21 past events with the plyspace tag

Join PlySpace Resident Fellow, Dave Rowe, for an afternoon of aluminum casting demonstrations, with beer and bratwurst, at Madjax! Minors and supervised children are welcome.

Dave will demonstrate the aluminum casting process using his custom foundry, built during his time at the PlySpace residency this summer.  The demonstration will be held at the Madjax outdoor patio adjacent to Guardian Brewery on Saturday, July 14th. The event will begin at 2:00 PM, with aluminum pours on the hour at 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00.  This demonstration event is free and open to the public. For an additional fee of $10, interested audience members can make a small shape in clay which will be cast during the demonstration. All supplies will be provided, and participation is first-come-first-serve, with a limit of one casting per person until supplies run out. A selection of beer will be available through Guardian Brewery (21 and over), and Bratwurst will be available for purchase from Tastes Good on a Bun ($4 a Brat!).

Dave Rowe is a sculptor, educator, and fabricator. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Sculptural Practices at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and holds a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and an MFA from Indiana University Bloomington.

Learn more about Dave and his fellowship at PlySpace!

PlySpace is a program of Muncie Arts and Culture Council in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art, and Sustainable Muncie Corporation. PlySpace is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Muncie Arts and Culture Council’s artist-in-residence program PlySpace continues its summer programming with a new project in collaboration with the Muncie Tuhey Pool and PlySpace resident artist  Anthony Bowers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bowers will partner with the Tuhey Pool as the site for his Pool Project, an interactive art-making experience using the public pool as a catalyst for creativity.

The goal of Bowers’ Pool Project is to collaboratively explore the site of the pool as a social space through listening, sharing stories, and art making. Working with the artist, patrons will be invited to listen to the sound of pools using underwater hydrophones, to share experiences through interviews, and to make artwork at the pool during dedicated project hours. Bowers is interested in the ways that the public space of a community pool can enhance relationships and break down barriers in a neighborhood. During short, voluntary interview sessions, participants will be asked to examine the benefits of having access to a community pool and the role that a pool plays in their summer experience. Bowers will also have an underwater microphone listening station set up at the pool which will bring the underwater sounds of the pool to life.

In addition to the sound component of the project, participants will have the chance to exercise their creativity by making poolside Cyanotype sun prints, a process where objects are placed on a piece of photographic paper and exposed in the sunlight, revealing vibrant blue and white silhouettes or shadows. This process is an exciting way to commemorate the pool experience and bring an unexpected activity to a popular summer destination.  All participants will make one Cyanotype sun print to take home as well as one to leave with the artist. These sun prints will be used in a forthcoming exhibition at the PlySpace Gallery documenting the work and projects of all three PlySpace Summer Residents.

Meet the artist and join the Pool Project at the following locations:

Muncie Tuhey Pool (free with pool admission)
Sunday, August 19th from 12-6PM
Saturday, August 25thfrom 12-7 PM 
Sunday, August 26th from 12-6PM

Bowers will also be at the Catalina Swim Club during the following dates:

Catalina Swim Club (free with membership or visitors pass)
Saturday, August 18th from 12-6 PM (Member’s Grill Day and Kid’s Day)
Monday, August 20th from 12-6 PM
Wednesday, August 22nd from  12-6 PM
Thursday (rain day - hours TBA if needed)
Friday, August 24th from 4-8 PM

Updates to the project dates and times, as well as rain cancelation information, will be posted at www.plyspace.org and on the PlySpace Facebook page. 

PlySpace is a program of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art, and Sustainable Muncie Corporation. PlySpace is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more at www.plyspace.org

Muncie Arts and Culture Council’s artist-in-residence program PlySpace continues its summer programming with a new project in collaboration with the Muncie Tuhey Pool and PlySpace resident artist  Anthony Bowers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bowers will partner with the Tuhey Pool as the site for his Pool Project, an interactive art-making experience using the public pool as a catalyst for creativity.

The goal of Bowers’ Pool Project is to collaboratively explore the site of the pool as a social space through listening, sharing stories, and art making. Working with the artist, patrons will be invited to listen to the sound of pools using underwater hydrophones, to share experiences through interviews, and to make artwork at the pool during dedicated project hours. Bowers is interested in the ways that the public space of a community pool can enhance relationships and break down barriers in a neighborhood. During short, voluntary interview sessions, participants will be asked to examine the benefits of having access to a community pool and the role that a pool plays in their summer experience. Bowers will also have an underwater microphone listening station set up at the pool which will bring the underwater sounds of the pool to life.

