New Iberia’s annual plein air competition ended this past weekend with a successful showing and a new host after the City of New Iberia took the reins from Shadows-on-the-Teche. 

The Shadows has hosted the competition, which brings in plein air artists from all over the country to participate in a weeklong whirlwind of painting local landscapes of the Teche Area that are then awarded by professional artists and sold to the public. 

Mayor Freddie DeCourt called the event a success, with participating artists submitting a wide range of works that took everything from Delcambre boats to sugar cane fields as their subject. 

“It went really well, we got a lot of people and it turned out great,” DeCourt said. 

Artists arrived at the Sliman Theater to receive their awards, which came with a cash prize, and organizer of the event Jerome Weber who discussed the past week. 

“This program is put on by a lot of people,” Weber said. “Everybody that had anything to do this, from the artists to the people who buy art, did so much to make it a success.”

The Sliman Theater auditorium was transformed into an art gallery showcasing the work of the artists during the weekend, and interested patrons were able to walk through and choose any of the paintings that were up for sale. 

The winning categories included Best Delcambre Painting, the Mayor’s Award and the Kiwanis Award for Preserving History as well as a variety of other categories such as Best Architectural Painting, Best Nocturnal Painting, Best Use of Water and Best Louisiana Natural Beauty awards. Awards for the Paint Out, which was open to amateurs and professionals alike, were also awarded along with the overall best in show awards. 

The winners from this year’s competition are as follows:

Best Delcambre Painting for $250 worth of seafood shipped to their home – Craig Reynolds from Gadsden for “Bryan’s Boat Yard.”

Mayor’s award (sponsored by Wyatt and Becky Collins) $1,000 purchase award – Phil Sandusky from New Orleans for “Main Street.”

Kiwanis award for Preserving History for $500 – Natalia Andreeva from Tallahassee for “On Main Street.”

La Petit Peinture for $300 – awarded to Cory Wright from Palmetto for “Light on The Marsh.”

Best Architectural Painting (sponsored by Simone Guillory) – $500 prize awarded to Phil Sandusky from New Orleans for “Main Street.”

Best Nocturnal Painting for $500 – Mary Monk from Abita Springs for “Night Falls.”

Best Use of Water for $500 – awarded to David Orrin Smith from Seattle for “Plein Air Noon-4 p.m.”

Best LA Natural Beauty (sponsored by Beau Beaullieu) for $300 – Jeff Williams from Stillwater for “Quiet Moments at the Crawfish Ponds with Jeff and Kirk.”

Honorable mention No. 1 for $300 – Richard Sneary from Kansas City for “Shrimp Boats at Intracoastal.”

Honorable mention No. 2 for $300 – Natalia Andreeva from Tallahassee for “After The Harvest.”

Fourth place for $500 – Craig Reynolds from Gadsden for “Sunset on Lake Martin.”

Third place $1,000 – Fred Jackson from King of Prussia for “The Point” who also received a one year print and digital subscription to PleinAir magazine.

Second place $1,500 – Kari Ruiz from Interlaken for “Sunset Splendor” who also receives a one year print and digital subscription to PleinAir Magazine.

Best Body of Work $500 – Fred Jackson from King of Prussia for his entire wall.

Artist Choice for Best Painting for $1,000 – Durre Waseem from Corona for “Upside Down on Stillwaters” who also receives a month-long featured artwork on outdoorpainter.com.

Best of Show for $2,000 – Durre Waseem from Corona for “Upside Down on Stillwaters” who also receives quarter page advertising award in PleinAir magazine

Quick Draw Results:

Quick Draw 2nd place $200 prize – Durre Waseem from Corona for “Selfie at Teche.” 

Quick Draw 1st place for $500 – Fred Jackson from King of Prussia for “Church Alley.”

Paint Out Results:

Non-juried artist second place for $100 – Ann Faillace from New Iberia for “Prairie Street.”

Non-juried artist first place for $150 – Marjorie Shanks from Effie for “Open for Business.”

Juried artist second place for $200 prize – Craig Reynolds from Gadsden for “Smokebreak.”

Juried artist first place for $500 – Lisa Engle from Adamsville for “Other Side of the Tracks.”