April's First Thursday (full listing)

When Thursday, April 4, 2024
5:00pm to 8:00pm
Where Downtown Muncie
Many Locations throughout Downtown Muncie
What Art exhibitions, drawing, painting, photography, design, paper crafts, jewelry, first thursday
111 Arts Gallery's 420 Event 111 Arts Gallery's 420 Event 111 Arts Gallery's 420 Event 111 Arts Gallery's 420 Event Buy one get one free entrees at the Clubhouse from 5-9pm Buy one get one free entrees at the Clubhouse from 5-9pm Owls for Change at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Owls for Change at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Total Eclipse of the Heartland at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Total Eclipse of the Heartland at Cornerstone Center for the Arts DJ Kendrick Shadoan of KLS Digital at Cornerstone Center for the Arts DJ Kendrick Shadoan of KLS Digital at Cornerstone Center for the Arts John Morris at Gordy Fine Art and Framing, Co. John Morris at Gordy Fine Art and Framing, Co. Join Child Adult Resource Services/Beyond I Can day center for a special Join Child Adult Resource Services/Beyond I Can day center for a special "Pot Your Own Plant" Event! at Madjax Join Child Adult Resource Services/Beyond I Can day center for a special Join Child Adult Resource Services/Beyond I Can day center for a special "Pot Your Own Plant" Event! at Madjax Nick Martin, Muncie Artist Guild's Nick Martin, Muncie Artist Guild's "Artist of the Month" for April, various locations Nick Martin, Muncie Artist Guild's Nick Martin, Muncie Artist Guild's "Artist of the Month" for April, various locations Cajun Night at Vera Mae's! Cajun Night at Vera Mae's!

111 Arts Gallery 
111 E. Main
111 Arts Gallery is hosting our 420 event with tattoo flash and art representing the counter culture from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and onward. Representing stoner culture, tattoo flash art, and get what ya’ get deals, as well as special flash drawn for the solar eclipse event. 420!!! We are also looking for submissions to fill up some future dates for solo art shows at the shop. If you are interested please email tattooondiana@yahoo.com or call (765) 282-8342 or walk in with a portfolio or idea for project. We are celebrating 17 years downtown as 111 Arts Gallery. Hope to see you on Main Street! 

The Clubhouse
115 S. Walnut
Stop by The Clubhouse for dinner on First Thursday! All entrees are buy one get one free at equal or lesser value from 5pm until 9pm. 

Cornerstone Center for the Arts
520 E. Main
OWLS FOR CHANGE A local arts project with fourth and fifth graders led by Danielle Smith Phelps; visual arts educator. They are going to be creating owls using recycled material, paper Mâché and plaster strips. Burris Laboratory School art students will sell their work during the April 4 First Thursday at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Students will donate the proceeds to a nonprofit of their choice. They are calling it, OWLS FOR CHANGE. Meet these talented art students and their inspiring teacher on the April 4 First Thursday at CCA.

The Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery will be hosting Maya Doss extended exhibition.

Total eclipse of the heartLAND with local art. FIRST THURSDAY on April 4 from 5-8 pm at Cornerstone Center for the Arts, 520 E Main St, Second Floor/Great Room.

Celebrate this extraordinary atmospheric experience with Muncie’s talented artists and creative makers! Our pop-up community capturing their creative visions every month. We are grateful and proud of our artists and makers. Join us as our musical guest DJ Kendrick Shadoan of KLS Digital. His music makes the evening danceable!

Artist in Residence and Community Arts Advocate, Debra Gindhart Dragoo is coordinating this event. For additional information on First Thursday, rentals and events call 765-281-9503

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. 
224 E. Main
Gordy Fine Art and Framing is proud to highlight the art of graphic artist John Morris who has lived in Muncie since 2014. The party will be on First Thursday, April 4, from 5 – 8 pm. The artist will be on hand.  Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited to attend.

For this exhibition, Morris has made layered collages with physical clippings from comic books which he then translates into digital pixelated images in a computer program allowing them to be interpreted as a pattern for his larger-scale compositions made of Perler Beads. 

Perler Beads originated as a therapeutic hobby for the elderly and is a medium far removed from the immediacy of digital design. His use of round beads introduces a contrast with the square pixels typical of digital images. The labor-intensive nature of working with the beads, which requires assembling thousands of beads by hand and fusing them together with heat, serves as a method for Morris to "reclaim labor."

At 6:15, John will speak about his work and his process. 

The exhibit will remain on view through April 27. 

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. Summer Invitational may also be viewed through the end of August during regular 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.

Made in Muncie
313 S. Walnut
Made In Muncie will have an opening reception for artist Aimee Maychack on April 4th from 5-8pm From the Artist: My artwork is an invitation to the viewer to step into the narrative, to insert themselves into the stories I tell through color, lives, texture, and imagination. For my story I focus on queerness, connections, sense of self from my own life and patterns, textures, and images from nature infiltrate my art. It compels the viewer to confront preconceived notions, reject binary thinking, and hold two ideas at once. My stories, my art, generate a dialog with you. What stories would you tell?

Madjax Muncie
515 E. Main St.
Join Child Adult Resource Services/Beyond I Can day center for a special "Pot Your Own Plant" Event! Come choose your very own, handmade ceramic pot or a painted terracotta pot to plant a variety of seeds. Support your community and celebrate the solar eclipse by bringing a new plant into the world!

Dirt and seeds will be provided. 
Handmade pots: $5
Terracotta pots: $2
Located in the Madjax Makerforce building

Madjax Spring Fling
Come out for an evening of FREE family fun featuring a custom air freshener workshop in the Design Lab, a mural unveiling, art vendors, and plenty of kid-friendly crafts and activities! Our partners from the East Central Neighborhood Association and Delaware County Master Gardeners are joining us to bring more Spring-themed fun, including a plant-potting station and more.

Muncie Artist’s Guild
Various locations
Nick Martin is the Muncie Artists Guild's “Artist of the Month” for April 2024. 

Nick’s Artist Statement/Bio: 
I'm a local artist who loves to paint, draw, and experiment with art materials.  I mostly do genre paintings: portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and abstracts.  I like to work on a small scale so I can put in lots of details and move on to a fresh idea within a sitting or two.  I earned my MFA from SIUE in Drawing and Studio Art, studied at Purdue, Alma College, and NMU.  I started an Art group called Yorktown Art Lover's League in 2023, we meet every third Wednesday of the month at Smith Street Studios from 5-8pm.  I teach art classes at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts and the YOC, do private art lessons, and teach tennis at the YMCA.  I love teaching, probably because I've had some really exceptional teachers and am very curious.  I try to make my classrooms and events as fun and educational as possible.  It's great to see people with little art experience become surprised and enthusiastic about making more art, and it's always good to spend time with playful and creative people.  My favorite part about art is sharing what I love and building our art community.  People that make things have to put themselves out there a little, you have to be brave and genuine to do that. 

His work will be shown at the following locations: Northwest Bank (E Charles), Old National Bank (S Madison), Rosebud Coffee House, Vera Mae's Bistro, and Parlour Salon. 

Vera Mae’s Bistro
207-209 S. Walnut
First Thursday Cajun Night at Vera’s! Featuring Fresh Oysters other Cajun fixin’s.