In addition to the sound component of the project, participants will have the chance to exercise their creativity by making poolside Cyanotype sun prints, a process where objects are placed on a piece of photographic paper and exposed in the sunlight, revealing vibrant blue and white silhouettes or shadows. This process is an exciting way to commemorate the pool experience and bring an unexpected activity to a popular summer destination.  All participants will make one Cyanotype sun print to take home as well as one to leave with the artist. These sun prints will be used in a forthcoming exhibition at the PlySpace Gallery documenting the work and projects of all three PlySpace Summer Residents.

Meet the artist and join the Pool Project at the following locations:

Muncie Tuhey Pool (free with pool admission)
Sunday, August 19th from 12-6PM
Saturday, August 25thfrom 12-7 PM 
Sunday, August 26th from 12-6PM

Bowers will also be at the Catalina Swim Club during the following dates:

Catalina Swim Club (free with membership or visitors pass)
Saturday, August 18th from 12-6 PM (Member’s Grill Day and Kid’s Day)
Monday, August 20th from 12-6 PM
Wednesday, August 22nd from  12-6 PM
Thursday (rain day - hours TBA if needed)
Friday, August 24th from 4-8 PM

Updates to the project dates and times, as well as rain cancelation information, will be posted here and on the PlySpace Facebook page. 

Muncie Arts and Culture Council’s artist-in-residence program PlySpace continues its summer programming with a new project in collaboration with the Muncie Tuhey Pool and PlySpace resident artist  Anthony Bowers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bowers will partner with the Tuhey Pool as the site for his Pool Project, an interactive art-making experience using the public pool as a catalyst for creativity.

The goal of Bowers’ Pool Project is to collaboratively explore the site of the pool as a social space through listening, sharing stories, and art making. Working with the artist, patrons will be invited to listen to the sound of pools using underwater hydrophones, to share experiences through interviews, and to make artwork at the pool during dedicated project hours. Bowers is interested in the ways that the public space of a community pool can enhance relationships and break down barriers in a neighborhood. During short, voluntary interview sessions, participants will be asked to examine the benefits of having access to a community pool and the role that a pool plays in their summer experience. Bowers will also have an underwater microphone listening station set up at the pool which will bring the underwater sounds of the pool to life.

In addition to the sound component of the project, participants will have the chance to exercise their creativity by making poolside Cyanotype sun prints, a process where objects are placed on a piece of photographic paper and exposed in the sunlight, revealing vibrant blue and white silhouettes or shadows. This process is an exciting way to commemorate the pool experience and bring an unexpected activity to a popular summer destination.  All participants will make one Cyanotype sun print to take home as well as one to leave with the artist. These sun prints will be used in a forthcoming exhibition at the PlySpace Gallery documenting the work and projects of all three PlySpace Summer Residents.

Meet the artist and join the Pool Project at the following locations:

Muncie Tuhey Pool (free with pool admission)
Sunday, August 19th from 12-6PM
Saturday, August 25thfrom 12-7 PM 
Sunday, August 26th from 12-6PM

Bowers will also be at the Catalina Swim Club during the following dates:

Catalina Swim Club (free with membership or visitors pass)
Saturday, August 18th from 12-6 PM (Member’s Grill Day and Kid’s Day)
Monday, August 20th from 12-6 PM
Wednesday, August 22nd from  12-6 PM
Thursday (rain day - hours TBA if needed)
Friday, August 24th from 4-8 PM

Updates to the project dates and times, as well as rain cancelation information, will be posted here and on the PlySpace Facebook page. 

Muncie Arts and Culture Council invites community members to an afternoon of celebration and tours during the PlySpace Open House + Summer Showcase on Saturday, September 8th. Join Muncie’s creative community for a sneak peek inside PlySpace, the home, office, and exhibition space for MACC's artist-in-residence program, and learn more about the Summer 2018 resident artists and the collaborative projects completed during the first full season of programming!

As an artist-in-residence program, PlySpace provides dedicated space and time for participating residents to investigate and pursue their own practices. Additionally, it serves as a platform for experimentation and provocation by catalyzing conversation and collaboration with various Muncie communities. The 2018 Summer Term welcomed Dave Rowe from Las Vegas, Nevada; Kacie Lyn Martinez from Brooklyn, New York; and Anthony Bowers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Installed in the PlySpace Gallery at the north end of the facility, the Summer Showcase will exhibit documents of both the personal and collaborative work conducted by all three residents during their time in Muncie. Resident Fellow and sculptor Dave Rowe worked in the studios at Madjax producing wood sculpture work in preparation for a fall exhibition at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to working with the School of Art at Ball State University to offer unique casting experiences for students, he also held aluminum casting workshops for a variety of nonprofit organizations throughout Muncie. Kacie Lyn Martinez is a participatory fiber artist who joined the program as a Resident Artist and facilitated weaving workshops with groups through the YWCA Muncie and Muncie OUTreach. Her temporary public art installation, the hopes we wear on our backs, invited the community to weave their Muncie hopes into the screens along the west side of Canan Commons and will remain on view into the fall. Pool Project saw Anthony Bowers hosted several interactive art-making sessions at Tuhey Pool and Catalina Swim Club and explored the distinct communities and connectivity created by the summer pool setting. Pool-goers were given the opportunity to create cyanotype prints and participate in underwater listening activities.

