The gymnasium at Central Christian Church on Saturday was teeming with sketches, oils, acrylics, miniatures and many other types of art during the 39th annual Ironton Artists Association Fall Art Show.

“The number of entries for this show is better than we have had in the past few years,” Pati Payne, show organizer and founder, said. “I think there is a newfound interest in art in the area and we have some wonderful, talented artists.”

Father and daughter Rodney and Charity Chapman were viewing the miniatures, a category added just this year, and bragged on the event.

“This is one of the better shows in the area,” Rodney said. “We go to all of them and this one is for sure at or near the top.”

The Chapmans had several entries in the show.

Emily Anderson, a sophomore at St. Joseph High School, had two entries in the seventh through twelfth-grade category.

“I’ve been painting since I was in sixth grade,” she said. “I just kept practicing and practicing and now here I am. This is the first time I have entered anything in a show. I guess everyone has to start somewhere.”

Anderson plans on using her ability and love of art to work in the animation field.

The photography category ramped up its entries this year, something Payne said is different from past years.

“We have always had a photography category,” Payne said. “But this year we got so many entries we had to make more room for them and they are all fantastic pieces.”

Savannah Henry, a freshman graphic design major at Marshall, had five pieces in Saturday’s show.

“I have some oils and some other ones in the show,” she said. “This is my first show so I didn’t really know what to expect, and still don’t.”

Newcomers such as Anderson and Henry are one possibility the number of entries went up this year, according to Payne.

This year’s judge, Leona Mackey, knows a thing or two about art. She taught it for 32 years at Huntington High School and for three years at Marshall after retiring from HHS.

“I have to compliment this area for having beautiful work,” she said. “There is so much professional work here and so many on the way to becoming professional. There is a wide range of subjects here, like organic things to structures to landscapes to animals. It really is something to see.”

The American Association of University Women had a book sale at the event.