Ruby Newcomb, who turns 75 today, has a special fondness for flowers.

“I love pictures of flowers,” Newcomb said. “That’s what drives me to watercoloring.”

Newcomb is one of seven local artists whose work is being displayed through July 26 at the Acadian Center for the Arts in Lafayette.

Ruby Newcomb sits in her studio surrounded by her artwork while practicing with a new form of art, photography. - Bill Smith / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

Other artists whose work is on display include Mickey Delcambre, Ernie Fournet, Kathy Baus, Brian Guidry, Gwen Voorhies and Darnelle Delcambre.

Their work, which was jurored by Los Angeles art historian and critic Peter Frank, were submitted for competition at the 2008 Southern Open, which took place May 9-10. This competition was open to all artists in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas.

Rose Courville is the curator for the Southern Open, an event she views as an opportunity.

“My goal for the Southern Open series is to provide artists from across the Gulf South an opportunity to create and present new works,” Courville said.  

“I am very pleased that our local Louisiana artists are well represented in the exhibition.”

Newcomb submitted seven works. Her photograph of the Vida Shaw Bridge was the one selected.

“That’s the one they chose,” Newcomb said. “I sent in six paintings and one photo and they chose the photo.”

Darnelle Delcambre, 65, retired from the telecommunications industry seven years ago and then pursued a lifelong dream of learning to paint. Her painting titled “Pier One — Still Life,” inspired by a photograph from the Pier One furniture store chain’s catalog, was a Southern Open entry.

Delcambre was excited about having her work chosen.

“It looked like a challenge,” Delcambre said. “It was the first time I had tried something like that. It was an honor to be selected.”

To Guidry, 39, his selected painting titled “November Archive”  represents “a merge between nature and technology.”

“I go out into the landscape and sample color, and then use that to complete the painting,” Guidry said.

Mickey Delcambre, 69, owner of Mickey’s Photos in New Iberia, was “tickled to death” to have his entry, a computer enhanced photograph titled “Seagulls in Southwest Pass” included in the Southern Open.

“It was not one of my first picks,” Mickey Delcambre said.

“You never really know what the juror is looking for. It was something I didn’t think would be accepted, but it was.”

“Big Brother’s watching” is the title of the pencil drawing that Fournet, 59, presented in the Southern Open. Drawn from a photograph of a Louisiana State Police Sniper Team, Fournet views his work being selected as “advertisement.”

“It just means the juror liked it,” he said.

Baus’ work, “Number 114” was an “acrylic collage painting on a wood panel.”

“I’m really into color and I went for the traditional look of a quilt,” said Baus, 57. “I hope someone buys it for a million dollars.”