Students and Jonesboro residents attended ‘Magic at the Museum’ Sept. 5 to play the ‘Magic: The Gathering’ (MTG) card game and get a sneak peek of an upcoming exhibition. 

Juan Montes-Guantes, registrar for the Bradbury Art Museum (BAM), organized the event.

“My coworkers found out I played Magic and they found out that we have a big Magic community here as well. It was a good way to engage with the public as well as show off the exhibition,” Montes-Guantes said. 

Between games of MTG, attendees could look at selected works from the upcoming exhibition “Contemporary Classic.” Montes-Guantes said the exhibition will comprise work from five artists and will feature art in various mediums.

“I’ve seen plenty of people that have gotten up from their games and just took a look at the art,” Montes-Guantes said. “That is perfect, that is exactly what we want everything to be.”

He also held a raffle for MTG booster packs, each containing 14 cards. 

Brady Jones, a Sophomore game design major from Rogers, Arkansas, won the first raffle drawing. 

“I didn’t expect them to call my name but they did and I got some pretty cool stuff,” Jones said. “Then I played three games of commander.”

Commander is a format of MTG that involves players making 100-card decks themed around a “commander” card. The commander format is often played in a casual setting and can last from 20 minutes to multiple hours. 

Jones said he did not know A-State had an art museum until he heard about the event. He said he loves art and thought BAM was a very fun and unique place to host the event. 

“If you keep going to the same club meeting you are still going to have fun, but it is just going to be the same thing over and over,” Jones said. “So this adds flavor to the mix.”

Dakota Kain, a sophomore psychology major from Lepanto, Arkansas is the social chair for the A-State MTG. He said “Magic at the Museum” is the first event of its kind he has attended and would go to similar events in the future. 

“I think it is really cool, just being able to play in a venue like this is really nice,” Kain said.

He said he enjoyed the variety of people at the event the most and was glad it was open to more than just A-State students. 

Montes-Guantes said around five people came primarily to look at the exhibition but did interact with those who were mostly interested in playing MTG. 

“As far as Magic goes, I am very much into the game, but the game does not hold me nearly as much as the art does,” Montes-Guantes said. “Art in Magic is continuous with what the museum is trying to do as well.”

He said different artists are contacted to make art that will be featured on MTG cards, similar to how BAM features artists’ works in curated exhibitions. 

Montes-Guantes said he is very happy with the turnout, which was around 20 people.

“I’m happy to see everyone come out, a lot of people I do not know came out and that is exactly what I wanted,” Montes-Guantes said. “But we can always reach out a little bit more.”

Jones said the event could have used more advertising. He said if he had not heard of the event through a friend, he would have no idea it was happening at all. 

Montes-Guantes said he did not know the campus has a Magic: The Gathering club until planning the event, while Kain noted the club was unaware of ‘Magic at the Museum’ until Montes-Guantes reached out.

Now that they have met, both Montes-Guantes and Kain said they would like to collaborate on more events like ‘Magic at the Museum’ in the future. 

Montes-Guantes said he has also been in close contact with Paden DeVita and Madeline McMahan, education coordinator and curator for BAM, respectively, to schedule similar events. He said the next event is scheduled for October. 

“We are going to develop consistency and once we have that consistency and that audience, we will be able to do some things differently while still providing that space for you,” Montes-Guantes said. 

The “Contemporary Classic” exhibition opens Sept. 12 at BAM and will continue through Nov. 20.

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