Second Saturday
Join us for Free Art-Making at Salina Art Center for Second Saturday! Free and open to all ages. Different project every month!
Join us for Free Art-Making at Salina Art Center for Second Saturday! Free and open to all ages. Different project every month!
Use found objects to create easy circle and line geometric patterns with watercolor. This class is perfect for beginners and anyone wanting to explore new watercolor techniques. We'll use the primary colors to create new colors, a wet-on-wet technique to blend them together, and ink pens to emphasize the design. This is a fun way to learn watercolor terms and combine the unruly world of watercolor with the crisp lines of ink pens!
Use found objects to create easy circle and line geometric patterns with watercolor. This class is perfect for beginners and anyone wanting to explore new watercolor techniques. We'll use the primary colors to create new colors, a wet-on-wet technique to blend them together, and ink pens to emphasize the design. This is a fun way to learn watercolor terms and combine the unruly world of watercolor with the crisp lines of ink pens!
DROP THE NEEDLE is a new special program at the Art Center Cinema where each month we explore a new film celebrating music across all genres. Watch for new programming on the 3rd Tuesday of each month!
This Month: Becoming Led Zeppelin : The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.
Experience the Flint Hills through art, landscape, and a little unexpected technology.
Join Salina Art Center for a day trip to Manhattan exploring the places and people shaping the creative life of our region. We’ll discover the story of the Flint Hills, experience the immersive galleries of the Museum of Art & Light, enjoy a hosted lunch, meet member of Manhattan’s creative community, and take the scenic route home through one of Kansas’ most extraordinary landscapes.
Along the way, we’ll go beyond the usual museum visit with conversations, behind-the-scenes experiences, and time to explore.
Transportation, lunch, snacks, museum admission, tours, and activities are included.
$75 per person | Space is limited!
THROWBACK THURSDAY | The Defiant Ones (1958)
Thursday, September 17 • 6:30 pm
Run Time: 96 min | Rating: NR
Two chained-together escaped convicts, one white and one black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
Join us at the Salina Art Center for the opening reception of Land in Alliance: Shared Ground | Shared Future!
Guest curated by Taiomah Rutledge, this exhibition brings together Native and non-Native artists to explore our shared relationships to land, place, and community through painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, and video.
CATERING HIGHLIGHT:
We are thrilled to welcome Native chef Jason Champagne, who will be preparing dishes inspired by Indigenous food traditions and the land that sustains us.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
5:00 PM – Reception opens | Enjoy food by Chef Jason Champagne and explore the gallery
6:00 PM – Artist Panel | Facilitated by guest curator Taiomah Rutledge
Come consider your own relationship to the land, meet the artists, and enjoy an evening of art, conversation, and exceptional food!
Every Third Saturday of the Month | 10 AM- 11 AM | FREE
at the Salina Art Center, 242 S Santa Fe
This monthly event is free and open to all visual artists who want to connect to other visual artists. All artists of any medium, of all skill levels, and at any stage of your artistic career are welcome. Whether you're here to share, learn, or just enjoy some great coffee and conversation, we’d love to see you there! Coffee will be provided.
Splatter Flowers with Meghan Hessman
Choose from two sessions:
During Week One, we'll meet at the Salina County Demonstration Gardens to break down the process of gathering reference photos and inspiration for your artwork. Week Two, bring the reference photos and learn step-by-step how to create a composition for your artwork. We'll use a loose splatter technique to paint flowers. This is a great class for beginners and anyone trying to create loose watercolor flowers.
Splatter Flowers with Meghan Hessman
Choose from two sessions:
During Week One, we'll meet at the Salina County Demonstration Gardens to break down the process of gathering reference photos and inspiration for your artwork. Week Two, bring the reference photos and learn step-by-step how to create a composition for your artwork. We'll use a loose splatter technique to paint flowers. This is a great class for beginners and anyone trying to create loose watercolor flowers.
