Minnetrista was quiet with a few families traveling throughout the museum at Saturday's Enchanted Art event. People who attended got to see artists creating their own artwork, while making some of their own.
The Ball State Art Education Club participated in the event by teaching attendees about a type of artwork called tessellations. The event's focus was not only to teach children about art, but also the science that goes into it.
In the main room, Ball State University alumna Sarah Shaffer drew on a large canvas with bright yellow and purple chalk pastels attempting to create a yellow rose. She said she chose to draw a rose to go along with Minnetrista's rose garden. In addition to her chalk, Shaffer, who graduated from Ball State's art department in 2007 with a focus in metals, used a tool called a nub — a paintbrush with a small sponge on the end of it — to blend the colors together.
"With my degree in metals, I really enjoy 3-D work, but I don't have a studio so it's a lot easier, less space consuming to do 2-D work and I've always loved to draw," Shaffer said. "I really enjoy colored pencils but have gotten into chalk pastels because of an event that's always taken place in my hometown, Fort Wayne, called the Main Street Chalk Walk."
At the Main Street Chalk Walk, artists get an 8-by-8-foot square of street pavement in which to draw whatever they want, Shaffer said. The event in Fort Wayne was her first introduction to chalk pastels. Ever since then, she has been using them in some of her art pieces.
Across Minnetrista's main room, the sounds of a chisel hitting stone came from Bill Cundiff. A 2005 Anderson University graduate, Cundiff carved a sculpture from sandstone after sculpting a clay model of what he wanted to make. In his sculpting classes at Anderson, he said he took to stone carving the most out of all other mediums.
"This rock was given to me by someone who didn't want it. A lot of the limestone that I've worked with, I just steal off of construction sites, when they are blasting out a cliff or a house or something," Cundiff said. "It's just trash to them and still rock."
In another part of the museum, members of the Art Education Club talked about the artwork of tessellations, created by M.C. Escher. Families then got a chance to create their own masterpieces with markers, white paper and scissors.
"Tessellations are essentially a tile that repeats a pattern over and over. It's very mathematical but yet it's very creative. And M.C. Escher was originally a mathematician; he came up with tessellations as a way to do math and science behind art," senior art education major Sherri Cline said.
The Art Education Club has around 20 members who participate in community events to help people learn more about art or a unique way to do an art project. Club members have different focuses ranging from pottery to painting and hope to have their own art show in the coming months at Ball State.
Minnetrista visitor services manager and event organizer Tanya Brock said the event was a great opportunity for families to come out and enjoy themselves while learning something new about art.
"We find folks [to do artwork at the event] who are not necessarily professional, not diminishing the value of the work that they do, but because they have at least shown us in the past that they're a little easier to approach from the family perspective or the kid," Brock said.
More Events at Minnetrista
In the coming months, Minnetrista will have an array of exhibits and classes that anyone from the community can attend. The Enchanted Art event was one out of many that focus specifically on art:
Cold Combing Glass Jewelry: Friday, Feb. 5
Registration required, cost to participate: $20 for members, $25 for non-members
PBS Club: American Experience: John and Abigail Adams: Wednesday, Feb. 17
20th Minnetrista Annual Juried Art Show & Sale: Feb. 20 - May 2
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