NEW IBERIA, La. --- The Shadows-on-the-Teche Plein Air Painting Competition is kicking off this year’s event with a Quick Draw on Sat., March 13 at 3 p.m. in downtown New Iberia.

Together, artists and spectators will be immersed in the creative process as artists race against the clock to complete a painting en plein air in only two hours. Smell the wet paint and watch the paintings come to life right before your eyes!

Prizes will be awarded, and all artwork will be available for sale off the easel. The competition is open to artists high school age and older. Artists wishing to participate must register and pay a $10 entry fee. Registration forms can be picked up at the Shadows Visitor Center (320 E. Main St.) or downloaded online here.

The Shadows-on-the-Teche Plein Air Painting Competition will take place March 13-19, 2021. Visitors are invited to travel around the seven-parish area and watch artists paint en plein air.

Other festivities planned during competition week are an art talk, painting demonstration, paint out, awards reception and fine art sale, and quick draw competition. All activities and events are free to attend and participate unless otherwise noted.

The Shadows-on-the-Teche Plein Air competition debuted in 2015, introducing the community to painting en plein air. The tradition of “painting outside” is one explored by William Weeks Hall, the last private owner of the Shadows, who advertised for and taught painting classes in the gardens in the 1940s. In the seven-year history of the competition, over 170 artists from 25 states, Canada, and the Philippines have applied to participate. Almost 100 of these artists have traveled to New Iberia for the opportunity to spend a week painting Acadiana, helping to preserve our unique landscape and historic, urban, and rural viewscapes. Painting sales, the driving force behind the event and a clearer measure of success, increase each year with a grand total of $100,000 over the history of the event, providing support to the artists and the Shadows.

The Shadows-on-the-Teche, National Trust for Historic Preservation site, opened to the public in 1961 with the mission to preserve the buildings, landscape, collections, and historical integrity of the site; to research and interpret through education programs a 19th century southern Louisiana plantation economy and community and their evolution; and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in historic preservation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns and operates the Shadows-on-the-Teche, is a private, non-profit organization. The Shadows does not receive funding from federal, state, parish, or city government. The site supports itself through admissions, special programs and events, and donations to the Friends of the Shadows. For more information, visit ShadowsOnTheTeche.org.

For more information please contact Jayd Buteaux at (337) 369-6446 or Shadows@ShadowsOnTheTeche.org and follow the event on Facebook. Any funds raised from this event provide funding for art education.

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For more information on parish events and tourism assets, call the bureau at 337-365-1540 or visit IberiaTravel.com