Jarita Davis
Special to The Advertiser
Murals portray the spirit of Ville Platte
Beautification project features local artist's lifelike work
Heading east on Main Street in Ville Platte, you may notice three children looking at Waven Boone's newest mural. Because of its three-dimensional design and realistic detail, it may take a moment to realize that the children are actually part of the painting.
The mural, titled "The Spirit of Ville Platte," is funded by the Acadiana Arts Council and is part of an ongoing beautification project coordinated by Sharon Fontenot, grants coordinator for the city of Ville Platte.
Boone has painted the Louisiana sportsman's paradise at its finest. A boat with a fisherman is on the horizon, a deer peers from the forestry on the left, and in the forefront, a hunter takes aim at the ducks flying out of the archway.
Three children stand alongside, one of them pointing, encouraging each other and real-life viewers to look.
Boone, who has been an artist for more than 30 years, has painted 11 other murals inside the Sacred Heart schools and another four in the Ville Platte courthouse. This is the third outdoor mural that he has created.
"Waven Boone is known for his art in the Ville Platte community," said Vicki Chrisman, Community Development Coordinator for the Acadiana Arts Council, "and it's wonderful to have a local artist publicly create high quality work in his own town."
A block or two further down the street you can find the mural Boone painted last year on the remains of the wall of a demolished icehouse. The wall, which is attached to Chris' Corner gift shop, was initially part of a separate building and stands in relief against a brick façade.
This mural, "Louisiana Bayou," depicts a swamp landscape in subdued brown and gray tones.
"It looks like an old sepia photograph," Boone said, and the jagged, unfinished edges along the torn wall complete the effect of a fragile, aged photo.
Eugene Brown, the owner of Chris' Corner, is glad they choose to paint "Louisiana Bayou" in this location.
"It attracts a lot of people because they see the swamp scene as they're driving by," Brown said.
Boone, who is an art teacher at the Pine Prairie high school in Ville Platte, also paints on canvas and works with silk screening, print making, and etchings. He has designed more than 3,000 festival posters and has more than 11,000 original etchings. He is one of the largest distributors of prints in Louisiana, but he also enjoys the challenge of a mural.
"The surface is more difficult to work with," Boone said, "but this project helps people to remember their heritage, it promotes local culture, and the entire beautification project-including the trees planted along Main Street, the small trails and parks being created in old lots gives the town something to be proud of.