On Friday, two local art galleries coordinated a gallery hop to show off their eclipse-related exhibits.
The Art House in downtown Fulton and the Mildred M. Cox Gallery at William Woods University both have Light and Shadow exhibits. The Art House's gallery will be on display until Sept. 23, while William Woods's is viewable until Aug. 25.
While both shared a theme, the Art House exhibit focused on local artists, while William Woods took submissions from across the country.
At the Art House show, winners included Linda Hoffman's painting of hay bales at sunset in first place, Janice Bergen's eclipse pendants in second and Faith Woodson's "Hidden Choir" photo in third. Sarah Nguyen's "Tongue Cut Sparrow and Maple Tree" won best of show at William Woods, and Sharon Allicotti's "Side View Mirror Self, Badlands" took first.
Here's what a few of the featured artists said about their works, their inspiration and their thoughts on the eclipse.
Corrine Williams, The Art House
Local artist Corrine Williams submitted several oil pieces.
"Oil is very forgiving," she said.
Three of the works are literal interpretations of the eclipse in vivid colors. She said she tried to capture what it will look like.
"I'm really excited for this eclipse," she said. "Just from research, the light's going to be really cool."
She's experimenting with the technique of painting the entire canvas in one vivid color and allowing it to peek through in the finished painting. Two of her eclipse paintings were done on tiny two inch by two inch canvases, propped up on minuscule easels.
"(Art House board of directors member) Jane Mudd is always telling me to get rid of my little brushes," she said. "I had to show her they come in handy."
Richard Dutton, The Art House
Richard Dutton, another local, created his "Alignment Conjunction" piece in watercolor. It, too, depicts the eclipse - but in the abstract.
"I struggled with the theme," he said. "I wanted to do something that was kind of unique, not just eclipse-like."
Ultimately, he took inspiration from the incredible rarity of the event.
"In my lifetime, there's only been one other (total solar eclipse) like this in the whole U.S.," he said. "I was thinking about all the things that happened to make it happen. All these factors in the universe converged for a few seconds."
The work includes the eclipse's date and other symbolic elements, though Dutton said the colors don't represent anything.
"I just like them," he said.
Dutton plans on viewing the eclipse from his own backyard.
"I've got the glasses," he said.
Jacqueline Chanda, Mildred M. Cox Gallery
Jacqueline Chanda travelled to Fulton from Arizona, where she's a full-time artist. She submitted paintings from a series she felt fit the gallery's theme.
"I'd done a series of paintings where I had strong darks and lights," she said.
Most of the paintings were based on photographs and sketches captured in Europe, including at a particular cafe with dramatic lighting.
"I saw the light coming in and thought, 'This would be challenging,'" she said.
Sally Dill, Mildred M. Cox Gallery
Sally Dill is a New York City-based artist, though she grew up in Washington, Missouri. She spotted the call for entries in a publication for professional artists and the idea tickled her fancy.
"I had several pieces with negative and positive," she said.
She brought works in more than one medium, including photographs and paper cuts. Dill's favorite piece is a cut paper work called "Crux of the Matter." It's a reclining nude in black and white, with an abstracted easel in gray and a single splash of red.
"I keep the pieces that fall off (while I cut) and include them in the composition," Dill said.
Dill cuts out the figures freehand, rather than sketching them in advance, and keeps her eyes on the work's subject rather than her scissors. It's the papercut version of the blind contour line drawing technique, she said.
"You draw what you see instead of what you think you see," she said.
She picked up the technique about 30 years ago.
"I lived in Kansas City in the late 80s," she said. "I wanted to get back into life drawing and I decided, why not cut into paper?"
As for the splash of red, that came from an instructor in Michigan, she said. One day, Dill was painting a nude when the instructor took a paint brush, dipped it in a bright color and slashed it across Dill's painting.
"You've got to have something to draw you in," the instructor told Dill, and it's a lesson she said she hasn't forgotten.