NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) — New Iberia hosts the 11th annual Teche Plein Air Paint Out Competition.

Teche Plain Air competition is an annual week-long competition featuring artists from around the country who are able to paint in seven parishes within Acadiana.

Jerome Weber, one of the founders of the competition, said this is “One of the class-a events in the United States. By the quality of work here, you can see that we are.”

The weeklong event allows up to 26 different artists from around the country to come to Acadiana and compete for a $10,000 prize. Plein Air means “paint open outside”. With just a few hours to work each day, artists have to find a spot and turn a blank canvas into a unique piece of art depicting what they are seeing. A talent not many are capable of doing.

“These are some of the top 26 best artists in the United States. At this skill level,” said Weber.

One of those artists is Kirk Larsen from Hicksville, New York. Larsen travels across the country to compete in plein air art competitions year-round like this one. He describes what makes this type of competition so special for artists and the people who admire the work they do.

“What’s really cool for us is sometimes we stop to paint something that maybe you as a local resident pass by every day and either don’t notice or discount from what you would consider beautiful or interesting,” said Larsen. “It can generate an interest for an old landmark or just for people not to take for granted what they see every day.”

The competition ends with a final award ceremony and an art sale of the work each artist created during the week.

Larsen said, “The best thing you can do if you’re hearing this is get down here to the Sliman (Theater) and check out this art exhibit. Everything was blank at last week, and the caliber of art is as good as any museum in the world.”

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