Reel Film Fans
The Secret of NIMH (1982)
Free with Library Card
A widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave mother struggles to transplant her home to firmer ground.
REEL FILM FANS is a partnership with the Salina Public Library. Anyone with a library card can attend for FREE!
Don't have a card? No problem - you can get one at the Cinema before the film.
REEL FILM FANS is sponsored by Kevin and Kathy Willmott.
Got something to repair, repaint, or revitalize?
Bring your broken, worn, or just-not- working-right items to Repair Café, a community event presented in partnership with North Salina Community Development and Hutton. Volunteer fixers with skills ranging from sewing and woodworking to bicycle and small household repairs will help you troubleshoot and repair what you already own. Replace a missing button. Fix an old lamp. Patch a bike tire. Repair a stubborn drawer slide—and learn a few skills along the way. Repair Café is about more than fixing stuff. It’s about sharing knowledge, reducing waste, saving money, and bringing neighbors together to give everyday objects a second life.
BE A VOLUNTEER FIXER!
Contact Darren at dmorawitz@salinaartcenter.org
WTO/99 (2025) with Alex Megaro Discussion
Relive the dramatic 1999 World Trade Organization protests that reshaped global activism in this timely documentary. Stay after the screening for a live conversation with filmmaker Alex Megaro about protest, democracy, and the enduring relevance of the events captured on screen.
Martinelli’s, 158 S Santa Fe, Salina
Focus Films of Discussion: The Rivals of Amziah King, Peter Asher: Everywhere Man, American Graffiti, Late Fame, Strangers on a Train, and Tony.
After the Credits is a monthly film lovers gathering led by actress and filmmaker Kiki Bush, filmmaker Isaiah Marcotte, and Salina Art Center Executive Director Misty Serene.
This casual, welcoming film club is where recent Cinema favorites come back to life through conversation. Each month features a focus film, but all films screened at the Art Center over the past month are on the table for discussion.
Join us at the END OF SUMMER SPEAKEASY for a celebration to support the future of the arts.
Raise a glass, dance feeling completely uninhibited, and enjoy a live band and brief dance lesson.
Dress in your swankest Roaring '20s attire and join fellow art lovers for a night of bootleg cocktails, lively entertainment, and unforgettable memories - all in support of inspiring creativity, connecting our community, and keeping the arts thriving.
Every ticket and toast helps sustain exhibitions, educational programs, and opportunities for artists of all ages.
One night. No limitations. One unforgettable cause.
Create Pokémon-inspired art, including designing your own characters and crafting Pokéballs.
Collaborative Printmaking with Jim Sherraden
July 26 | 1-5pm | $55
Color and contrast and balance of design will be the words on our tongue as we welcome you to a four hour letterpress workshop hosted by Jim Sherraden, a Salina native and longtime letterpress enthusiast, residing in Nashville, Tennessee. Sherraden will bring multiple, odd shaped pieces of linoleum, with a 'pre drawn' series of circles' connecting each piece of linoleum. The attendee will then have one hour to pick a linoleum segment, and carve anything they want...at the end of the 'carving' time, all the linoleum pieces will be reassembled and hand inked (by attendees, of course), until everyone has something to take home.
The Salina Art Center and Smoky Hill River Festival brings back Salina native Jim Sherraden, a notorious printmaker who for decades was the master printer at Hatch Show Print in Nashville Tennessee. After decades of printing posters and other designs for big names and the masses, Jim began exploring his own artistic career. In these years since, he had created many influential works shown in places like the Library of Congress, as well as, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Jim's personal style of work started as a fascination with using blocks from previous posters printed at the Hatch to showcase new designs. In 2005 he began carving his own wood blocks and uses them to design his current work which he describes as paper quilts. Using the bright colors that the Hatch is known for along with his collage work, Jim has turned his long love for printmaking into something that is truly unique.
To catch a glimpse of Jim Sherraden’s work and talk to him yourself stop by both the Art Center for his Pop-Up Exhibition and artists talk, as well as his workshop at the Art Center Warehouse.
