Bilberry Park Installation, (sculpture).

Bilberry Park Installation, (sculpture).

Reed, Lucille, sculptor.

Brown, Nevelyn, sculptor.

Nathan, Tama, sculptor.

Moore, Donna, assistant.

Pyramid Group, sculptor.

Bilberry Park Installation, (sculpture).

Feb. 8 - July 8, 1995. Copyrighted 1995. Dedicated July 8, 1995.

Digital Reference:

Metal, found objects and wood, painted and gilded.

(On far right post:) "FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE/SHREVEPORT REGIONAL ARTS COUNCIL/WITH FUNDS FROM THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT/AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. (On second post:) DOUG/WILLIAM/S. SON/BROTH/ER CA/RING KI/ND ATH/LETE/ALL-STA/R GRA/NDSON/POPUL/AR HE/RO FRI/END RO/LE MOD/EL (On third post:) PYRAMID GROUP/Nevelyn F. Brown/Tama R. Nathan/Lucille Reed/THANKS TO:/City of Shreveport/National Endowment for the Arts/Shreveport Regional Arts Council/Community Cultural Plan signed

Seven brightly colored memoriam posts with designs inspired from African art. Two of the posts are dedicated to the memory of John Bilberry and Doug Williams, both of whom had ties to the park. The third is dedicated to African-American arts. The remaining four sculptures are called gateway memory posts. All of the sculptures are made of wood, except for one which has found objects attached to its upper section. The sculptures are surrounded by a garden design based on an African raffia-like fabric called shoowa and a 42 foot mural of painted wood planks.

Homage -- Bilberry, John

Homage -- Williams, Doug

Ethnic -- African American

Outdoor Sculpture -- Louisiana -- Shreveport

Administered by City of Shreveport, Downtown Development Authority, 401 Edwards Street, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101

Located Bilberry Park, 2900 Lakeshore Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana

The sculptures were created by the Pyramid Group (comprised of Lucille Reed, Nevelyn Brown and Tama Nathan), through the Community Cultural Plan of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. Donna Moore designed and executed the lettering. Grants for the sculptures were received from the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Shreveport. The sculptures were created with a $12,500 allocation from the cultural plan. The artists worked with the Queensborough Neighborhood Association to create the project. The mural was made in collaboration with children at Queensborough Elementary, J.S. Clark Middle School, and Lakeshore Elementary. The children painted and signed individual planks, which were then put together to form the mural.

The sculptures are dedicated to Doug Williams and John Bilberry. Williams was a seventeen-year old high school student who was killed April 15, 1990, in a drive-by shooting at the park. Bilberry, who died in 1984, was the Caddo Parish supervisor of athletics, health and physical education, and active in the community. Their memory posts have 'praise words' on them, an African tradition of recording the words of others to describe the person being honored. IAS files contain articles from the Shreveport Times, April 19, 1995, pg. 6E; and July 8, 1995, pg. 1D. For additional information see Shreveport Times, July 6, 1995, pg. 1D.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Louisiana survey, 1995.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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