Celebrating the "Dog Days'

Art House summer exhibit features 95 works on theme

Local artists and enthusiasts gathered at the Art House for a reception for its end of summer art exhibit "Dog Days of Summer" Thursday evening in downtown Fulton. The reception featured over 95 pieces of artwork from 31 artists.
Local artists and enthusiasts gathered at the Art House for a reception for its end of summer art exhibit "Dog Days of Summer" Thursday evening in downtown Fulton. The reception featured over 95 pieces of artwork from 31 artists.

The Art House held a reception for its end of summer art exhibit "Dog Days of Summer" Thursday evening in downtown Fulton.

During the reception 31 artists, both new and returning to Art House, were featured in the more than 95-piece exhibit, which includes water colors, pastels, paintings and photography, Art House Director and Curator Jane Mudd said. Sev- eral of the pieces were selected to win cash prizes provided by a private donor.

"Competitions get people out here," Mudd said.

Judge Jennifer Wiggs, who is also an art professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia, selected the following artists as the winners:

First place - Sara McCahon with her piece "Pups at the Creeks"

Second place - Dan Fishback with his piece "Nocturne"

Third place - Mike Seat with his piece "River View" and two honorable mentions for Laura Pintel's "End of Summer" and Linda Hoffman's "Betty's Soy- beans."

The winning artists were announced during the reception.

The "Dog Days of Summer" theme was interpreted by each artist in various ways, many, which included scenic river views and summer fauna.

"I think it's fun to have themed shows once in awhile because it gets artists working together and brings them out to see how they interpreted it and how they saw it," Mudd said. "Everybody has a different way of interpreting that and that's what makes it interesting."

The exhibit, which will stay up through September, features the work of regional, juried artists, who were selected by a committee to display their pieces at the Art House, Art House Board Member Danielle Warren said. For new artists to be featured at one of the Art House exhibits, a committee must agree that the artist's work would be considered "fine art," Warren said.