By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Although the Spring Art Walk’s anchor always features the seasoned artists in the Smoky Hill Art Exhibition, this year students as young as elementary age will have a chance to show their talents too.
This is the 49th year for Smoky Hill Art Exhibition, the longest-running exhibition of its kind in the state. Seventy-one pieces were selected from a statewide juried art competition with more than 200 submissions this year. The Hays Arts Council presented $2,750 in prize money to the top pieces.
“It is almost like without that, the rest of it wouldn’t evolve,” Art Center Director Brenda Meder said of the exhibition, “That’s the granddaddy. That’s been the constant since the inception of the Spring Art Walk. That’s the show everyone wants to see and gets out for.”
“We believe we end up with this beautiful, rich, diverse array of works—everything from very contemporary to very traditional—two dimensional, three-dimensional, acrylic, watercolor, oil painting, collage, ceramic, metal sculpture, assemblage, photography, you name it,” Meder said. “No one can look at that show and not say, ‘Now that I really like.’ There are other things they may find as head scratchers, but someone else may adore the piece.”
The show will run through June 6 at the Hays Art Center, 112 E. 11th.
Below is a photo preview of the Smoky Hill Art Exhibition.
This year’s Spring Art Walk includes 28 locations with music, visual art or performance from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. There is no fee to participate.
The Niche, 707 Main, will give participants the opportunity to make quilt blocks. The event is dubbed “Step it Up for the Cure: Craft a Quilt Block for Diabetes” and is being organized by one of the Leadership 310 classes at FHSU to raise awareness about diabetes. The blocks will be assembled into a quilt and sold as a fundraiser.
“You can help to create the art for something that matters,” Meder said. “You can see that happening in a variety of ways, utilizing the arts in the best way in our community for awareness, for fundraising, for change. It is really exciting.”
The Community Assistance Center, 12th and Oak, also will conduct a fundraiser through the sale of donated art. That sale starts at 6 p.m.
Live music is going to be offered at Platinum Group, 116 E. 11th, by Joshua Adcock, Blade Buell and David Vandiver; Salon Ten O Seven, 1007 Main, by Jim Pisano and William Flynn; Union Pacific Plaza and Pavilion by the FHSU Jazz Ensemble and jazz by Brad Dawson, Luke Johnson and Ken Windholz; and Ellis County Historical Society, 100 W. Seventh, by Randy Mader.
An open acoustic jam will be at My Masterpiece, 205 E. Seventh, and Gella’s Diner will feature Blake Ruder from 9 to 11 p.m.
Hays High School will present a showcase of current issue projects as well as drama and forensics performances at A2Z Escape, which recently moved downtown to 115 W. Eighth.
A2Z is not the only place where student art can be experienced.
Prairie Garden Club youth environmental posters will be at Tri-Central Office Supply, 1101 Main St. Jackie’s Creamer’s Dance Studio, 1003 Main, will showcase examples of Grecian-style vases made by HHS language arts students, and watershed student posters will be at a vacant storefront at 809 Main St. Paintings and drawings by Thomas More Prep-Marian students Lane Werth, Annie Wasinger and Alexandra Herrman will be featured at the Hays Community Theatre, 121 E. Eighth.
The Hays Public Library will feature elementary student art on the second floor and “Weavings” a collaborative effort between Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas clients and Amy Schmierbach, FHSU instructor, on the first floor.
“We have special needs adults doing wonderful, creative, fulfilling, satisfying work,” Meder said. … “That is the richness of art. It knows no boundaries.”
A number of FHSU students will be exhibiting BFA and MFA shows Friday night and more FHSU art will be showcased on and off campus. Some of these include MFA ceramics by April Grace Noble and Heida Halldorsdottir at the Moss Thorns Gallery; “Dual/Duel” sculpture at the C.A.T.S. at new FHSU Center for Applied Technology and Sculpture; and a FHSU Creative Arts Society student exhibition at the FHSU painting lab.
Mad Matter Frame Shop & Gallery will feature “In Full Color,” mixed media works by John C Thorns Jr., longtime chairman of the FHSU art department.
At 7:30 p.m. at Salon Ten O Seven, Linda Ganstrom will receive the Daughter of the American Revolution “Women in the Arts” award.
Some sites will be open early or extended hours on Friday and other locations will be open to the public on Saturday. See the complete schedule for details.
“It really pays to start early and go late with this year’s Spring Art Walk because it is just going to be an outstanding evening,” Meder said.
