Art fairs are in the air

Art lovers, book lovers and fair lovers will be in love with next weekend, when the Wichita Art Museum will have its long-standing Art & Book Fair in a freshly expanded venue, and the Wichita Center for the Arts will throw its second-annual Spring Art Fair of student art.

The two-day fairs will overlap only on Saturday: The center’s art fair will start Friday, while the museum’s will continue on Sunday, May 8. Food will be available at both events, and the Art & Book Fair also will offer musical entertainment.

Here’s what you need to know to navigate the artsy first full weekend of May, which is also Mother’s Day weekend.

Art & Book Fair

Venue: For the very loyal followers of the Art & Book Fair, this year has been a long time coming.

The fair has been on Mother’s Day weekend in Wichita for 57 years — first at the art museum, then for years at Century II during the Wichita River Festival, and now back at the art museum at 1400 W. Museum Blvd. The art will be outside, where the museum now has a newly landscaped Art Garden. The book fair will be inside the museum.

The fully restored event will be a relief for long-time fans.

“This fair has a very loyal following, which I really discovered last year when it came to our building,” museum director Pat McDonnell said. Despite the fact that the word was put out that the art part would be curtailed because construction of the Art Garden was going on, “we had any number of people (who) were most disappointed that it was a year without the art.”

Artists: More than 50 local, regional and national artists from as far away as Santa Barbara, Calif., to local favorites will be at the fair.

“There are many new ones and some of our old favorites,” including Rollin Karg and Ruby Tobey, said Jill D. Miller of the Friends of the Wichita Art Museum, which puts on the Art & Book Fair. Represented will be painting, ceramics, photography, jewelry, 3-D and 2-D multimedia, fiber, wood, glass and printmaking.

Bringing the fair back to the art museum underscores the fact that it is a fundraiser to help the Friends acquire new art for the museum, a concept that had been lost at Century II, Miller said. “We wanted to go back to our roots.”

“I also think that by having the event at the art museum we’re able to be much more selective about the quality of art that will be represented because we’re not trying to fill such a huge venue” as was the case at Century II, Miller said. “I think people will find that the quality of art will be better and I still think there will be something for everybody.”

Books: Hundreds of new, used and rare books in every genre will be available for sale in the S. Jim and Darla Farha Great Hall. That includes hard-to-find books on artists and art movements as well as fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, biographies, political books, history books, Kansas/regional books, literature, short stories, children’s books, cookbooks, gardening books and home-decorating books.

Navigation: The art part of the event will be in the parking lot, so people should plan to park in surrounding lots, including Cowtown’s, which will be available for museum patrons. And visitors should be aware that on Saturday morning there will be a fundraising walk along the sidewalks in the neighborhood, though no streets will be blocked off, said Diane Post of the Friends group.

Art Garden: People also are encouraged to walk the Art Garden that was opened on the grounds last fall. “We saw the fall foliage and now we’re seeing the spring foliage. It’s really beautiful,” said McDonnell, the museum director.

Entertainment: Musical acts will perform both indoors and outdoors in the Art Garden’s new amphitheater. Here’s the lineup:

Saturday: 10 a.m., Young at Heart Glee Club from the Wichita Children’s Theatre and Dance Center (inside); 11 a.m., Augusta High School Jazz Band; noon, Augusta High School barbershop quartet; 1 p.m., Randy Rathbun on guitar and keyboard; 2 p.m., singer Josie Gerard.

Sunday: noon, Goddard Eisenhower High School Orchestra; 1 p.m., Goddard Eisenhower Middle School Orchestra; 2 p.m., Goddard High School Choir (inside); 2:30 p.m., Goddard High School Choir; 2:30 p.m., Maize Middle School choir; 3 p.m., Wichita Community Choir (inside); 3:30 p.m., Nikki Moddelmog.

Food: Several food trucks will be on hand, and Muse Cafe will be open for lunch and snacks. There will be a Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday, for which reservations are recommended; call 316-268-4973.

Exhibit: Next weekend also will be the last time to see the “Freedom to Expand: Gordon Parks” photo exhibitions at the museum. Admission is free Saturday and Sunday.

Spring Art Fair

Venue: The annual holiday-timed sculpture sale at the Wichita Center for the Arts made the other artists who study there want in on the action, and the Spring Art Fair was started last year, said Katy Dorrah, director of the center at 9112 E. Central Ave.

“It’s been a great fit for us,” Dorrah said. The partial overlap with the art museum’s fair also works, she said. People last year said on the Saturday of the event that “it was a day they went out and supported the arts,” Dorrah said. “We like that when there’s a lot going on in the art community. There’s a similar synergy to Final Friday.”

Artists: Twenty-three artists will have their work for sale in 11 tents outside. Most are students but there also will be a few instructors at the fair. About 600 pieces representing all media and price points will be available.

Gifts for mom: The fair will include a craft for children so that they can make a gift for mom while she shops. The fair also is a place to shop for Mother’s Day gifts, Dorrah said.

Food: Garden of Eatin’ and Sunflower Espresso food trucks will be at the fair from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. both days.

Exhibit: May 8 will be the last day to see the Pastel National Exhibition at the center. It features 75 works by the nation’s leading pastelists. The exhibit will be open during fair hours and also 1 to 5 p.m. May 8.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Art fairs are in the air."