MACC members at the Ambassador and Arts Hero levels are invited to attend a VIP reception for the PlySpace Open House + Summer Showcase beginning at 3:30 pm on Saturday, September 8th. The event will open to the public at 4:30 pm. A short program will begin at 5:00 pm in the PlySpace Gallery and includes a ribbon cutting ceremony led by the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. Guests are invited to tour the recently renovated facility at their leisure. Guided tours will be led by PlySpace residency coordinator Erin Williams at 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served, and curious individuals of all ages are encouraged to attend.

Additional event information is available at munciearts.org/openhouse or by phone at 765-215-1961. For more information on MACC membership and to upgrade or renew your memberships, please visit members.munciearts.org.

PlySpace and the Muncie Arts and Culture Council office are located at 608 E Main Street in downtown Muncie, IN. Parking is located in the lot immediate adjacent to the building at Main and Monroe Streets and in the lot South of Madjax on Jackson Street. Please enter through the PlySpace Gallery using the parking lot entrance.

PlySpace and Cornerstone Center for the Arts are excited to pair with PlySpace Resident Linda Ryan to offer free public workshops on dancing and movement with technology.  Ryan’s dance and choreographic work explores dance performance with unconventional costumes, tools, and technologies. She has created movement with velcro suits, wearable audio speakers, GoPro action cameras, and more. 

While in residence at PlySpace, Linda will be researching new technological tools for dancing, including the creation of a heat sensitive modular flooring.  As part of her community collaborative project, she will conduct a series of workshops that explore tools and methods any dancer can use to enhance their practice.

The workshops will all be held at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Participants should register through the Cornerstone website to reserve a space.

Saturday, November 3rd from 1:00 - 2:30 PM

Dance Technology for (Beginner) Adults

This 1.5 hour workshop is part dance technique class, part technology workshop. Come try out some of the gadgets Linda uses in her professional work and learn a dance combination to go with them! No dance experience necessary. This workshop is suitable for ages 16 and up. Wear simple dance attire with socks or bare feet.

Register here for the Adult Beginner Workshop: https://cornerstonearts.org/collections/adult-workshops-1/products/dance-technology-workshop-for-beginner-adults

Participants in the beginner workshop are also welcome to participate in the following Adult Advanced workshop:

Saturday, November 17th from 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Dance Technology for (Advanced) Adults

This 2-hour workshop includes a dance class, a short lecture, and a Q & A session all centered around the role of digital technology in art and performance. Come and learn about the performances Linda creates and make some for yourself! Dance experience preferred. Suitable for ages 16 and up. Wear simple dance attire with socks or bare feet.

Register Here for the Advanced Workshop: https://cornerstonearts.myshopify.com/collections/adult-workshops-1/products/dance-technology-workshop-for-advanced-adults

Linda holds a BA in Dance from the George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, where she received the Luther Rice Research Fellowship as well as the Enosinian Scholars Grant. She is an award-winning dance researcher, conducting movement research and experiential choreography both internationally and at home in the US. Her previous performances include work by The Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Vladimir Conde Reche, Annika B. Lewis, I-Fen Tung, and Anton Ovchinnikov. Linda worked in Washington, DC until 2018 and is now based in upstate New York.

Learn more at www.plyspace.org/events

Dance Technology for (Advanced) Adults

This 2-hour workshop includes a dance class, a short lecture, and a Q & A session all centered around the role of digital technology in art and performance. Come and learn about the performances Linda creates and make some for yourself! Dance experience preferred. Suitable for ages 16 and up. Wear simple dance attire with socks or bare feet.

Register Here for the Advanced Workshop: https://cornerstonearts.myshopify.com/collections/adult-workshops-1/products/dance-technology-workshop-for-advanced-adults

Linda holds a BA in Dance from the George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, where she received the Luther Rice Research Fellowship as well as the Enosinian Scholars Grant. She is an award-winning dance researcher, conducting movement research and experiential choreography both internationally and at home in the US. Her previous performances include work by The Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Vladimir Conde Reche, Annika B. Lewis, I-Fen Tung, and Anton Ovchinnikov. Linda worked in Washington, DC until 2018 and is now based in upstate New York.

Learn more at www.plyspace.org/events

Kevin Titzer is the Spring Fellow at PlySpace, an artist-in-residence program of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council. He will speak about his work and his practice at the School of Art at Ball State University.

