New Deal Celestial Art (1/5): "Meteor Falling to Earth" and "Zodical Light"

Above: "Meteor Falling to Earth," an oil painting by Chris Olson (1905-2000), created while he was in the WPA art program, 1940. In addition to being an artist, Olson became a strawberry farmer in Wisconsin and "supplied strawberries to many of the [Oshkosh] area grocery stores. His interest in strawberries led him to develop a new variety of everbearing strawberries. In 1975 his family successfully applied for a patent for the new variety" ("Christian Olson," The Oshkosh Northwestern, August 15, 2000). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Oshkosh Public Museum.

Above: "Zodical Light," another oil painting Chris Olson made while he was in the WPA. Zodical, or "zodiacal," light is "A faint elongated cone of light sometimes seen in the night sky, extending from the horizon along the ecliptic. It is thought to be due to the reflection of sunlight from particles of ice and dust within the plane of the solar system" (Oxford Dictionary). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Oshkosh Public Museum.