Centenary senior Lila Beavers presents interactive outdoor art exhibit on campus
SHREVEPORT, LA — Lila Beavers, a studio art and new media design double major, has created a unique and timely outdoor installation for her senior exhibit at Centenary. The exhibit, SHELTER, runs through May 8 and incorporates eight locations on the College’s campus.
SHELTER is a conceptual exhibit that incorporates organic materials, found objects, and ceramics into an outdoor art experience which explores our domestic lives. In a nod to the last year of coronavirus-induced isolation, Beavers purchased and installed eight 6-foot mini greenhouses around campus to hold her artwork. Ultimately, the greenhouses become the artwork itself. At night, the exhibit comes alive in new ways with projections and lighting.
“While SHELTER is designed and situated in the time of COVID-19, the ideas behind it reach into the past, as well as the future,” explained Beavers. “Viewers may read plants as stand-ins for people, while the greenhouses are to represent our homes; our state of life. One of my favorite pieces is OUTGROWN, in which I deconstructed and reconstructed a greenhouse around a tree to give the illusion of life bursting through the confines which once provided nurture. At the base of the tree, I placed broken pottery shards and soil to represent the pot in which the tree was first planted. At its core, SHELTER is an exploration of our growth as humans, and the seasons which nurture or challenge that growth.”
Campus and community visitors can experience SHELTER Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. through Saturday, May 8. A map and more information are available at centenary.edu/shelter.