Titzer was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana in the United States, although he has been based in the Saguenay region of Quebec for the last nine years. His sculptures are predominantly created from found and scavenged materials. His site-specific installation work is often crafted from materials gathered at the location of construction and formed into improvised house structures. These structures are highly informed by the communities they are created in. Titzer has been exhibiting professionally in art galleries for twenty years and his work has been shown in Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, and across the United States.

PlySpace will hold an Open Studio on the second floor of Madjax on the first Thursday in March, from 5-8 PM. All four of the Spring term residents will offer glimpses into their creative practice and will be available to answer questions about their upcoming projects.

Kevin Titzer
Kevin Titzer was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana in the United States, although he has been based in the Saguenay region of Quebec for the last nine years. His sculptures are predominantly created from found and scavenged materials. His site-specific installation work is often crafted from materials gathered at the location of construction and formed into improvised house structures. These structures are highly informed by the communities they are created in. Titzer has been exhibiting professionally in art galleries for twenty years and his work has been shown in Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, and across the United States.  

Siena Hancock
Siena Hancock is an interdisciplinary artist who makes sculpture, interactive installation and artist books/zines. A Boston native, Hancock graduated Massachusetts College of Art with her BFA in 2016. She has recently completed an installation at the Dirt Palace in Providence, RI and a residency at Main St Arts in Upstate, New York. Research plays an important role in Hancock’s practice, utilizing an ethnographic approach she records interviews with women as part of ongoing project Feminist Utopias. Her current work deals with cyberfeminism, alternative realities, mythology, and how technology affects social customs. 

Matt Litwin & Victoria Eidelsztein (FaceMePor Favor)
After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago seven years ago, Matt Litwin started his own business, Limpio Designs. The name Limpio, which means clean in Spanish, was created to help ‘clean’ oppressive environments in Chicago with positive and colorful artwork. Through Limpio, Litwin had the opportunity to work as a traveling muralist and street artist. Within the medium of murals, he painted artwork that celebrates natural ecosystems and endangered animals. These murals often juxtapose the monotone grey walls of the city with the bold and pastel colors that he paints using aerosols and latex paints. Through his travels, Litwin has inspiration from people in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Thailand, Canada, and the United States. 

Victoria Eidelsztein (Argentina) has a degree in Visual Arts with an orientation in print making. Since 2008 she has exhibited her work in different collective and individual exhibitions: Palais de Glace Museum, La Sin Futuro, El Ojo Errante Gallery, Panal 361 Artist Residency, Freudian School of Buenos Aires, among others. After graduating in 2013, she has been teaching art in different spaces in Buenos Aires: Flexible Lab, Pinta Conmigo and also at Martín Buber and September elementary schools. Her work has progressed through various media: printmaking, drawing, digital art and painting. For the last couple of years Victoria focused her work on portraits. In January and February 2019, Victoria will be a resident artist at Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York.

Learn more about the residents, the program, and the upcoming community projects at www.plyspace.org.

PlySpace is a program of Muncie Arts and Culture Council in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art, and Sustainable Muncie Corporation. PlySpace is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Join us for a Public Art Panel Discussion // Thursday, August 15th, from 6-8 PM at Minnetrista (Indiana Room) // Moderated by Les Smith, incoming Board President for Community Enhancement Projects. This event is free and open to the public.

This panel discussion is the second event in a two-part series on public art hosted by Muncie Arts and Culture Council and PlySpace resident artist Masha Vlasova. The event brings together a range of professional touch points with public art and welcomes Muncie residents and local arts advocates into a broad and informative conversation about its various forms, their impact on quality of place, and mechanisms for commissioning and stewarding works of art for the public.

About the panelists:

Les Smith (Moderator) has been a licensed landscape architect since 1982. He recently completed a 35-year career as a faculty member in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Ball State University. Les is currently the Vice President for Community Enhancement Projects, Inc. (CEP). CEP is a very active Muncie beautification organization. CEP is also responsible for the design, development, funding and maintenance of many familiar community parks and recreation facilities (e.g. Riverbend Park; The White River Greenway Trails; Canan Commons Stage and Park; the Bicentennial Pavilion/Overlook Park, etc.).

Masha Vlasova (Panelist and PlySpace Resident) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Art and a BFA from the Cooper Union.  She’s a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in Filmmaking, Alice Kimball Fellowship, and the JUNCTURE Art and Human Rights Fellowship at Yale Law School. Her photographs, sculptures, and films have been exhibited and screened nationally and internationally at Leeds College of Art and at Braziers Mini Indi Film Festival in the UK, Aspekte Galerie in Germany, Smack Mellon, Anthology Archives, Abrons Arts Center, and the Border Project Gallery in New York City, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University among others. She has presented on her work at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Cooper Union, Davison College, and Ludwig-Maximilians Unversitat Munchen (University of Munich). Her curatorial project “Women Filmmakers at the Intersection of Documentary, Video Art, and Avant Garde,” premiered at Indiana University Cinema at Indiana University at Bloomington the Fall of 2018. This Fall she will start as an Assistant Professor of Lens-based and Digital Art practices at Wofford College.

