BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Mardi Gras always leaves behind large amounts of trash, but one LSU student is working to combat the pollution with a creative new concept.
“If you look at the streets after a parade, it’s just covered in beads… Me and my friends will bring pounds of beads back here, and you just throw it away,” LSU senior Lily Beasley said.
Plastic beads create huge amounts of waste after Mardi Gras, but Beasley created treasure out of Louisiana trash.
“I think beads give the canvas a lot more dimension, a lot more interesting to look at, and it also reminds people of the fun memories they’ve had, the experiences they’ve had,” Beasley said.
Using recycled beads, Beasley was able to make a business for herself while also working to help out her home.
“Just repurposing those so we can kind of clean up Louisiana after Mardi Gras, but also just keeping it in my art is something that’s sentimental to me,” she said.
Adding the beads to her art was something Beasley did to combine her own memories of Mardi Gras with her college experience as a whole.
“I’m looking for some kind of artistic expression, especially because my senior year is something that is really sentimental to me, and I want something I can take for a lot of years after this and look back and think of an experience,” Beasley said.
However, she did not expect that many people would want the same thing.
“I can create it for you, and people really eat that up. They love celebrating LSU athletes,” she said.
When her artwork hit social media, students and alumni from other universities found her. This allowed her art to grow beyond Louisiana borders, just like the souvenirs that tourists fight over on Fat Tuesday.
To find Beasley’s designs, you can visit her Instagram here.
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