A wide range of local artists’ work will be on display at the Shafer Gallery as part of the Barton County Arts Council Friends and Acquaintances Art Festival from Sept. 29-Nov. 4. An opening night reception at 6 p.m. Sept. 29. The show is underwritten by the Bill J. McKown Memorial Endowment distributed by the Golden Belt Foundation.

“The heart of a community is revealed in the artistic expression of its citizens,” Shafer Gallery Director Dave Barnes said. “The Barton County Arts Council Friends and Acquaintances Art Festival gives our community the opportunity to see the wide gamut of artistic enterprise in our county. All styles, experience levels and viewpoints share the spotlight to make this a genuinely inclusive event.”

Great Bend sculptor Chet Cale President of the Barton County Arts Council, described his enthusiasm for the upcoming exhibit.

“The Shafer Gallery is very good at supporting local artists and this is one of those ways,” he said. “We have a huge amount of fine, fine artists in our community countywide.”

One of the pieces Cale will have on display at the exhibit is “Christ on the Cross”. The piece holds significant value to Cale not just from the imagery but the source of the limestone used to create the sculpture.

“The stone was a salvaged piece of Hoisington High School after the 2001 tornado. I think there is a real parallel,” he said. “We have this imagery of just before the resurrection and we have this stone that would have just ended up in somebody’s creek or buried in the ground someplace was able to be brought back and used for one of the most historically dramatic images.”

Featured Artist: Kathleen Kuchar

Kathleen Kuchar grew up on a farm in northeast Nebraska. From a young age, she was fascinated by art and was supported in chasing her passion by both of her parents and her teacher. Kuchar attended Kearney State College in Nebraska (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) and received her bachelor degree in art.

After graduating, she started an art program at a high school in Minden Nebraska and taught there for two years before attending Fort Hays State University (FHSU) for her masters in art. Kuchar then went to the Brooklyn Museum in New York for one year of studies before FHSU asked her to be an art professor in 1967, where she taught for 34 years before retiring in 2001.

Until 1991 Kuchar’s artwork was mostly created with acrylic paint. It wasn’t until she attended the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy for one summer where she discovered her love for watercolor monotype. Monotype is a form of printmaking where only one print is made making each creation unique and one of a kind.

Her work is very youthful and abstract as she, like many artists, reaches into her past to bring out something beautiful.

“My work itself is based off of a lot of imagination, dreams and memories,” she said. “Sometimes I like to make a statement so I’ll have some symbolism like an empty chair. I don’t want it to be too cut and dry so people say ‘oh that is what it means period’, I want people to interact and come up with their own interpretation; that is what I am really after.”

Kathleen Kuchar watercolor monotype workshop Oct. 7

Starting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 7 Kuchar will host a watercolor monotype workshop at Barton Community College. During the workshop, she will demonstrate the basics of watercolor monotype printing, explore symbolism and discuss the development of the art once it comes off the press. Kuchar will also show the attendees how to make watercolor monotypes without a press so those who enjoyed this medium can continue to work on it from home. Kuchar hopes the attendees will walk away from a fun experience with a greater understanding of this art form. Some may walk out with a complete piece of artwork they want to frame and display at home. Kuchar says that is exciting, but not what she is aiming for.

“It’s not really important to have a finished product from a workshop,” Kuchar said. “The goal is to get familiar with the process, open up some ideas and appreciate the medium. If something really good comes out of it and you want to mount it and frame it then that would be just the frosting on the cake.”

The Shafer Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is always free.

Great Bend – On July 10, 2017, the Golden Belt Humane Society graciously received an “operations grant” in the amount of $28,216.00 from PetSmart Charities; the leading funder of animal welfare in North America. The new grant will help with the daily operations and much needed feline kennel improvements of the Golden Belt Humane Society shelter. Thus allowing Golden Belt Humane Society to continue their efforts to support and save local shelter cats waiting to find forever homes and families.

According to Heather Acheson, the director of Golden Belt Humane Society, “PetSmart Charities Shelter Operations
Grant”, as intended, will enhance the lives of each and every cat that stays at the shelter until a forever home is found.