Lauren M. Pacheco (Panelist) is an arts and culture practitioner with more than 15 years of professional experience in arts administration, curation and project management. Her experience is grounded in social practice and public engagement. Pacheco is co-founder of the Chicago Urban Art Society and the Chicago Lowrider Festival. In 2011, she developed and curated the award-winning public art initiative, Art in Public Places along the 16th street viaduct in Chicago’s Pilsen community. In September 2017, Lauren won a public art grant from the Knight Foundation and will transform outdoor vacant space in Gary, Indiana into a walkable, art-park. She has received grant funding from the Knight Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Legacy Foundation, Chicago Community Trust and the National Association for Latinos Arts and Cultures. Lauren holds degrees from Northwestern University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Richard McCoy (Panelist) is the founding director of the Landmark Columbus Foundation, a non-profit organization that cares for the design heritage of Columbus, Indiana and inspires communities to invest in architecture, art, and design to improve people’s lives and make cities better places to live. Landmark Columbus Foundation is best known for its program Exhibit Columbus which alternates between symposium and exhibition years. McCoy is an experienced cultural leader who creates unique solutions to complex cultural heritage challenges, curates projects in public spaces, and has worked for major U.S. museums while teaching in universities. He has served on and volunteered for boards and committees of numerous cultural organizations. A former Fulbright Scholar to Spain, McCoy holds a master's degree from New York University and a bachelor's degree from Indiana University. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and family.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to learn about public art from distinguished professionals in the field.

Muncie Arts and Culture Council is a nonprofit organization and the designated Arts partner for the City of Muncie. PlySpace is a program of the MACC in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art and Sustainable Muncie Corp. PlySpace is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

PlySpace Resident Co-Fellows Sydney Pursel and Sarah Trad will be joined by guest artist Toby Kaufmann-Buhler for a special PlySpace panel discussion about the intersections of personal family heritage and art practice. Tania Said, the Director of Education for the David Owsley Museum of Art Ball State University, will moderate the discussion held on Thursday, November 14th from 6-8 PM at Ball State University /// Arts & Journalism Building, room 225.

This conversation will ask each of the three interdisciplinary artists to reflect on their use of personal and cultural heritage in their artistic practice. Each panelist has a unique method for working within the sometimes sticky practice of uniting art, performance, and installation with personal family heritage, genealogy, or culture. The artists will share a short presentation about their work, followed by a discussion of how they incorporate personal, family, and cultural heritage successfully into their practice.

About the artists:

Sydney Jane Brooke Campbell Maybrier Pursel is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in interactive, socially engaged, and performance arts. Through art she explores personal identity drawing from her Indigenous and Irish Catholic roots. Some of Pursel's projects are used to educate others about food politics, assimilation, language loss, appropriation, and history in addition to projects amongst her own community focusing on language acquisition, culture and art. Her work has been shown at public parks, universities, galleries, and alternative spaces in across the U.S. and Canada. Pursel received her MFA in Expanded Media at the University of Kansas and her BFA in Painting from the University of Missouri. She was the first recipient of the Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists, received a Rocket Grant through the Charlotte Street Foundation and the Spencer Museum of Art, was selected for the Indigenous Arts Initiative Residency program through the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission and the University of Kansas, was awarded a BeWildReWild Community Art Grant through the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Pursel is an enrolled member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.

Sarah Trad is a video artist and curator who explores the relationship between subjective and objective emotionality, navigating daily life and relationships while faced with mental illness and breaking down stereotypes of gender and narrative. Her work also highlights how mental illness and coming from marginalized backgrounds intersects with internal emotional worlds. The living embodiment of the correlation between chronic depression and binge-watching practices, her work appropriates and manipulates found footage from movies, music videos and television. Trad’s work uses recognizable narrative structures to be viewed in and outside the academy of art, as well as comment on the individual’s relationship to pop culture. Sarah has participated in other residencies, such as the 77Art Residency in Rutland, Vermont and is a recipient of the Carol N. Schmuckler Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film. Sarah’s work has been shown at The Warehouse Gallery (Syracuse, NY), Kitchen Table Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), Gravy Studio and Gallery (Philadelphia, PA) and the Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY). She is currently a part of the Philadelphia artist-run gallery, Little Berlin.

Toby Kaufmann-Buhler (based in Lafayette, Indiana) explores history, memory, identity and sensory perception in relation to his family and himself, within individual lives and across broad sweeps of history and culture. Kaufmann-Buhler interprets the evidence of the lives he explores as signals that pass through their respective cultures and time periods; these signals are continuously transformed as they reach our current perception of them. This work amounts to a type of surveillance of these signals, and an examination of the connections between them and himself as they manifest in the work. This work takes form in video, film, found/composed sound, text, installation, performance and interactive media. Kaufmann-Buhler was a recipient of the Individual Artist Program grant from the Indiana Arts Commission in 2018-2019, and in 2020 he will be an artist in residence at MASS MoCA. He has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of South Florida and an MA from the Royal College of Art.

Tania Said is the director of education for the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She is also involved in various art, business, and community organizations in Muncie, Indiana and national professional endeavors. On lucky Friday, September 13, 2019 she was bestowed the Mayor’s Arts Educator Award.

Image credit: Toby Kaufmann-Buhler /// Moon Confusion: brightest beams (video still)

Muncie Arts and Culture Council is a nonprofit organization and the designated Arts partner for the City of Muncie. PlySpace is a program of the MACC in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art and Sustainable Muncie. PlySpace is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Muncie Arts and Culture Council will present a pop-up, one-night-only exhibition of new multimedia and sculpture artwork by PlySpace artists-in-residence Sarah Trad and Sydney Pursel. The exhibition titled Threads explores concurrent themes in the artists’ work related to personal heritage and representation. The exhibition will be held on First Thursday, December 5th, from 5-8 PM in the PlySpace Gallery. Both artists will be present throughout the evening and share brief remarks about their work at 7:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.

Since their arrival in early November, both Trad and Pursel have completed collaborative, community-based arts projects in the city of Muncie while also working on their own artwork in the PlySpace Studios in Madjax. Trad collaborated with both Ball State University School of Art and the Islamic Center of Muncie to offer workshops on nuno felting in the month of November. Pursel collaborated with Minnetrista and The Delaware County Historical Society to offer an iteration of The Feast, an educational performance where she created handmade plates and place settings that celebrate the many Native American tribes of the United States. Both artists were also joined by visiting artist Toby Kaufmann-Buhler for Heritage in Practice, a panel discussion at Ball State University School of Art on November 14th. The event, moderated by Tania Said, Director of Education at the David Owsley Museum of Art, explored topics of heritage and cultural expression in artwork.

Threads will be the culmination of work created by the artists during their residency experience. The two-person exhibition will examine themes of decolonization and representation of both Indigenous Native American and Middle Eastern cultures as they pertain to each artist’s specific family life. Using traditional clothing, textile, and pattern design and practice, among other media, each artist will explore how inherited trauma such as mental illness and addiction causes rifts in future generations. Each artist hopes to use their work as a window to understanding the position of Native American and Middle Eastern cultural identities outside of their problematic historical representations.  

Sydney Pursel (Kansas City, MS) is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in interactive, socially engaged, and performance art. Through art she explores personal identity drawing from her Indigenous and Irish Catholic roots and links identity struggles with contemporary Indigenous issues. Her work has been shown at public parks, universities, galleries, and alternative spaces across the U.S. and Canada. Pursel received her MFA in Expanded Media at the University of Kansas and her BFA in Painting from the University of Missouri. She was the first recipient of the Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists, received the Harpo Foundation Native American Residency Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center, and was selected for the Indigenous Arts Initiative Residency program through the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. Pursel is an enrolled member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.

Sarah Trad (Philadelphia, PA) is a video artist and curator who explores the relationship between subjective and objective emotionality, navigating daily life and relationships while faced with mental illness and breaking down stereotypes of gender and narrative. Her work also highlights how mental illness and coming from marginalized backgrounds intersects with internal emotional worlds. Sarah has participated in other residencies, such as the 77Art Residency in Rutland, Vermont and is a recipient of the Carol N. Schmuckler Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film. Sarah’s work has been shown at The Warehouse Gallery (Syracuse, NY), Kitchen Table Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), Gravy Studio and Gallery (Philadelphia, PA) and the Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY). She is currently part of the Philadelphia artist-run gallery, Little Berlin. 

Learn more about Muncie Arts & Culture Council by visiting www.munciearts.org. More information about PlySpace Fall Term events can be found on the PlySpace website at www.PlySpace.org/events and the PlySpace Facebook page. Learn more about the residents by visiting www.PlySpace.org/our-residents. Questions or comments about the PlySpace Residency program, events, and community collaborations can be directed to the Residency Coordinator, Erin Williams, at hello@plyspace.org

PlySpace is a program of Muncie Arts and Culture Council in partnership with the City of Muncie, Ball State University School of Art, and Sustainable Muncie Corporation. PlySpace is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

ASHLEY BEATTY & JEFF SCHOFIELD INSTALLATION AT PRAIRIE CREEK

During their residency at PlySpace this August, Beatty and Schofield have installed sustainably themed artworks along the south shore of Prairie Creek Reservoir where the Mid-Indiana Trails (MINT) are located. Visitors to the MINT and Prairie Creek hiking and bicycle trails can see a series of artworks made from natural materials and found objects that investigate human transgressions of natural settings. Signage has been posted along the trails identifying the locations of the pieces. This art installation is a partnership between PlySpace and Mid-Indiana Trails.

