Iola artist Gary Hawk recently opened a new studio and gallery on the east side of Iola. In the upper area of the building, which will also be the family home, is a studio and office. The main floor includes a gallery and sales area. Hawk said a staff member will be added in May to handle national marketing. Hawk markets note cards, stationery, and limited edition prints nationally. Hawk’s wife, Beverly, runs the gallery and his two daughters handle packaging in the mushrooming family operation.
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About seven years ago, an enterprising pair of men bought the Iola motion picture theater with borrowed money and formed a company called B & B Booking and Buying Theater Co. Yesterday, Robert Buscher, president, announced plans for the company’s expansion that will leave the firm with 25 screens by year’s end. The company currently has 18 screens in its circuit of theaters in Southeast Kansas and has more than $4 million in assets. He said they would open a new indoor and drive-in theater in Fredonia next week. B & B employs about 100 people. All its business and revenues are handled in Iola.
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A major exhibition of works by the distinguished Kansas painter, Birger Sandzen, will open this Sunday afternoon at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. The exhibition will include works assembled from the collections of the Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Pittsburg State University, the Bowlus Center, the Iola Public Library and private collections.
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A rattlesnake was killed in the John Deere Shop on North State yesterday. Police Chief John Maier said it was unusual to see one of the poisonous snakes in the area.
