Artist Brandon Beeson

Everyone was really interested in the printmaking process!

We held our second Final Friday event at the museum a few weeks ago on October 24. This event was very social and a lot of fun! The museum stayed open after hours, from 5pm-9pm, to give visitors more time to view our galleries. We provided our visitors with snacks and a cash bar in the sculpture court. All night long, artist Brandon Beeson painted wonderful portraits of guests who sat for him. At 6, art education student, Erin McAtee, along with Ball State professors David and Sarojini Johnson, led a printmaking demonstration in the Brown Study Room. This was very fitting because the museum currently has its own prints show on view in the same room, Reverse and Repeat: Master Prints from the DOMA Collection!

David Johnson led a quick impromptu “tour” of our prints show in the Brown Study Room.

Erin was very knowledgeable about the topic and demoed how one would make a print using woodcut and etching techniques.

At 7, the Pecha Kucha presentations began. These presentations are a quick and concise way to promote your business, organization, or self. The topic for this Final Friday was Nexus, meaning a connection between links and ideas. We had 5 very interesting presenters who spoke about organizations around town meant to bring like-minded people together and kind of the joys of Muncie. A couple of my favorite presentations were by make-up artist, Brian Blair, and Muncie designer and “boomeranger” Ty Morton. Blair, a BSU alum, runs several of his own businesses (Pumpkin Pulp, Brian Blair Studios, and Scarevania). He actually creates all the frightening but amazing props that scare us as we walk through that haunted house attraction on Granville Avenue! Seriously, if you’re not too scared, check out his work.

Brian Blair and one of his creepy creations

Another great presentation was by Ty Morton. Ty is the Principal for Tylonious Studio, Inc. and serves on the board of Muncie/Delaware Clean & Beautiful. His presentation, titled “Ball Jar Full of Dirt”, was my favorite presentation of the night. Although he traveled around and left Muncie, he kept returning (blaming it on some tale that if you want to leave Muncie forever, you have to fill up a Ball jar with Muncie dirt and take it with you when you leave to stay away. Have you heard this story before??). What I really loved about his presentation is that he really cared for the city of Muncie. All too often we hear people talk down about the typical American small town, Muncie is sadly no exception. But although Ty talked about Muncie always reeling him

Ty Morton and the ideas and life that bloomed from his Ball jar full of dirt.

back in, you could tell he really enjoyed our town. And that was refreshing. Ty’s remarks on the night’s events were very positive, “It was particularly exciting to see so many people from different disciplines participating in an event built around a theme of coming together. But then, that’s one of the great things about Muncie. People here are inspired to share their passions.”

This event was a lot of fun and super informative about the events and building and community in general of Muncie. Our next Final Friday is not scheduled yet, but keep your eyes peeled for more information! In the meantime, come visit the galleries and check our special exhibitions, Great Things in Small Packages: The Drawing and Small Sculpture Show and the before mentioned print show, Reverse and Repeat.