The final show of the calendar year at the Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art began this week, with the annual Christmas sale and show set to run through December 14 on the campus of Central Methodist University.

Each year during the holiday season, the Gallery opens its doors to the public for a sale of works donated specifically to be sold. This year’s sale includes a total of 50 paintings, plus a number of drawings, posters, and other pieces.

Many of the pieces in the sale this year are paintings by Dr. Lawrence Ashby, for whom the Gallery is named. Ashby was an amateur painter whose work was given to the Gallery upon his death. The sale will be the first time the paintings have been available for the public to see.

Other pieces in the sale include those from the collection of the late John Ditto, a former Central teacher and chorale director who died last year.

The other half of this annual event is the student art show, featuring the works of students in the fall ART 130 Introduction to Painting class. The class is taught by Tyler Pierson, who also serves as the curator of the Gallery.

“It’s been a great class,” said Pierson, who went on to describe the different assignments in which his students explored contrast and color through their paintings.

Introduction pieces focused on contrast and learning composition, while a monochromatic assignment explored “how to change up a singular color to make a piece interesting.” A later assignment using palette knife painting encouraged students to “break free and focus more on texture.”

“They had to make their own still-life. It was an exploration into how to design a composition, pushing their compositional awareness,” said Pierson, whose own work will be a focus of the next upcoming show. “It’s about all the different ways you can think to balance, how to set movement, how to set rhythm in a piece. And it’s all done through the texture that they set.”

The show and sale will run from November 28 through December 14, with the Gallery open from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Special tours and groups are welcome by contacting Pierson at (660) 248-6304 or tpierson@centralmethodist.edu. The Gallery is located on the first floor of Classic Hall on the Fayette campus.