Keagan Wheat installing the resting bats.
In June 2026, Keagan Wheat and Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh returned to Lamplight AVL residency, and this meant it was time for the front windows to become the canvas.
Designed and installed by Keagan Wheat and Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh, this joy-filled installation featured a rainbow-spectrum of bats, some resting, some frolicking through the air, alongside the inspiring excerpt of Wheat’s poetry.
Aliah Lavonne Jahan-Tigh painting eyes on some of the sleepers and trying to decide if some of the bats will be awake. (This choice was vetoed by the other artist. They must all rest, he said.)
Excerpt from Keagan Wheat’s “Cradle of Houston Trees” that the artists chose for the installation.
Keagan Wheat tracing his poem text from the inside before painting the front outside glass. June 2026 Residency, Lamplight AVL.
An excerpt of Keagan Wheat’s poetry is painted onto the front glass for the public poetry art installation.
Wheat and Jahan-Tigh continue to add bats—this time, a rainbow wave of them expanding across the window.
The installation by night. June 2026
This area is heavily traveled by pedestrians in the Asheville Community, and the artists enjoyed watching them stop to read the words or marvel at the joyful waves of color. June 2026
