Showcase prices range from $1 to $2,000, with most falling between $30 to $200. From whimsical “Funcie” signs and shirts to handcrafted mugs and plates. Paintings capturing Indiana’s rural landscapes in various media to handbound journals and letterpress cards.

“The Holiday Art Showcase and the new Online ART sales offer great opportunities to find unique holiday gifts with a connection to the city we live in,” says Gordy owners Barbara and Carl Schafer.  “Often our customers are shopping for friends who have moved away from Muncie, or for their grown children who need something special to remember their hometown.  Useful things such as mugs, bowls, and t-shirts are popular since they are used every day.”

The show will run throughout the holiday season and new works will be continually added to replace things that are purchased and removed. Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company promotes talented artists and offers expert design and craftsmanship for framing and displaying treasured family possessions and works of art. Business hours: Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5:30 pm, Saturday, 9 am – 3 pm. Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company is located at 224 East Main Street, next door to Muncie Civic Theatre.  For more information, visit www.gordyframing.com or call 765-284-8422.

Grace Episcopal Church
300 S. Madison

Begin the holiday season with a concert of viola music. At Grace Episcopal Church (corner of Madison and Adams) the Ball State Viola Choir will be performing works by composers Brahms, Waelput, Scriabin, Bennet, and Sullivan. The concert will begin at 5:30pm with a reception to follow. Come and support these excellent young musicians.

Idia Lab
223 S. Charles St.

Ball State University’s IDIA Lab will showcase recent virtual reality projects at 223 S. Walnut Street (the former Silo) during Muncie’s First Thursday / Light Up Downtown. Stop by to explore select winter themed works from our immersive multiuser environments that use the HTC Vive VR headsets, including an interactive winter sports simulator and haptic artwork. IDIA Lab staff and faculty will be on hand for questions about how these emerging technologies are being used in the arts, sciences and humanities. IDIA Lab is an interdisciplinary virtual reality and simulation center at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning.

Kirk’s Bike Shop
124 S. Walnut St.

Join us on the evening of First ThursdayDowntown Muncie for our holiday open house. Check out new products for 2018, enter our raffle to win awesome prizes, and enjoy special pricing on bicycles, helmets, racks, and all the riding essentials. Special discounts on gift cards and remaining 2017 inventory. Light refreshments will be served! Don't miss it!

Made in Muncie
313 S. Walnut

Glass Ornaments from the Glass Alliance at Ball State will be available for purchase at Made in Muncie on December 7th at First Thursday. Prices may vary between $20-$30. Makes a perfect stocking stuffer or a gift for family! Earlier in the week on Saturday, December 2nd from 6-9pm, the Glass Alliance at Ball State will be hosting a Glass Ornament demonstration at the Glick Center (located on University Avenue on BSU’s campus).

Made in Muncie will also be hosting the Annual Muncie Artist guild show. Artwork will be on display through both December and January with an opening reception on December 7th from 5-8pm. A variety of media ranging from drawing, painting, printmaking, and various other media will be on display from local artists from Delaware and Madison counties. Join us to celebrate the final First Thursday Event of the year. Many artworks will be for sale just in time for the holidays.

Madjax Muncie
Book Arts Collaborative and Tribune Showprint at Madjax

Tribune Showprint and Book Arts Collaborative will be open with stocking stuffers and holiday gifts. Both locations are in the Madjax Building. Tribune Showprint is located at 501 E. Main and Book Arts Collaborative is adjacent at 600 E. Main.

Muncie Land Bank (at Madjax)
Muncie Land Bank, in collaboration with Ball State University invites the residents of Muncie to participate in a project to help celebrate our creation: 100 stories and 100 dreams for abandoned properties. Tonight, we will collect your stories and ideas for blighted properties and share some proposals created by Ball State University students. Light refreshments will be provided. Join us in achieving our goal of establishing a strong land bank for Muncie!

GindhART at Madjax Muncie, 2nd floor
Muncie artist Debra Gindhart Dragoo will exhibit for First Thursday gallery walk 5-9pm. Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

Gindhart Dragoo, is presenting her outspoken commentary designs through her visual art. “I am a spoken word artist as well, so it has been my voice and poetry flowing through the paint—be it aerosol, acrylics, assemblage, or otherwise—it’s tactile and telling,” says Gindhart Dragoo. Her work will tells the story of a young girl-artist-woman, giving voice all and told through vibrant colors sprinkled with spray art.

Debra Gindhart Dragoo always outspoken and creative, she’s poured her energy, over the years, into various projects, both personal and community-wide. She’s practiced her love of spoken-word poetry at various First Thursday events, and has showcased her Green Glam Studio line of environmentally friendly jewelry, which is also available at Madjax Muncie. 

“I believe that life passes from our art. We evolved with age and, hence, our style and media evolve. My art is storytelling using strokes and spray,” says Debra Gindhart Dragoo. “My art has been fiber and paint and public. Through years of community outreach arts programming, I hold multi-generational projects close to my artist heart. This show reflects the information gathered in my different age progressions. Art is in my spirit, resounding from my soul."

Maring-Hunt Library
301 E. Jackson St.

The Maring-Hunt Library Community Garden Master Plan, its improvement and expansion, and a series of Garden Pavilions and Nature Play Pockets were designed and developed as useful spaces to address food insecurity in a USDA-designated food desert, cultivate community interaction and social activity, and provide learning opportunities for the Southview Elementary School students, Maring-Hunt Library patrons, and neighborhood families. On exhibit for December's Art Walk will be the design drawings, process of building photos, full scale mock-ups, and the resultant Community Build of a Market and Educational Pavilion, and an Outdoor Kitchen surrounding the Community Garden at Maring-Hunt Library. We hope that you can come to see the work of the Immersive Learning Community Design Build Studio for Ball State University’s ARCH 401 students.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S. Walnut

Muncie Makes Lab presents “Beef Baby, Beef Baby, Beef Baby,” a collection of work by ten student and alumni artists from Ball State’s School of Art. The work—including submissions by Ally Burch, Sarah Fischer, Sarah Lassiter, Teddy Lepley, Lexi Musselman, Lily Rawson, Emma J. Rohlfing, Katherine Thomas, Grif Williams, & Tom Williamson, and curated by Benjamin M. Slightom—covers a wide range of media and subject matter from drawing to video art, food to social critique. Together, the body of work begins to frame a range of difficult questions about society today and offers wildly poignant and often humorous responses to these pressing issues.

The Queer Chocolatier
405 S. Walnut St. Suite 204

Queer Chocolatier is a new, local queer women-owned chocolate shop selling chocolate truffles and a line of art pieces for the homecalled Homo Décor. Owned by Morgan Roddy and Cheri Ellefson, Queer Chocolatiercrafts chocolate truffles in both classic (with dairy) and vegan (non-dairy) options.Truffles as well as Homo Décor items can be purchased at our website:www.queerchocolatier.com or at our retail location.

For the December First Thursday event, we will have new Homo Décor pieces available as well as feature the release of two new truffle flavors, a Winter Seasonal Truffle and a December Flavor of the Month. We encourage folks to come in out of the cold, come upstairs, and enjoy a sip of hot chocolate and mingle with other chocolate-loving enthusiasts!

Winter Seasonal Flavor: Milk Chocolate Gingerbread
December Flavor of the Month: White Chocolate Peppermint

Valhalla  (21+)
215 S. Walnut

Valhalla presents “Blues Jam” every Thursday. “Blues Jam” is an open event with sign-up starting at 7pm and music from 8-11pm. Come show us your talent!