Dive into the world of storytelling! In this course, you’ll learn how to turn your ideas into fun comics and stories. We'll explore how storytelling works in comics, breaking down what makes a good story and how to combine words with pictures.
Explore watercolor techniques like wet-on-wet, dry brush, and resist while creating a variety of paintings.
We are joining the K Pop craze! We will be creating cool art inspired by the popular movie K Pop Demon Hunters.
Turn everyday materials into handmade sketchbooks while exploring journaling, collage, and creativity.
Come join the fun as we explore space and create some out of this world art!
This class would be focused on learning techniques for upcycling clothing and expressing oneself through one's wardrobe. Techniques covered:
- Tie dye
- Bleach dye/Reverse dye
- Hand stitching/embroidery/beading
- Cutting, braiding, and bedazzling
Ever wonder what lives in the deep, dark ocean? Come stretch your imagination and create some spooky or fun sea monsters!
Join Biennial Artist, Aaron Crim, as he shows you basic drawing concepts applied to portraiture, under drawing, and finishing the piece. Charcoal, soft pastels, pencils, and more will be used to create a dynamic portrait.
Bring stories to life, one puppet at a time! Students will explore storytelling by designing and building their own puppets and characters. Using materials like paper, cardboard, and papier-mâché, they’ll create articulated paper puppets, shadow puppets, 3D cardboard self-portrait puppets, and potted plant paper lanterns.
It’s the pirate life for me! We will have fun creating some pirate inspired art including a pirate ship, treasure map, and treasure chest. Join the fun or walk the plank!
Practice hand stitching while creating a book cover and small books.
Get ready to roll, press, stamp, and experiment! In Printmaking Playground, young artists will enter the exciting world of printmaking. From carving designs to layering textures and patterns, students will explore a variety of techniques inspired by animals, insects, and the world around them. By the end of the week, students will take home a vibrant collection of prints and a final artwork that showcases their imagination and growth.
Create art using Sharpies on a variety of fun, usable items.
Come create some fun art for your yard so cute your neighbors will want some! We will create a gnome, a bird feeder/decoration, a wind chime and a painted brick for your yard.
Students will be learning to create their own characters in various styles. Anime, caricatures, and other cartoons will be used for inspiration. They will get a better understanding of the different ways that characters can be drawn.
Learn three basic macramé knots while creating a small plant hanger—perfect for beginners!
Come enjoy exploring science and art! We will combine art and science to create art with magnets, marbles, balloons, fizzy paint, and more!
Join us for Brunch with this year’s Juror of the Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial, Hesse McGraw.
FIRST FRIDAY | OPENING RECEPTION & AWARDS
JUNE 5 | 5-7pm | 5:30pm Brief Award Presentation
FREE & OPEN TO EVERYONE
The Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial is a juried exhibition highlighting contemporary visual art from the Mountain-Plains region of the United States.
This year features 102 works from 62 artists, representing Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
The Salina Art Center is hosting a pop-up exhibition featuring the artwork of Dr. Virginia Ricard, inspired by the legacy of the Dunbar School as both a physical space and a cultural cornerstone. Once a center of learning during an era of segregation, the school stands as a powerful symbol of perseverance, intellectual ambition, and collective identity.
Students will learn basic throwing techniques for the potter’s wheel along with glazing.
This class is geared toward beginner level concepts, like simply how to cast on and do basic knit and purl stitches, and practicing a simple pattern or project.
Come explore the wonders of the world and create unique works of art inspired by them. We will look at the great pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel tower, the Taj Mahal and Stonehenge. We will use different art techniques and mediums in this fun class.
Students will create games, jewelry, pets, and plants using rocks.
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.
REEL FILM FANS is a partnership with the Salina Public Library. Anyone with a library card can attend for FREE!
Don't have a card? No problem - you can get one at the Cinema before the film.
REEL FILM FANS is sponsored by Kevin and Kathy Willmott.