Jessie Fisher

Join Cornerstone Center for the Arts on Thursday, June 7, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm for Bad Art Night at Cornerstone. Leave your talent at the door and create your best disasterpiece at this free event. Bad Art Night encourages attendees to create the tackiest, ugliest, and most ridiculous artwork with a chance to win prizes. Bad Art Night on First Thursday will take place in Studio A on the second floor of Cornerstone Center for the Arts.

This event is co-hosted by Muncie Public Library and Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Bad Art Night is a monthly workshop that rotates between the locations of Cornerstone Center for the Arts and Maring Hunt Library.

For more information about Bad Art Night, call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts on Thursday, October 4 for the opening reception of A Nature Walk with God, featuring a collection of landscape paintings by regional artist Barbara Kuntz. The reception will take place in the newly renovated Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone Center for the Arts from 5:00 to 7:00 pm in conjunction with October’s First Thursday ArtsWalk.

In the collection, A Nature Walk with God, artist Barbara Kuntz utilizes the act of painting to explore a journey of self-expression. Drawn to nature as a place of rejuvenation, Barbara began each painting using only the memories of places she has been as inspiration. She then allows the painting to evolve into an image of its own making. This experiential process encourages the paint colors, the paint brushes, and a little technique to create work that allows the imperfections in life to exist without an eraser. Barbara has found natural reoccurring subjects; trees, water, rocks, and sky within her body of work creating a sense of solitude and peace.

Barbara Kuntz is a retired art educator who loves nature. She graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science in Art Education. She later earned a Master’s in Education from Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana. Barbara taught in Fort Wayne Community Schools on the elementary level for 21 years. Barbara currently resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

­­­A Nature Walk with God will be on display and open to the public in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery throughout the month of October.

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts on Thursday, November 1 for the opening reception of Studies In Isolation, an art exhibition by Shannon Mehaffey. The reception will take place in the newly renovated Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone Center for the Arts from 5:00 to 7:00 pm in conjunction with November’s First Thursday events.

Studies In Isolation is a mixed media series of paintings depicting derelict and vacant landscapes. Abandoned buildings, factories, blight, and power lines all serving as metaphors for loss, grief, and enduring hardship within oneself and surviving. The artist tries to convey a sense of beauty and wonder using color despite the blight around her; fueling a sense of optimism and a drive for survival.

Shannon Mehaffey is an artist and educator living and working in Muncie, Indiana. She teaches watercolor painting and mixed media arts to adults and youth at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Her work often incorporates elements of collage, alternative process photography, watercolor painting and drawing. Common concepts explored throughout the works often come from personal histories of growth, redemption, feminism, survivorship, and grief.

Studies In Isolation will be on display and open to the public in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery throughout the month of November.

For more information about the exhibition call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts on Thursday, January 3 for the opening reception of Artist Turned Farmer, an art exhibition by Erica Markley. The reception will take place in the newly renovated Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone Center for the Arts from 5:00 to 7:00 pm in conjunction with January’s First Thursday events.

Through her work on a small homestead, Erica Markley has developed a style of painting that is best described as delicate and familiar. Painting scenes that are derived from her mental and physical residence, her visions of a distant landscape are inspired from memory and longing. Adduced from her own thoughts, the colors she puts to canvas are “landscapes coming from a familiar and detached place”. While she has been using acrylic and oil to define her art since 2015, her work has branched into multiple areas of uniqueness including animal husbandry and agriculture. Now, she experiments with portraits of strangers and the creation of tangible, locally made products. Erica’s mantra is that through art, one is set free to see the world as they wish.

Artist Turned Farmer will be on display and open to the public in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery throughout the month of January.

For more information about the exhibition call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts, in partnership with PrimeTrust Federal Credit Union, will host the Young Artist Exhibition on Thursday, March 14 for school-age children in Delaware County. The show will feature the artwork of students in kindergarten through twelfth grades who reside in or attend school in Delaware County. The public reception on March 14 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. will take place in the Colonnade Room at Cornerstone Center for the Arts with awards being announced at 6:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

This is the third year for the show which will feature both 2D and 3D artwork submitted by hundreds of local students. Entries will be placed into six categories: kindergarten-second, third-fifth, sixth-eighth 2D, sixth-eighth 3D, ninth-twelfth 2D, and ninth-twelfth 3D. Submissions will be accepted at Cornerstone Center for the Arts’ second floor information desk from Wednesday, February 27 through Friday, March 8. Teachers may submit up to 10 pieces of work or students may submit up to three of their own pieces with assistance from a parent or guardian. Prize packages, including cash awards, will be awarded for first, second, third, and honorable mentions in each category. A panel of community judges will select winners prior to the public reception.

Winning artwork will be on display at Cornerstone Center for the Arts during the month of April. The opening reception for the winners showcase will be held on Thursday, April 4 in which all winners are invited to attend and share their work with the public. Additionally, winning artwork may be displayed at PrimeTrust Federal Credit Union’s three locations.

More information about the Young Artist Exhibition, including submission forms, guidelines, and rules is available online at youngartistexhibition.com or by calling Cornerstone at 765-281-9503.

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts on Thursday, April 4 for the gallery opening honoring the winners of the Young Artist Exhibition. The reception will take place in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone from 5 to 7 p.m. in conjunction with April’s First Thursday events.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts, in partnership with PrimeTrust Federal Credit Union, hosted the Young Artist Exhibition on Thursday, March 14 for school-age children in Delaware County. The show featured the artwork of students in kindergarten through twelfth grades who reside in or attend school in Delaware County. Students that placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Honorable Mention will have their artwork on display in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone for the month of April. Artwork will then be displayed at PrimeTrust Federal Credit Union’s three branches.

For more information about the exhibition call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.

Cornerstone Center for the Arts will conclude its current class session with its Spring Celebration on Sunday, May 5. This recital will include dance and music performances and a student art gallery.

Act 1 will begin at 2 p.m. in the E.B. Ball Auditorium, followed by Act 2 beginning at 4:00 p.m. The student art gallery will be on display and open to the public for the entirety of the event from 2:00-5:30 pm in the Colonnade Room. During intermission between 3:30-4:00 pm the Improvisational Belly Dancing and Marital Arts classes will hold demonstrations. Light refreshments will be available. The event will continue until 5:30 p.m.

Celebration will highlight the work of this session’s youth and adult dance, art, marital arts, and private lesson music students. Information about the upcoming summer class session will be available at the event. Celebration is free and open to the public. For more information visit cornerstonearts.org or call the Education Department at 765-281-9503.

Join Cornerstone Center for Arts on Thursday, June 6 for the opening reception of Sparking Nostalgia Through Pop Culture, an art exhibition by Will Britton Jr. The reception will take place in the Judith Barnes Memorial Gallery on the second floor of Cornerstone from 5 to 7 p.m. in conjunction with June’s First Thursday events.

Sparking Nostalgia Through Pop Culture is a collection of pop culture icons. From the obscure to the more commonly known, Britton’s work brings forth nostalgia from childhood favorites. The work invokes those things that would get you up early on Saturday with a big bowl of cereal eager to turn on cartoons. Those things that when you see them, you remember time, place, taste, and smell. Britton’s work seeks to transport viewers back to the joy of childhood.

Will Britton Jr. was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. He graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1997 and then went on to Vincennes University where he studied Fine Arts until he transferred to The Art Academy of Cincinnati. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with his specialty being printmaking. He has worked steadily making the art he loves while also working in social services. He lives in Muncie with his wife, children, an old dog and a bossy cat.  His everyday life consists of wrangling chaos and disorder, making items for local markets and a little D & D as time permits.

For more information about the exhibition call Cornerstone’s Department of Education & Communication at 765-281- 9503, ext. 23 or visit cornerstonearts.org.