ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Christmas holiday may still be six months away, but Liberal’s Baker Arts Center is already making some holiday plans with an upcoming exhibit.
Baker Arts Center staff is seeking 20 artists or more to take part in the exhibit “Journey to Bethlehem,” which will be opening in November. All mediums are welcome – painting, poetry, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and everything in between, and artists must create a work inspired by scripture and share their emotional, spiritual, or intellectual interpretation with the community. The exhibit will be open from Nov. 24 through the end of January 2026.
Baker Arts Center Director Brittyn Heronemus said it was not exactly a hard decision to have such an exhibit.
“As everyone might remember, we had our Stations of the Cross exhibit back around Easter, which was amazing and brought in people from all throughout the area. The artists who participated in that exhibit really enjoyed being part of that type of group exhibit, which was also great to hear,” Heronemus said. “I feel like a lot of local artists who don’t necessarily consider themselves ‘professionals’ enjoy those types of group shows because they can work on just one piece and not 10 or 20 or whatever. Because of the success of that show and the response we ended up seeing, we really started talking and brainstorming amongst ourselves, and the original idea was to have this show next year, but then we decided not to wait and go ahead and have it for this year’s Christmas season. For this ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ exhibit, we have 20 different pieces of Scripture verses from the beginning to the end of that journey, and the artists get to choose which piece of Scripture they want to create a piece around.”
Heronemus said she hopes “Journey To Bethlehem” will be another successful group exhibit.
“We’re very easy to work with, and the only major requirements we have are the artist must provide a short statement about the piece and a short biography about the creation of the piece,” Heronemus said. “All mediums are welcome, so if you’re one of those artists who think ‘Oh, but I’m not a painter/sculptor, etc.,’ that is actually perfectly okay. If you’re more literary, you can share some poetry or song lyrics for us to put on display. Or, if you’re a photographer or digital artist, you can create a piece that way as well. This exhibit is not only for what would be considered the ‘traditional’ art forms, it’s open to anyone and everyone. We’ll accept paintings, woodwork, sculptures, 3D art, literary art, fabric work – we want to see it all!”
With that in mind, Heronemus said it would be better for artists to sign up sooner rather than later.
“I would definitely recommend getting in touch with us as soon as possible because the Scripture pieces will be given out first come, first served, so if there’s a particular verse you want to create a piece around, get in here early so you can get what you want and not be disappointed,” Heronemus said. “Also, this is just a great way to get involved with the local artistic community – all the artists who participated in the Stations of the Cross exhibit all really enjoyed working together and getting their artwork out there and forming those connections. I just encourage anyone and everyone to come in and share their work and let us know what they’re thinking and planning. Anyone wanting to sign up just needs to call the Baker Arts Center at (620) 624-2810, and we’ll send them an artist packet with all the different requirements and information, and they’ll also be able to pick their Scripture piece. There are a couple deadlines we have, because we do a handout that will feature the artist bios and photos of the pieces, and we want to have all of that put together early, and all of that is due in October so we can have everything printed out in time for the show. The call for artists will end Aug. 31, so we hope to have 20 artists or more by that time, and then Oct. 15 is the deadline for the pieces to be here in the Baker Arts Center building so we can start photographing the pieces and then planning out where everything will go. We’re still working on planning the opening reception, but we will announce that here in the coming weeks so people can plan to be here that evening.”
Heronemus added she hopes to see a wide variety of pieces.
“I’m excited because some of the Stations of the Cross artists are returning for this ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ exhibit, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with for this particular piece,” Heronemus said. “I’m really excited to see all the different interpretations from the different artists and their perspectives, because we truly want them to put their own spin and experiences into their piece(s) and maybe how it relates to their own journey in life. We have such a wealth of talent in Liberal and the surrounding area, so I’m excited to see what everyone ends up putting together. And I know the exhibit seems a long time away, but it’ll be here before everyone knows it, so I would definitely encourage people to plan on coming out during the holiday season and take in what’s sure to be a beautiful collection of pieces from some talented people. It’s a great way to support the creative/artistic community right in this area, and I can’t wait to see how many people come out and see all the artwork.”
Overall, Heronemus said, she is excited for the rest of the year at Baker Arts Center.
“If you’re not able to be part of the ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ exhibit but want to do a solo show or group show with some friends, there are always those types of opportunities, and people interested in that would just need to get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help set that up,” Heronemus said. “I would highly encourage people to follow us on our social media, because we’ve always got something cool going on.”
