LSU-Shreveport art exhibit celebrates female artists, nature

Yahoo

27-03-2025

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)—A female-centered art exhibit is coming to Northwestern Louisiana, showcasing the area's natural landscape and culture.
According to the news release, the exhibit started this month in honor of Women's History Month and is curated from the Northwest Louisiana Archives and private collection holdings.
Attendees can visit the exhibit on the third floor of the Noel Memorial Library, 1 University PlaceShreveport, until May 2.
'This exhibit came from the idea that we have a lot of art and art-related items, such as records from the Shreveport Art Club and the Hoover Water Color Society, as well as others,' says Noel Memorial Library staff, Dr. Laura McLemore, 'What all of these pieces have in common is that they depict what they saw in their environment.
'The pieces are frequently about the natural world, but it's also a representation of the culture and society of that time.'
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Elizabeth Friedenberg and Jasmine Morelock Field are two of the most prominent artists featured in this showcase.
Friedenberg portrayed how people interacted with their rural environments, while Morelock Field's featured pieces are abstract in nature.
According to Noel Memorial Library, it is open Sunday from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. and Monday through Friday from 4:45 p.m. until 9 p.m.
LSU-Shreveport notes, 'The majority of the featured art was created from the 1930s-1980s, but some of the artists date back to the 19th century. Most of the works are paintings, but other forms include woodblock prints, sketches, and prints of sculptures and murals.'
'The scenes depicted include Plain Dealing's famous dogwoods (Cora Lee Butler) and rural baptisms (Elizabeth Friedenberg), as well as more modern examples like the construction of the 'Quilt Kiosk' sculpture (Barbara Abott) and the 'Once in a Millennium Moon' mural (Meg Saligman) in downtown Shreveport.'
'We want people to be aware of our artists and how they interpreted our environment and culture,' Dr. McLemore said.
The exhibit has another function, mainly aimed at scholars at LSUS and the wider region who conduct research.
'We want faculty, staff, and students, as well as LSUS constituents, to appreciate the variety of materials that we have in the archives, and that the purpose is to use these materials for research,' Dr. McLemore said.
'People think of us as primarily a photograph repository, and while we do have a lot of wonderful photographs, we're a whole lot more than that. We're quite a rich research resource on a lot of different topics.'
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