ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Art lovers still have a few days left to see some of the work of a former local art teacher.

Liberal’s Baker Arts Center currently has on display some of the art of former Liberal resident and Seward County Community College art instructor Steve Heckman.

Baker Director Misty Martin said she found Heckman to be extremely talented.

“I would say he was, I don’t know if hidden gem is the right word, but definitely a talent who was extraordinary, and we were fortunate to be able to experience his art here in our area,” she said.

Martin said Heckman grew up in Southwest Kansas and gifted art to people all the time.

“He was super talented, and he didn’t just have one genre of art,” she said. “He didn’t have just one kind of thing. He had different things he would paint, and he was extremely talented.”

Martin added Heckman, who died in 2004, was both a great teacher and mentor to many people, and most of the pieces currently on display at Baker Arts are on loan from people in the area.

“They are locally owned, or businesses own the pieces that are in the gallery,” she said. “They’re pieces he did that people either purchased or he gifted to them over the years that they have in their homes. There’s some beautiful artwork out there. The First National Bank had a mural when the bank was downtown, and he painted that.”

As Southwest Kansas is rural, many of Heckman’s pieces depict rural scenes, and one of them even features Liberal’s biggest celebration – International Pancake Day. Martin said when looking at the art in the collection, each piece seems to tell a moment in a story.

“When you look at his paintings, they are telling you something, whether it’s a moment of a story or a feeling in a moment,” she said. “His paintings weren’t just decoration. They weren’t just ornaments. There’s depth to the purpose of his painting.”

Martin said Baker staff connected with community members who graciously allowed the center to utilize the art for the exhibit. Heckman’s birthday is June 28, and she said this felt like an appropriate time to celebrate the artist’s history in the area for art and to recognize his impact at the center, in Liberal, in Seward County and Southwest Kansas.

“We felt like celebrating the heritage he had here in the area, and what better time to celebrate than around his birthday,” she said.

As the center was the dream and inspiration of former Liberal artist Irene Baker, who died in 1984, much of Baker’s work is also on display as visitors come through the front door, and Martin said she loves how the center itself tells a story.

“When students come here for a tour, we always start coming in the front door,” she said. “I welcome them into Mrs. Baker’s living room, give them a story about Mrs. Baker and point out her art and her love for art and her dream for Baker Arts Center and what it is today.”

Martin said having Heckman’s art in the gallery along with Baker’s works beautifully, and it recognizes the heart behind the center and what Mrs. Baker wanted for the community all those years ago.

“To be able to take time to walk through the gallery and see Heckman’s work, that is carried on and remembered and being able to enjoy the display,” she said. “No matter the age of the person or the demographic, there’s something here they can experience and enjoy.”

Martin said Heckman’s art is extraordinary and unique in its own way.

“Every painting he has tells a different story,” she said. “There’s a Pancake Day picture here. There’s a cowboy picture. There’s some scenery of the plains, and I think all of them tell a picture of the beauty of the things he saw. Some of them, you look at and think maybe there was a deep feeling of sadness or tragedy. He deeply loved doing the art, and you can tell that. It shines through in each of the pieces.”

The Heckman exhibit will be up in the main Baker gallery through Monday. Martin, though, said the pieces will be moved to the center’s permanent gallery to allow people to continue to see them through the month of July. Baker Arts is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday.