Painter builds miniature replicas of churches with meticulous detail

Published: 2005-05-26

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- John Allen LeBlanc of Lafayette, La., is a contract painter by day, and his eye is so sharp he can estimate a job just by visually sizing up a property. But when LeBlanc began his hobby of meticulously handcrafting ordinary plywood into stunning replicas of historic Acadian cabins and churches in the 1990s, he used his climbing skills to examine every available inch, taking exact measurements and close-up pictures before making his first cuts. Two of Allen's most impressive pieces -- replicas of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and St. Charles Borromeo Church in Grand Coteau, La. -- were on display through July 24 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art as part of the exhibit "The Spirit of Place: Art of Acadiana." The St. Louis Cathedral model -- a half-inch on the replica equals one foot on the building -- took 900 hours to complete. LeBlanc did only the front section because if he had done "the full cathedral it would have been 10 feet long."

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