February's First Thursday (full listing)

The Atrium Gallery Book Arts Collaborative Cornerstone Center for the Arts GindhART at Madjax Gordy Fine Art and Framing Muncie Civic Theatre Muncie Makes Lab Studio Exhale Valhalla

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

The School of Art Atrium Art Gallery will have extended hours on February 1, 2018 until 8:00 p.m. coinciding with First Thursday in downtown Muncie, a monthly celebration of the fine arts.

The first exhibition of the Spring Semester, Night for Days, features the cross-discipline paintings & digital work of Caleb Weintraub, Associate Professor & Area Coordinator, Painting, Indiana University-Bloomington. The exhibition dates are Tuesday, January 9 to February 10, 2018 with an Opening Reception on Thursday, February 1, 2018 and a Gallery Talk at 5:00 PM.

Normal gallery hours are 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday, and from 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday. The gallery is closed on Sundays, and during all holidays and breaks observed by Ball State.

Book Arts Collaborative (at Madjax)
600 E. Main

Book Arts Collaborative will be open for First Thursday and our students will be on hand to help visitors print a souvenir using our 150-year-old presses.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts
520 E. Main

“Cornerstone Center for the Arts Ceramics Studio Open House”

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts for the grand opening of the newly renovated J. Combs Ceramics Studio on Thursday, February 1. This open house will feature a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Muncie and Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and will be free and open to the public. There will also be ceramics demonstrations and an opportunity for guests to try their hand at this art form.

Cornerstone would like to thank the George and Francis Ball Foundation for generously funding this project. The renovation of the ceramics studio would not have been possible without their continued support of Cornerstone’s arts program. As a non-profit arts center, Cornerstone’s success is made possible by the generous support of all of the local Foundations that contribute to its arts programming.

The studio will be named for Jasen Combs, who has taught ceramics at Cornerstone for the past 14 years, since the inception of the ceramics program. Combs recalls that in the first session just three classes were offered for youth and adults with about five students per class. In 2017, the program has grown to offer six weekly classes and served over 100 students in classes, camps, and workshops.

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. 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 students have no previous experience with clay and he can watch how they develop and grow in the class. 

The ribbon cutting and open house for the J. Combs Ceramics Studio at Cornerstone Center for the Arts will be on Thursday, February 1, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in conjunction with February’s First Thursday. This will be the public’s first chance to see the completed studio before spring classes begin the week of February 5.

For more information regarding the open house or spring classes, call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Gindhart (at Madjax)
514 E. Jackson St. (2nd floor)

“Storytelling with Paint: Art of Stories”

Artist Debra Gindhart Dragoo of GindART Madjax will have an opening reception from 5-8pm. Come meet the artist and enjoy some light refreshments.

Debra notes that “Art can mean a great many things to different people, or even to the artist who created it! To see highly charged works, my labor is to design great things for people who [have] a story that needs to be told. This is my artist journey and way of life. These powerful pieces giving visual voice to many different issues, some social & some which also have global implications.”

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E. Main

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Company will open the exhibition “Favorite Neighbors” to celebrate the completion of renovations on the Boyce Block, our home, on Thursday February 1, 5 – 8 pm.   

During the First Thursday party and throughout the month of February, we express our congratulations to our great neighbors by contributing a portion of all sales of paintings, prints, jewelry, and pottery to Muncie Civic Theatre. 

“It is so nice to hear actors rehearsing and singing in the building again,” says Gordy owner Barbara Schafer.  “We admire their hard work keeping a full performance schedule over the past year in other venues.  Now we are glad to have them back.”

Favorite Neighbors is a show that offers works of art by more than 25 East Central Indiana artists including many of our favorites from shows over the past year.  Carl and Barbara Schafer will discuss the show during a brief talk at 6:15. 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 Valentine’s Day.

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 show will run throughout February and new works will be continually added to replace things that are purchased and removed.

Muncie Civic Theatre
216 E. Main

Stop by Muncie Civic Theatre to check out the renovations to the lobby and theatre, rock out to some 80's music, enjoy some wine, and enter to win a pair of tickets to see “Rock of Ages” on Valentine's Day.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S. Walnut

Muncie Makes Lab presents “Year in Review,” a collection of work by architecture and landscape architecture students from Ball State’s College of Architecture and Planning. The work – including submissions by Mia Baker, Anna Goodman, Shelby Harris, Allison Hoagland, Max Jolly, Dan Kaiser, Emma Mappes, Richard Meagher, Antonio Medina, Daniele Scheeringa, Alex Storz, Brendon Towle, Daniel Velasco, and Maggie Weighner, and curated by Benjamin Slightom and Megan York – covers a wide range of design projects. Together, the body of work begins to frame a range of questions posed in the field of design and offers an array of speculative responses.

Studio Exhale
103 N. High St.

“Observations in Black and White” by Angie Ridge Hedman

This body of work is a collection of photographs that were inspired from the views of Angie's downtown studio, architecture, street finds, and shadows. Capturing beauty within flaws is what inspires Angie as an artist. She purposely chose to photograph in black and white because it allowed her to document a specific moment and mood that color couldn't provide.

Angie Hedman is an artist, writer, and art educator (Monroe Central Jr/Sr High School), and the newest gallery coordinator at The Cup in the BSU village. She holds bachelors and masters degrees from Ball State University in the areas of Art Education and Metals. Although her primary areas of focus are jewelry and sculpture, her most recent bodies of work have consisted of abstract acrylic paintings, and black and white photography. When she isn't teaching, or spending time with her family, she can be found in her downtown Muncie studio either working on art or writing.

Thre3e Wisemen Brewing Co.
625 S. High St.

Thr3eWismen Brewing Co. will have a tapping party at 7pm of their latest beer, “Love Potion #3.”

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!