(Baton Rouge) – A new exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center showcases more than a dozen designs by LSU landscape architecture students for three long-neglected New Orleans schoolyards.

The exhibit, “Rebuilding New Orleans One Schoolyard at a Time,” marks the first time that the works of LSU students are being featured at the CAC. It opens Saturday January 13 with a 6-9 PM reception and remains on display through March in the Entergy KidsFree Art Gallery on the second floor of the museum.

The student designs are part of the New Orleans Schoolyard Project, an ongoing initiative of the LSU School of Landscape Architecture’s new Urban Landscape Lab. As its name suggests, the Urban Landscape Lab is a traveling classroom that uses cutting-edge design technology to bring innovative landscape design projects to needy communities.

The three schools featured in the exhibit are the Priestly School of Architecture and Construction, the Math and Science High School, and the Colton Academy site. The schoolyard design projects have been an effective way to foster working relationships between the LSU School of Landscape Architecture and the New Orleans public school communities. LSU officials hope the collaboration will continue for the foreseeable future and result in the eventual realization of the schoolyard designs.

“We hope that as the schools are able to raise money we will be able to build a number of the schoolyards beginning this fall,” said Elizabeth Mossop, director of the School of Landscape Architecture.

The CAC exhibit includes an introduction to the New Orleans Schoolyard Project, design proposals from 15 students for the three schools, and illustrations from the collaboration between students from LSU and the Priestly School. CAC officials say they’re thrilled to showcase the work of LSU students for the first time in the museum’s history.

“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this before,” says Marie Lamb, curator of education at the CAC.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Mossop at (225)-578-1440 or (225)-288-0868.