The PetSmart Charities Operation Grant will help to replace the current feline kennels with stainless steel kennels that
provided a larger area for living with a separate area for a private bed and litter box. The current kennel system is
comprised of fiber glass and aluminum materials, which harbor unwanted bacteria and other organism’s paramount to an unhealthy type environment. The space is small and shared with a litter box, food and water dishes along with
sleeping space. The amount of strays or unwanted cats taken in each year (nearly 600 cats in 2016) is staggering. Cats can carry many different diseases and fiberglass kennels are not an ideal setting. The new stainless-steel kennels will help prevent the spread of diseases, will ensure a safe, more sanitary and a suitable living environment during cats stay at the shelter.

Funding for general shelter operations can be scarce for animal welfare organizations. This is one of the reasons
PetSmart Charities identified this as an area of great need and developed. The new area of the “Operations Grant” for
adoption partners and grantees is just one of ten grant categories designed to support animal welfare organizations.

It is also part of PetSmart Charities newly expanded mission to find lifelong loving homes for all pets by supporting
programs which bring people and pets together. Funding from PetSmart Charities supports best practices which in turn help pets thrive in a shelter environment, offers funding for shelter-based programs, improves adoption success,
reduces pets’ length of stay and strengthens shelter infrastructure.

About Golden Belt Humane Society
The Golden Belt Humane Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals, to
educate and promote the betterment of all animals, and to provide shelter for unclaimed/unwanted animals. Golden
Belt Humane Society serves the Great Bend, Ks and Barton County community.

As executive director of the Golden Belt Community Foundation (GBCF), Christy Tustin has been visiting with area residents about the new Forever Initiative program. Inevitably, one topic is always part of the conversation. That topic is Transfer of Wealth, which refers to the vast amounts of estate money that leave local communities when heirs no longer live here.

“Many grown children move away and are not coming back as often,” Tustin said. “When their parents pass away, the estate’s assets leave the central Kansas community.

“This not only affects local charities, it also has a negative impact on the local community,” she added. “It is the full-circle effect. We hope to turn this around by raising awareness.”

When just a small portion of an estate stays in local communities, it would help everyone to a certain degree, Tustin noted.

“What if we could capture 5 percent of this wealth? It could mean more charitable donations and more money circulating in the community,” she noted.

“And if that money is placed in Golden Belt Community Foundation endowments, the funds will grow and be available for vital social services and quality-of-life projects today and far into the future.

“This is one reason we recently launched our Forever Initiative,” Tustin continued. “The goal is to help build community-wide or county-wide endowments, thereby creating permanent financial resources right here at home.”

This new program is available in Pawnee, Rush and Stafford counties and all communities within those counties. A total of $300,000 in matching funds is available for gifts to GBCF endowment funds that can be used for social-services needs and quality-of- life projects. These projects could involve parks, playgrounds, libraries, schools, beautification efforts and historical preservation.

To illustrate the scope of the Transfer of Wealth issue, Tustin cited figures analyzed by the Kansas Association of Community Foundations and the Kansas Health Foundation.

Between 2010 and 2019, Barton County is projected to transfer $757,983,410 from one generation to the next; and 5 percent of that is $37,899,171.

Pawnee County stands to transfer $257,956,348. Five percent of that is $12,897,817.

In Rush County, the potential transfer is $92,272,255; 5 percent of that is $4,613,613.

And Stafford County’s potential transfer is $126,512,036 and 5 percent comes to $6,325,602.

These are the four counties in the GBCF’s service territory.

The figures also indicate $79 billion will transfer from one generation to the next in Kansas by 2020. Five percent is $3.9 billion. Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research conducted the study.

When Tustin speaks to people with questions about endowments, she emphasizes the many long-term benefits to a community.

“The principal amount in an endowment is permanently protected, while the fund’s income is used to support charitable causes within a designated area,” she explained.

“As the endowment grows, the amount available to your community grows.”

For more information, contact the GBCF, 1307 Williams, by calling 620-792-3000. Its website is www.goldenbeltcf.org.

PAWNEE COUNTY –A Larned woman was injured in an accident just after 10a.m. Saturday in Pawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Kenworth semi driven by John Thomas Shekleton, Jr. 45, New Hampton, IA, was westbound on Kansas 156 ten miles west of Larned.

The semi rear-ended a 2011 Lincoln passenger car driven by Kathy R. Tankersley, 53, Larned, that was slowing down, with turn signal on to make a left turn. The Lincoln spun into the south ditch.

Tankersley was transported to the hospital in Larned. The semi driver was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP>