<div><iframe title="Hays Arts Council summer classes return" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=bfxna-10425e7-pb&from=pb6admin&download=1&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3&btn-skin=3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL Hays PostThe Hays Arts Council Summer Art Classes will return soon,
offering area youth various options to explore visual and performance
arts.“We have a wonderful, rich schedule this summer,” said Hays
Arts Council Executive Director Brenda Meder.The classes are scheduled throughout June and July, for a
variety of ages.&nbsp;“We have a couple of
things that go down as low as 5,” Meder said. This year, various visual arts classes will be available
including, sculpture, drawing, painting, fashion and printmaking.“We tried to find a way to make something fit for everyone,”
Meder said.Many of the classes run for multiple days. Still, for those
parents who may not have the ability to drop and pick up students for an entire week of classes, Meder said a course emerges students in various art-related activities in one four-hour-long session. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1621625981132.jpeg" alt="Photo by Cristina Janney" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Cristina Janney</figcaption>
 </figure>“We knew that there are parents who work outside the home,
for whom it can be really difficult to run their kids back and forth,” Meder
said. “It’s basically from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., so it’s a four-hour period where
you drop your kid off at 1 p.m., you don’t have to pick them up till 5 p.m. We
even provide a little small afternoon snack, and they will get a variety of art
and art experiences with two different teachers.”Several of the courses will again be taught by Crystal
Hammerschmidt, including the printmaking course.“Crystal just does the most wonderful creative things,”
Meder said. “You are working with shaving cream and gelatin prints and Styrofoam.
It’s just delightful.”An annual favorite, the Call of the Wild session, will again
return, where students will have the opportunity to examine animals from the
Sternberg Museum, then work on art projects inspired by the animals.“It’s great fun,” Meder said. “We have been doing that one
for years. Mitch Sommers is a former art teacher that taught in Liberal for
many years but continues as a volunteer at Sternberg Museum, so he has access
to some critters. Snakes and turtles have always gone over very well. And this
year, we are adding rats and mice and frog and fish.”This year, acting classes will also be offered for students
ages 8 to 15."Acting and the theater continue to be popular for the
young people in our community. They really, really love it,” Meder said.“We really try to mix it up and make sure that we have got
things that appeal on a broad variety of interests and tastes in what they are
doing,” she said.<a href="https://haysartscouncil.org/">For more information,
including the registration form, visit the Hays Arts Council website,
haysartscouncil.org.</a>

Hays Arts Council summer art classes return