By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Friday's annual fall art walk is the 41st for the Hays Arts Council and will feature "To the Stars," a national exhibition of the Society of Layerists in Multi-Media, which can be seen in the arts center.
Among the art walks, the fall event traditionally draws the largest number of participants, with college students back in town, school starting and vacation season ending.
The layerists society's members include local and regional artists, including Kathleen Kuchar, Hays, who helped Meder organize the national exhibition with 82 pieces.
"It's a mixed bag. This group has a very holistic (approach) and the concept of layering ideas. A lot of the work is not objective. It's color, and it's form. It's richly textured. There are some more representational things," Brenda Meder, Hays Arts Council executive director, said, "but it's just an explosion of color. A lot of good moments and messages run through their work."
Hays will be host to a conference of the layerists society next month.
For the first time, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 1805 Vine, will join in the art walk as it shares its recently painted interior of traditional Romanesque art and design within modern structural architecture.
"It's really exciting to see how this all comes together," Meder said.
The church will be open to the public from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Other exhibitions include live music, wood carvings, paintings and drawings, quilt and fiber art, prints, photography, stained glass, ceramics, original hat designs and book signings by the authors.
The Hays Symphony will kick off its season with a concert in the downtown pavilion at 7:30 p.m. featuring "Summer Pops: A Night at the Movies."
Most of the exhibitions are in downtown Hays businesses and at Fort Hays State University and are available from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
The K-State Research and Extension Master Gardeners will welcome visitors to open houses at their perennial/pollinator and vegetable trial gardens at the Agricultural Research Center, 1232 240th Ave., from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
"A really broad, fabulous array of what the arts are in our community. There are the visual arts, there are the performing arts and there are the literary arts," Meder said.
Friday's annual fall art walk is the 35th for Meder. It will also be her last art walk as she eases into retirement.
A public retirement reception, hosted by the board of directors, will be in the Hays Arts Center, 112 E. 11th, where the walk's anchor attraction will also be featured.
"It'll be fun," Meder said, "but if people come just to see me, then I haven't done my job."
A complete list of all the stops, some of which will also be open Saturday, is available on the Hays Arts Council's website.
