By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The warm weather will perfectly complement the featured exhibit for Friday's annual Hays Arts Council Summer Art Walk, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in downtown Hays.
"Vanishing Depths" is a collection of paintings and ceramics by Hays artist Diana Unrein, highlighting the nuances of ocean life, on view through Aug. 13 at the Hays Arts Center, 112 E. 11th.
Unrein is a native of Cyprus, the island nation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. She's lived in the United States for 40 years.
"The water figures so prominently in her life," said Brenda Meder, Hays Arts Council executive director. "It's always been a recurring element historically."
The paintings are large.
"You can imagine how difficult that would be to paint water. They're serene. They're beautiful," Meder said.
Unrein's figurative ceramics are also large, still telling the stories that arise from the water.
Unrein has won numerous awards and recognitions for her work, ranging from the local to the global level. This will be the largest single exhibition Unrein has ever presented anywhere.
Meder is excited about the wide variety of arts represented in the walk, which includes several hands-on interactions for children.
Drum making and playing by John Makings, along with a chalk arts station courtesy of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, will be set up in the Downtown Pavilion and Union Pacific Park, 10th and Main.
STEM Harvest, 507 Main, will offer AI creative art stations and a glimpse of the building's mural in process by The Brickmob of Wichita.
The musical arts will be featured by the First United Methodist Church's Spirit Ringers at Kat's Hallmark, 1003 Main. The group will perform three concerts at 7 p.m., 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Live music will be performed by Martha Miller from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Paisley Pear Wine Bar & Bistro, 1100 Main.
Attendees can get a sneak peek behind the scenes of the musical "Mama Mia" by the Hays Community Theatre, 121 E. Eighth, which will be performed July 24-26. The group will also host a public karaoke open mic and competition at 8 p.m.
Mother Nature will show off her creations with a little help from K-State Agricultural Research and Cottonwood Extension Master Gardeners open houses.
Tours of the WaterSmart Garden, 601 Main, and the Backyard Family Garden and Perennial/Pollinator Garden, K-State Ag Research Center, 1232 240th Ave., will be conducted from 6 to 8 p.m.
Other exhibitions include etchings, jewelry, engraved mirrors, wood sculpture, a book signing of "Soon You Will Be Mine" by Hays author Jeanne Riedel, collaborative art banners by DSNWK arts and Fort Hays State University's community-engaged art program, and the MFA work of FHSU student Kelly Chapin-Hagen at the campus Moss Thorns Gallery of Art from 6 to 8 p.m.
The Ellis County Historical Society, Seventh and Main, will feature a traveling exhibit from the Smoky Hill Museum, Salina, titled "A Place to Call Home" as well as the blue denim buffalo sculpture by Hays artist Pete Felten.
