Sunday September 14^th was Community Day here at the museum. We offered so many great activities for people of all ages to enjoy! Throughout the afternoon, one could sit in the Sculpture Court and listen to live classic R&B and smooth jazz played by the band Pegues, Peterson, and Dunn.Their music is great and they were all really friendly people.

Off of the sculpture court in the Brown Study room, kids could create their own works of art inspired by David Chihuly. Also in the Brown Study Room, you could create your own artistic print inspired by the opening of our new exhibition Reverse and Repeat: Master Prints from the DOMA Collection. On the other side of the museum in the Asian Art Gallery, Shodo Japanese calligrapher, Garrett Uyeno, demonstrated his skill. All you had to do was tell him your name and he would very elegantly swipe his inked brush across a sheet of paper and write your name in beautiful Japanese characters. Back in the Ethnographic Gallery, performance artist Deborah Asante told African and African American folklores to a group of very attentive children of all ages. She told stories from Kenya and the Congo about love and respect. Late in the afternoon, docent Sigi Koehler lead an impromptu discussion of Lee Krasner’s Abstract Expressionist painting Left Bird Right to a handful of children. It was very cool. The children sat respectfully on the floor in front of the massive painting and examined it as Sigi asked them questions. This “event” wasn’t even on the Community Day program! So you never know what kind of treat you’re in for when you visit the museum!

In addition to these fun, hands-on events, the museum also debuted 2 new exhibitions and 1 new gallery. After being closed for some time, our Contemporary Craft gallery on the second floor is now open and is filled with beautiful artworks ready to be viewed by you. As mentioned before, our prints exhibition Reverse and Repeat is now open in the Brown Study Room. It displays prints made using three different techniques, relief, intaglio, and planographic. And back on the second floor was the opening of Great Things from Small Packages: The Drawing and Sculptire Shows in the Special Exhibition galleries. I would have to admit that walking around this gallery was absolute favorite part of the day. And I think a lot of visitors would agree with me. While observing the works in the galleries for my own pleasure, I overheard several people praising the exhibit saying “This is terrific!” and “This is a good show!” One of Ball State’s metal professors, Patricia Nelson, said her favorite thing about the exhibit is “…seeing all the works that the museum has purchased over the years together in one show.” This show has been exhibited by the David Owsley Museum of Art before and she remembers it as a show that was respected by the whole country. She even remembers seeing some of the works here before when she was a graduate student! Another awesome thing about this particular show, is many of the artworks were done by Ball State students or Muncie locals. In fact, artist Ned Houston Griner, who made two sculptures currently on display in this gallery and our Contemporary Craft gallery, was at the museum Sunday! Even though I talked to his wife and not the artist himself, it was very cool to see him in the museum, not only interested in his work in the exhibit, but also admiring the other works.

The Drawing and Small Sculpture Show and the Reverse and Repeat exhibits will be open through January 4^th.