Observers of Beautiful Forms

Leah Shirley is showing Observers of Beautiful Forms at Trinity Street Playhouse, and it's an exhibition of new mixed-media work from an Austin-based interdisciplinary artist. Shirley works across sculpture, mosaic, and time-based media, and her practice often pulls from the sun, celestial and planetary cycles, and the technologies of the mundane. She holds a BFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA in Sculpture & Extended Media from the University of Texas, Austin.

There's a specific story behind this show. It's a direct response to the AIDS Memorial Quilt Exhibition held at First Austin in August 2025, where the quilt panel honoring her uncle, David McLemore, was on display. Shirley describes the work as an opportunity to dialogue and collaborate with him across time and space, so the pieces carry a personal weight that goes beyond the materials themselves.

If you're familiar with her work, you know she tends to bridge the cosmic and the everyday—the movement of the stars alongside the tools and objects we use every day. This new body of work continues that, but with this particular connection to her uncle as its starting point. It's the kind of show that asks you to look at the celestial and the domestic in the same breath.

Observers of Beautiful Forms runs from May 25 through August 27, 2026, at Trinity Street Playhouse, 901 Trinity Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Since it's an exhibition and not a single-night event, you've got plenty of time to catch it whenever it fits your schedule.