Four Local Artists to Compete in First Plein Air Competition in Jackson

Four local artists will be participating in a celebration of Earth Day at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park for the En Plein Air Paint Competition.

The event, presented by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and Pacesetter Gallery, will showcase 27 well-known Mississippi artists as they paint scenes of their choosing from LeFleur’s Bluff State Park.

Four of the 27 artists are from Lafayette County – Linda Peters, Carol Roark, Pam Locke and Debbie Myers.

The public is encouraged to come out to enjoy the park, meet the painters, and watch as art comes to life through oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastel mediums. 

Watch artists paint live from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with judging taking place at 2:30 p.m.

Visitors can purchase artwork throughout the day, or they may wait until the Wet Paint Sale from 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. However, the sale is first come first serve.

“En plein air” artists are able to record places that someday may no longer be there. Artists are able to see beauty in things that most people pass by. We call it finding the extraordinary in the ordinary,” said Carol Roark from Enid. “Artists help people slow down and enjoy the beauty that they are missing right in front of their faces. Observers get to see the artistic process, ask questions and then they can actually take a piece of that experience home with them. It doesn’t get much better.”

Lafayette County artists’ bios:

Linda Peters, Oxford

Linda Peters is a landscape painter, an active member of the Oxford Artists’ guild and Gallery, Oil Painters of America, Mississippi Oil Painters Association, and founder of Mississippi Plein Air Painters. She is self-taught, born and raised in Mississippi and currently resides in Oxford, MS. She has participated in many local shows and several invitational shows around the state and plays host to the plein air event, A Gathering of Artists. Her paintings are primarily in oil with a specific interest in the process of en plein air to studio. Her awards include best in Show, Peoples’s Choice, and 2nd place at Oxford Artists Guild Big Bad Show, 2019 selected for the NBC Television Pilot, Bluff City Law, 2011 People’s Choice Award at Double Decker Arts Festival and has work available in Pacesetter Gallery.

Carol Roark, Enid

Artist Carol Roark creates and teaches from her studio just north of Charleston. She is an avid en plein air painter spending much of her time in her beloved Mississippi Delta. Her work has been exhibited through national exhibitions with The National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society and Oil Painters of America as well as featured in Delta and Southern Lady Magazines. Roark is also a member of the Mississippi Plein Air Painters, The Mississippi Oil Painters Association and American Women Artists. Her awards and honors include inclusion in NOAPS National Juried Small Works 2021 and 2022, NOAPS Best of America Juried Exhibition 2022, OPA National Salon Show 2020, Faculty Member Plein Air South 2021 and Faculty Jerry’s Artarama of the Carolinas 2020 and her work is available at art galleries throughout Mississippi.

Pam Locke, Oxford

Pam Locke likes to paint the world around her, people, places, and things that generate memories of happy times. She captures glimpses in time, later recreating them in watercolor imagery. In particular, landscape, nature, and wildlife that manifest the beauty of the nature world stir up her creativity. In the past few years, Pam has been working more with oil paint, experimenting with blending water and oil painting techniques to expand her style. Pam has a strong graphic arts background. Working from photos she has taken for reference as well as working en plein air, she strives to the beauty she sees through her paintings. Pam is active in Oxford Artists’ Guild, founding member of Mississippi Plein Air Painters, Delta Artist Association, and Mississippi Oil Painters Association. She has received Best of Show multiple times and been featured in art shows across Mississippi and a featured artist for the Double Decker Art Festival. Her work is included in permanent collections in several states.

Debbie Myers, Oxford

Debbie Myers is an award-winning watercolorist from Oxford. She enjoys sharing her passion for the medium by teaching adult watercolor classes through the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Debbie was recently awarded a mini-grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission to purchase supplies for watercolor panels for her upcoming solo show in Oxford in Nov/Dec 2023 at City Grocery.

Other participating artists include:

Susan Wellington, Karen Bennett, Beth Dean, Wes Arrington, Feixue Yang, Wade Stephenson, Michael Joseph Hipps, Michael Keen, Janice Kraft, Maggie Mayer, Chris Cockrell, Albert Smathers, Elke Briuer, Chelsea Young, Luce Wren Cooper, Mike Koskie, Ari Atarji, Bryan Peters, Susan Cobb, Gayle Quick, Rowan Bird, Andrew Mize, and Cindy Prince.

For more information about Mississippi State Parks, visit www.mdwfp.com/parks-destinations or call (601) 432-2400. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Staff report