Late in 2024, GALLERY ONE EIIIEVEN in Leesville published a “Call To Artists” throughout the state for participation in an exhibit to be titled “Art in and Outside the Box”. The responding artists were compelled to provide a work or works that had to do with, or made from, boxes. Examples cited were the work of Joseph Cornell and Louise Nevelson, both which work in dramatically different genres but the common thread is boxes. Eight artists responded and will be featured in the exhibit opening in January,

Noah Pollard (age 11) of Anacoco has been experimenting with stop-action animation, was aware of the Call, and thought that possibly he could develop some animation frames within boxes. Noah comes from a creative line – his mother and father are “creatives” and his grandfather, Kenny, is a whiz at folded paper origami creations. All three have been exhibited at GALLERY ONE EIIIEVEN in the past.

Noah enlisted the assistance of Jack Price (age 12), Warren Prichard (age 11) and Elle Pollard (Age 7) to work on the project. The boys are in the same class at Faith Training Elementary School in Leesville.  Earlier this month, their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Moreland noticed they were drawing gnomes and agreed to let them hang them on her classroom wall.  These gnomes are all characters ranging from superheroes to political figures,

Noah’s mother, Leila, commented: “When we first received the invite I planned to help Noah with the project.  He really enjoys stop-motion animation, so I suggested we do a few and frame them within boxes.  We brainstormed about incorporating delivery drivers since we get to see the big 3 all the time at home. I held off on online shopping for as long as I could.  But it is a part of our daily lives so I thought we should make a statement about it. I gifted Noah clay for Christmas, and he went to work producing little gnomes.  When Noah and Warren were able to have a workday, the plot changed and it became a delivery battle of the boxes, which ultimately leads to the boxes being stolen by these sneaky gnomes. Their friend Jack loves to draw.  So, he has taken on the challenge of producing the gnome portrait.  The three of them create at school, and they’ve even designed their own logo- TP, or triple p for Pollard, Price & Prichard.  Unfortunately, they are not involved in an art program, but they seem to have taken it into their own hands and are making it work for themselves!”

ART IN AND OUTSIDE THE BOX will be at GALLERY ONE EIIIEVEN in Leesville from January 16 – February 22. Artist Reception is scheduled for Saturday, January 25. Confirmed artists are Michael Yankowski of Natchitoches, Joey Governale and Mary Maddock of DeRidder, Paul Nettles and Morgan Primeaux of Pineville, TRIPLE P and Elle of Anacoco, and Brenda Morrison of Leesville.