April's First Thursday (full listing)

Matt Blanchfield at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Debra Gindhart at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Pat Nelson at Gordy Fine Art and Framing Co. Thomas Heatherly, Muncie Artist Guild "Artist of the Month" Thomas Heatherly, Muncie Artist Guild "Artist of the Month" Community, Collaborations, & Celebrations: Six Years of Studio 165+, 2nd floor, Muncie Makes Lab I Tried MFA thesis exhibition, 1st floor, Muncie Makes Lab

Cornerstone Center for the Arts
520 E. Main
Artists participating in the First Thursday, Cornerstone Center for the Arts new monthly arts show, will be displaying their art in the Great Room on the second floor of the building at 520 E. Main Street on April 6 from 5-8 p.m.

Community artists/creatives displaying in April include Cornerstone Center for the Arts staff artists Eugene Boyd, community artists Crosby Family Art, Val Kelley, Jill Palumbo, Ronn Brown, Catherine Cox, Kat and Shannah Mesaros, Miranda Quakenbush, Willow Walters, Christine Barber Bush, Morris Gibbons, Debra Gindhart Dragoo, Angel Gillette, Tom Stader, Brenda McCoy, Shila Youngblood, Rock Art, Deb-Wand Love, Morgan Mercer, Monet Terrell Wright,  TKeyS Crafts and Creations, Sarah Herbert, Grace Longfellow, Tina Caines, Hallie Gick, Nathan Stotler and Maevyn Stone alongside her daughters and Olivia Morrow and  Resident Artist Debra Gindhart Dragoo, who coordinates First Thursday. 

This month’s featured Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery artist is Matt Blanchfield, a Cornerstone instructor. Local musician Katie Jo Robinson will provide accompaniment. Dragoo says “We believe it is important to encourage the creative paths of our artists, we also celebrate the youth who are creative artists in the community.”

Cornerstone offers opportunities for creative expression for all with visual arts, dance, music, and martial arts classes. Cornerstone also provides community and rental spaces in a historic setting. Thousands of area residents attend proms, weddings,23 corporate conferences and civic events at Cornerstone each year. Cornerstone is home to artists and art organizations including The Masterworks Chorale and Orchestra Indiana. For additional information on First Thursday,art classes, rentals and events, please go to www.cornerstonearts.org or call 765-281-9503 EXT. 150.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. 
224 E. Main
Gordy Fine Art & Framing opening party for Legacies: Pat Nelson and the Ball State Metals + Jewelry Program, 5-8pm. 

Gordy is proud to highlight the history and legacy of the Metals + Jewelry Program in the School of Art at Ball State in a new exhibit on Thursday April 6, 5 – 8 pm.  For nearly four decades, Distinguished Professor Pat Nelson led the program and mentored numerous students who are now forging their own careers as artists and educators.   The exhibition will highlight work by Pat Nelson, and Associate Professor of Art, Jessica Calderwood, who now leads the program, along with more than a dozen alumni who have successful careers in the arts.  The exhibitors will be on hand during the evening to engage with viewers and answer questions.  Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited to attend. 

At 6:15 Pat Nelson will speak about her work and the decades long influence of the program.

The Ball State Metals Program was founded in 1961 by Ned Griner.  He brought Pat Nelson to continue building the program in 1979. Since then, she has been a major contributor to the arts community of Muncie, Ball State, and the larger art field through her art practice, teaching and professional service.  She has a long legacy of students who have successful careers as artists and educators.  This exhibition will feature her as an individual artist and her effect as an educator who built the Ball State Metals + Jewelry program that launches careers and attracts nationally important faculty and continues to thrive. Exhibiting alumni include Aimee Clinger, Amanda Bergman, Dana Fear, Emily Pellini, Guadalupe Navarro, Jakob Rosenberger, Lydia Fast, Natalie Lowe, Rebecca Zink, Stacey Webber, Taylor Fentz, Tessa Rickard-Carpenter, Paula Rice, and Andrea Jackson.

The exhibit will be on view with works for sale in the gallery and at gordyframing.com through April 29, 2023. 

Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company promotes talented artists, provides appraisals, restores antique frames, 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, 10 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

Muncie Artist’s Guild
Various locations
Tom Heatherly is the Muncie Artists Guild’s featured artist for April 2023. Heatherly worked at Muncie Community Schools for more than two decades before retiring in 2011. Since that time, he has been pursuing his passion for oil painting. His hard work at honing his painting skills has paid off with success as he has won several awards for his paintings in the past ten years. In 2019 he won the Peoples’ Choice Award at the Muncie Artists Guild’s Annual Show.   

Heatherly prefers to paint people, landscapes, and buildings. His wartime experience also influences his artwork.  Heatherly is a Vietnam War Army Veteran who served in the 25th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division from 1970 to 1971. He has created several paintings of soldiers in action from this time period. One of these paintings is proudly on permanent display in the Yorktown American Legion.  

Tom will be displaying his work at the following businesses for the month of April:
Northwest Bank, 110 E Charles St. 
Old National Bank, 2401 S Madison St.
Parlour at Hazelwood Hair Salon, 1300 W University Ave  
Rosebud Coffee House, 1805 S Hoyt Ave.
Vera Mae’s Bistro, 207-209 S Walnut St. 

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S. Walnut
Community, Collaborations, & Celebrations: Six Years of Studio 165+
2nd floor, 5-8pm
Coordinators: Maddy Burton, Kyra Morgan, and Prof Shantanu Suman
Studio 165+ is putting together our first-ever show to celebrate turning six years old. It will be a new experience for us because we are usually busy in our studio, burning the midnight oil, listening to our favorite music, and creating projects for our community partners. If you have ever crossed paths with us—knowingly or unknowingly—we invite you to check out the show on Thursday, April 6, on the second floor of Muncie Makes Lab from 5 to 8 p.m. The show will celebrate the collaborations with our local community that shaped our team and helped us make fantastic friends. We hope you will come and bring your friends and family to meet the faces behind Studio 165+ and help us celebrate Muncie.

Sarah Zimmerman  I Tried MFA thesis exhibition
1st floor, 6-9pm, with an artist’s talk at 7pm
I tried strips away the barriers of status and surface adornment in a humble effort to be seen without concealment of my flaws and failures of my present and past. What I hold to be sacred and personal is extended as an offering for mutual compassion and understanding. 

Additional viewing by appt or Mar 31-Apr 2; Apr 7-8 from 6-8pm contact IG:@sjz_artist

Muncie Map Co.
111 E. Adams
Muncie Map Co. will be hosting a wake to commemorate the death of its brick-and-mortar retail location. We'll have a big card on the front window for you to sign bidding MMC "not goodbye, but see you later!" Everything we have left (if we have anything left, including fixtures) will be DEEPLY discounted, we *might* have refreshments (if Andy can afford them), and he'll be leading a short Jazz Funeral parade around the block and back to the shop starting at 6pm. Come pay final respects and celebrate a now-legendary but ultimately impossible local retail storefront that still managed to survive longer than the Confederacy... take that, racists!

The Second Story Lounge at the Downtown Farm Stand
107 S. Mulberry
Join us, and local artists for a community jam during First Thursday (& every Thursday)!

To celebrate First Thursday, April 6th, we'll be offering an Arts Walk punch & sampler plates from our Menu. Stop in and enjoy craft cocktails, fabulous music, and amazing food in this hip, historic venue ~ a truly unique experience! We are located above The Downtown Farm Stand at 107 S Mulberry Street.  For more information, Click HERE