a note from brian
Dear Friends of Minnetrista,
I hope you are well, and that you are enjoying these days when we still are fortunate enough to feel the warmth of the sun and breathe the autumn air.
As you’ll see in the following pages of this edition of Columns, we have been working hard to continue to provide fun, interesting, and educational experiences for you, your family, and your friends to enjoy. We hope you will check out our exhibitions and programs, wander the gardens and grounds, and pick up some apple cider from The Orchard Shop!
Some of our new exhibitions signal a return to our origins. Deep Roots: Exploring the Ball Family Tree will open in the Oakhurst home on December 14 and dive into the legacy of the family that has provided so much for Muncie (including this museum!) through photographs and stories from Minnetrista’s Heritage Collection. Crisis Canning, which will run through January 26, describes the critical role of canning at home during times of war and other crises in our nation’s history and beyond, and prominently features the Ball jar and its many uses over the last century.
As I finish my second year with Minnetrista, it has become increasingly clear that we are most impactful when we work with our neighbors and community partners on exhibitions, programs, events, and other offerings. Muncie has a remarkably strong arts and nonprofit community, and we have enjoyed working this year with many partners, including Ball State Public Media, Community Enhancement Projects, Habitat for Humanity, IU Health, the Muncie Children’s Museum, Muncie Community Schools, and Red-tail Land Conservancy, just to name a few.
We are excited to be able to show you the results of another partnership with the return of Imagine in Glass. We worked with the artists at the Marilyn K. Glick Center for Glass at Ball State University to select drawings from children in our community and turn them into glass art! BSU artists worked alongside the children to discuss how to bring their drawings to life, converting two-dimensional masterpieces into three-dimensional wonders. As you know, glass plays an important role in the history of our community, and it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful glass can be when shaped by imagination and artistry. Imagine in Glass will be on display in our Center Building starting November 16, and we invite you to enjoy it!
In the coming months, we will be actively seeking new partnerships to help offer more to our members and visitors, and to continue making Minnetrista a place where you can enjoy a mix of the familiar and the new. Please stop by often—we love to see you!
Thank you for being a friend to Minnetrista!
Brian A. Statz
President & CEO