The project is located at Prairie Mountain Bike Trailhead. The parking lot is located along East 650 Service Road (E 650 S Rd) near the intersection with South County Road 544 East (S Co Rd 544 E).

Beatty and Schofield will host a self-guided walking tour of the sculptures on Saturday, August 22nd, with a short artist talk and Q&A at 2:00 PM. Participants should meet at the trailhead parking lot. Visitors to the sites and trails must wear masks when unable to socially distance. Paper maps and descriptions of the project will be available at the site and online at plyspace.org/MINT. The work can be found at the eastern end of Prairie Creek Loop 1, in the “Maple Grove”.

PlySpace is an artist-in-residence program of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council which promotes community collaborative projects throughout the city of Muncie. Mid Indiana Trails (MINT) was selected as a partner for this project due to the artists’ desire to work at a site that contemplates human transgressions in a natural setting. David Bradway of MINT writes, “Mid-Indiana Trails is very excited to be able to partner with PlySpace and provide an area for their resident artists to create. Ashley and Jeff have created incredible installations that are expressive while also fitting in well with the natural setting of Prairie Creek Trails.”

About the Installation

The permanent sculptural installations include dozens of sculptural trail markers made from forest materials and discarded plastic items found in the woods. These markers have been strategically placed by the side of the pathways like a series of core samples showing sediment layers beneath the forest floor. A series of stepping stones have also been laid across Prairie Park Creek for visitors to explore. They will be made from a similar mix of natural and manmade items to create a group of sculptural objects intruding upon the stream. As such, they embody a physical expression of human transgressions in the landscape.

In another permanent work, the artists dissected a fallen tree trunk by cutting it into segments that were spread out sequentially where it fell in the woods. This minimalist artwork expresses a singular act of slicing a tree trunk into sections. The installation distills the conversation about deforestation, forest fires, and waste of natural resources to a basic act of aggression.

Other work produced by the artists will be temporary and will be removed after August 22, 2020. In one work, Mycorrhizal Networks, a group of trees have been tied together with paracord creating an artificial canopy overhead. The installation expresses notions about Forest Mycorrhizal Networks, a root-based form of consciousness linking plants in local ecosystems. Plants communicate through the mycorrhizal network in a similar manner to data traveling through color-coded wires in electronic networks.

The artists have also wrapped a series of tree trunks with upcycled plastic items, involving an acre-sized grove of trees. The colorful installation represents the bondage of trees as a metaphor for human bodies and expresses the restriction of natural growth cycles. It questions the sustainability of our globalized culture focused on overproduction and mass consumption.

That One Film Festival Celebrates Experimental Filmmakers During Two-Day Event

This September 11th and 12th marks the return of That One Film Festival, Muncie’s own biennial experimental film festival. The two-day event will be a free livestreaming event available online where viewers can participate in the livestream content.

The event is produced by students in an immersive learning course at the Ball State University School of Art, with artistic directors Associate Professor Maura Jasper and Assistant Professor Kristin Reeves, in partnership with the Muncie Arts and Culture Council.

That One Film Festival celebrates the work of moving image artists from around the globe. The festival specializes in experimental, no/low budget, and avant-garde film and video art. This year, more than 275 films were submitted to That One for consideration. Of those submissions, 36 individual films have been selected for this year’s program, in addition to screenings of work by the festival’s two jurors, Karissa Hahn and Laura Parnes, and a performance by filmmaker Michael Morris.

This event is rated PG-13 for strong language, and viewer discretion is advised. All events are Eastern Standard Time.

The Opening Night stream begins at 5:45 PM on Friday, September 11th with an introduction by festival Master of Ceremonies Dennis Everette, and Muncie Arts and Culture Council Executive Director Erin Williams. The program will begin at 6:00 PM with a selection of work by Karissa Hahn, PlySpace Virtual Resident and co-juror at this year’s festival, followed by two one-hour programs. The screenings will end at 9:15 PM, after which there will be a performance by filmmaker Michael Morris. The event will conclude at 10:00 PM. The entire program is livestreamed at thatonefilmfestival.com and is free to view.

