Hays Arts Council’s Spring Art Walk anchors busy month at the Arts Center

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Arts Council executive director, Brenda Meder shares information about the 2022 Hays Spring Art Walk.

 

Transcript:

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James Bell 

The Hays Spring Art Walk is on the calendar for later this month and there's going to be a lot going on. Hays Arts Council Executive Director Brenda Meder stops by to share with us the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.

 

Brenda Meder 

The Smoky Hill art exhibition is in its 53rd year, and it always opens as the anchor of the spring Artwalk. So that's an amazing day because our Smokies pretty spectacular. And it's going to be pretty spectacular again this year. And last year having moved the spring Artwalk with the the kind of the the chaos of scheduling that happened during the pandemic. We put it on a Saturday, there's a lengthy audience, but we found out that a lot of people really really enjoyed the more leisurely pace they enjoyed, they had more time to see everything including going down to the college, they enjoyed being able to also patronize and frequent the retail establishments, the restaurants, coffee shops and breweries in downtown Hayes. And so it's like we're gonna we're gonna give that a shot again, and let people just really relish and enjoy everything that is about you know, arts culture in our downtown over the course of that day. And that is on Saturday, April the 30th from 10am to 4pm. So a week from this Saturday, Saturday, April the 30th. And there is just a wealth of everything in addition to the to the Smoky Hill exhibition, which is the state's oldest juried Fine Art competitive. I think I counted I probably am missing some, but there are at least two MFA thesis exhibitions big important shows, you know, with wonderful bodies of rich contemporary artwork, but I mean, they put a lot on the line when these masters students are doing their MFA show. That's a big deal. And they bring out they bring out all the stops, and both crystal Hammerschmidt and Tanner Hoffman will be having their crystals it'll be down at the moss Lawrence gallery, Tanner's will be at our annex. And I think I counted four or five BFA exhibitions. So students who are finishing their their undergrad, their bachelor of fine arts programs, they, the visual artists, they need to mount exhibitions, or at least should for fulfilling all their requirements. And between some places on campus, both the Taylor Gallery and the Robbins center at the public library. And I think another couple of places, I think there's at least four if not five, BFA exhibitions, and then there's also just a variety of community artists and professional artists, and photography and programs that allow organizations like options, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Janis campaign, those three important community organizations will be having features out that are, you know, arts and culture based, like Big Brothers Big Sisters is going to do a display of creative things that have been done by these collaborative partnerships. So to bring some awareness to get people excited to see what kind of things it is that people engage in, and quite frankly, just a great showcase for some of the great creative fun things that some of these pairings have done together. And there's, for instance, in the Chestnut Street building, which is where they're housed out of. And so you've got a little bit of everything that goes from North Main, the style stand center, which is where Janice campaign is located all the way to seventh in main Dallas County Historical Society, which is hosting a wonderful two photography exhibits one of them, one that Dr. Laura Wilson from Sternberg Museum is doing with some sort of abstracted photography that has to do with the natural world, and various scientific components that they're working with out there. But it's creating art out of these very unique, almost micro views of interesting things. So that's going to be fascinating. And a whole bunch in between including defiance brewery has been really wanting to get on the art walks for a while. And so they are going to be hosting a body of work that we still have from Gordon Sherman, with some frank nickels pieces in there. So anybody just going there, as a matter of course on Saturday will see things in there. But other folks may just want to migrate down that way. Because again, you've got six hours on Saturday. I do want to remind everyone that I mentioned the campus exhibitions, they are just 10am to 2pm. But otherwise, everything else is 10 to four, we've got a new art car that's going to be over at the Pavilion. I'm so excited. It's called spellbound and a gentleman who just moved to Hoisington from Trinidad, Colorado, an incredible artist, but also an art car enthusiast. He's organized tons of them all over the country. He has a couple of them. And this one is covered in in fabulous artwork and a gazillion scrabble tiles in phrases and words and quotes and statements. There's places on the cars where people can do their own, you know, make their own words and phrases and contribute to you know, with the Scrabble tiles, but it's covered. It's awesome. And that will be over there as will be a ceramic show and sale from Fort Hays State students that was very popular last spring over at the Pavilion and John makings from Great Bend will be back with his handcrafted drums. So we'll have three interactive drum circles at 11am 1pm and 2pm. There in the pavilion, and then another student coming from the performing arts, Danny Zhang will be having sort of his graduating undergraduate special, or I don't know if this is his masters, but his special jazz concert showcase performance. That'll be at three with Brad Dawson, Josh Duran and Spencer wheat corn, so no slouches there. And so that'll just be a wonderful free concert at three. And speaking of concerts on Friday night, we have our opening events at the downtown pavilion will be the Fort Hays jazz band spring outdoor concert, and it will be the final time that the jazz bands will be under the direction of Brad Dawson. He's still here still going to be doing music, but he will be conducting the jazz bands as the director for the last time in this wonderful open air concert at the Pavilion at seven o'clock on Friday night the 29th. The same night that the Encore series has their final program of the season. And of Green Gables the ballet, of course, there are tickets that you need to purchase for that. But I thought it was exciting that on that, you know pre Artwalk nights sort of the pre event, we've got these two amazing performing arts events. And this information that I've just shared is not on our website yet it will be on our website this weekend. And it's just a nice eight and a half by 11 sheet of information, easy to print out. So be watching for us on Facebook and our website because this will be available to you for the entire week before the Artwalk happens. So you can plan your attack and not miss a thing. But it's going to be a really, really amazing event. The Smoky Hill itself will run through June 4. So if you do have to miss the Artwalk weekend, still take time to come and see the smoke because there will be our amazing artwork there in so many different styles, genres and sizes from artists all throughout Kansas. And we will be dispensing $3,000 in cash awards. Don't know yet who's getting those. But that's something that'll happen right before we open. So a lot going a lot going on there. Good event.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, excited for that. But that's just a fraction of what you got going on here because it's this time of year, the kiddos wrapping up their school year and I know you specifically especially love to be involved in