The festival will continue on Saturday, Sept. 12. Beginning at 11:30 AM, five one-hour programs will be presented throughout the day and evening, as well as a screening of work by New York artist and co-juror Laura Parnes. Viewers can tune in to the stream at any time. Each program will be followed by a short intermission. There will be a scheduled dinner break in the livestream from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. The program will conclude at 9:45 PM with the announcement of the three festival award winners. The full program of films, event times, and ratings is available at thatonefilmfestival.com. T-shirts, tote bags, and at-home viewing kits are available on the website. For more information, please visit thatonefilmfestival.com or follow @that1film on social media. Queries can also be sent to thatone@munciearts.org or info@munciearts.org. Questions about accessibility can be directed to info@munciearts.org.

The Muncie Arts & Culture Council (MACC) is the designated Arts Partner for the City of Muncie. As Arts Partner, MACC assists with municipal initiatives where art integration can benefit economic development and Quality of Place. As an arts alliance, MACC builds community among artists and arts organizations and serves as a resource for professional growth and opportunity. Learn more about MACC and its programs and collaborations at munciearts.org.

Join PlySpace and BSU School of Art, for a final projection performance of the Our Patterns Muncie project.

This multi-channel installation in the courtyard of Ball State University’s Art and Journalism building represents an emotional physical culmination for the Our Patterns - Muncie project: a three-week collaboration between initiating artist and PlySpace Fellow Natan Diacon-Furtado and over 100 students and 5 faculty members of the school of art’s 2D Design Fundamentals program.

Throughout the project, students responded to project prompts provided by Diacon-Furtado and facilitated by the BSU faculty. Each prompt was posted on Instagram at @Ourpatterns_Muncie, and is still available for the public to follow along with the project. In order to give the students and public a way to watch the iterative creative project unfold, the students were instructed to post their working and final designs on Instagram, creating a collaborative digital "quilt" with blocks of pattern.

The project continues to live on indefinitely as a digital community quilt displayed through Instagram (@Ourpatterns_muncie), and as a testament to the power of forming intentional communities through creativity.

On Thursday the 12th of November, we will present the final installment, a multi-channel installation that will feature the large-scale projections of student-designed patterns in a random sequence, injecting chance and randomness into the quilt as a way of making new links and discoveries in this collaboratively built visual language.

This event will be held outdoors in the BSU School of Art Sculpture Courtyard. You can access the courtyard from the parking lot between the Art and Journalism Building and the Teachers College. The projections will be visible from 6:30 - 8 PM. Masks are required. This event is free and open to the public.

 

PlySpace is an immersive Artist-in-Residence program of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council, based in the Emily Kimbrough Historic District in downtown Muncie, Indiana. 

https://www.plyspace.org

 

The Muncie Arts and Culture Council celebrates and supports arts and culture in Muncie, Indiana. We’re ALL IN for arts and culture. Join us!

https://www.munciearts.org

 

PlySpace, an immersive Artist-in-Residence program of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council, is hosting four community panel discussion webinars as part of the series: The Creative Use of Difference. Each panel will feature artists, both local and national, who are using their respected art forms to creatively bring awareness to societal issues such as racial injustices, sexism, and more. These hour-long discussions will be in collaboration with Atlanta-based artist Indya Childs as she develops a new work, entitled "Peace, Love, Dance" with Ball State University Department of Theatre and Dance students. The semester-long project will culminate in a dance film, choreographed by Indya and the students in response to the Creative Use of Difference series. The film will be completed and will premiere later this spring, details forthcoming. All discussions in the Creative Use of Difference series will be held online, are free, and open to the public. Registration is required to access each discussion webinar. Learn more about the panelists and project at Plyspace.org/pld

The Art of Politics
February 11th, 2021 from 6-7 PM (online)
Featuring panelists Ted Williams III and Shantanu Suman
The Art of Politics is a discussion with artists on how they are using their artistic voices to bring awareness to politics, social change, and more. 

The Black Woman Creating
February 18th, 2021 from 6-7 PM (online)
Featuring guest panelists Charmaine Minniefield and Dee Dee Batteast
The Black Woman Creating is a discussion with Black female-identifying artists whose work is influenced by Black feminism, social justice, and more. 

Women Shifting the Space
February 25th, 2021 from 6-7 PM (online)
Featuring guest panelists Ana de Brea and Lauren Pacheco
Women Shifting the Space is a discussion with female-identifying artists on how they are shifting the space of patriarchy and creating a space for female visibility and leadership. 

The “New” Policies of Dance
March 4th, 2021 from 6-7 PM (online)
Featuring guest panelists Felecia Thomas and Beverly Bautista
The “New” Policies of Dance is a discussion with dance educators that will highlight the new policies of inclusion, diversity, and equality in the dance world adopted by dance schools, institutions, etc in the wake of 2020. 

Registration is required for each event. Please see the website for details.