 

Brenda Meder 

some stuff. We love working with the schools and getting involved with the kids in the schools. The schools love it. We try to bring things to them as often as possible. Just some of the things like today is high school art day. So we know there's some people out there that love seeing that and there's a few people who do go down and traipse around gross Coliseum. That's where all these I think there's something like 64 high schools represented I think I saw on Fort Hays website. This is Fort Hays, our high school art day. So it's not a haze Arts Council event. But we will have hundreds of students who will be visiting the Hayes Art Center to view our current exhibition for which it's the closing day of the Fort Hays State University departmental showcase faculty and graduate and undergraduate students that we've got there. So we'll be hosting tons of them today. Tomorrow, I'll be hosting about 1000 Kids in beach MIT for an outreach that we are doing with the Encore series for fourth and fifth grade students from 12 different elementary schools in our area. And then on Sunday, the day after the Artwalk. We have our big creative writing award ceremony. invitations have gone to the schools hopefully they've come on with winning students, families to know about that. Just a reminder, I've because I think there's almost 100 students from kindergarten through seniors in high school in both pose and poetry. In fact, I know your wife was one of the judges for us again this year. The English department is so kind and generous with their time to serve as the judging panel. And because it's 13 grades of you know, three to four places because we do a lot of honorable mentions in both prose and poetry. So about 100 young people will be honored and recognize so about 300 guests in the ballroom on Sunday afternoon for that. And then from Sunday, May 1 all the way through the end of the week, we have a residency with Che and Leslie Katie laughing matters that amazing, wonderful duo. In fact, on Thursday night, may the fifth Anyone is welcome to come to the Hayes Public Library at 630. Because Jay unless they will be doing their public showcase. We want to make sure everybody can see them, even if it's adult soup aren't part of the school systems because there's nothing better and more entertaining, and more professionally well done than Jay and Leslie Katie's laughing matters performance and famous figures finals are going to be on Friday May the sixth in the Beechman Performing Arts Center. So that kind of overlaps during the week that we've got these residencies with J and Leslie Katie. I also want to remind people that are wondering about our summer classes, we will be having our summer class program again. And we are working on getting things arranged. We know we'll have theater classes we know we're going to have classes in two and three dimensional art. We'll have a stained glass class again, things are looking good for another one of the Sternberg outreaches with those critters classes that we have. But those classes will not be ready for for public review and enrollment until probably the middle of that first week in May. It takes us a long time to get those together because all our teachers who are amazing people fit us into their schedules, they value this, they want to do it right. But they have a lot of items they have to check. So it will be the middle of that first week in May before you will find this information on our website, or announced through our Facebook page. But yeah, so just tons of stuff. Oh, and then I just want to give them a plug. Finishing the weekend, I talked about the performing arts that kicks off on Friday the 29th. And then Saturday, the Artwalk itself Sunday, not only will there be the creative writing award ceremony, late that afternoon DSM Wk is inviting to the public to their event with Jay and Leslie Katie, we're helping to serve some of their specific clients and constituents Sunday night at 730. Again, free because of their sponsorship support, the amazing Hayes Symphony Orchestra will be having their final concert of the season at 730 in beach, MIT. So this amazing, wonderful rich community has no shortage of different areas in the Visual Performing and literary arts for people to be engaged from the youngest of children, through the most senior of citizens, and throughout the community on campus. And I just want to remind everybody to keep your eyes open for that, again, if you follow us on, on Facebook, the Hayes Arts Council, we try to share as much as we can for not only our events, but events that happen for other elements of the community as well. So be watching and looking for that and definitely come out. It's all free on Saturday, April, the 30th 10am to 4pm to just enjoy the best and the most exciting that our community has to offer in the most wonderful environment possible.

 

James Bell 

Absolutely. You know what else? If you want to find out more, I always like to talk about this, you got your website,

 

Brenda Meder 

we do. And there's a lot of stuff on our website, even exhibitions that close, but you just want to sit around and look at artists, you got nothing else going on. That's up there. The famous figures videos from last year still there, they'll be there till we get this year's up. And in fact, it gives me a chance to give a plug to Tiger media network is going to film everything for us this year. So even though we get to go back to a live competition on stage and beat Schmidt on Friday, May the sixth people will be able to watch those videos, all the videos of them after the event on our website. It'll take us a little while to get them up there. But yeah, there's so much on our website, the exhibition that's up now if you don't get in since it closes today, every single piece and every artist that's featured in there is up on our website. There is information on those people so that you can really understand where they're coming from their backgrounds and their views as they make their art and yeah, a lot of stuff on our website. And it you know, I'm always afraid I'm not getting as much up there but it's already full so what the heck