For an artist, whether they are skilled in sculpture, painting or even metalwork, a career can be difficult to get off the ground. The stigma of the “starving artist” has stood the test of time, thus discrediting creative minds who seek secondary means of income in times of need.
Now in its fifth year, the Burden Museum and Gardens’ “Brush With Burden” art exhibition has been working to help Baton Rouge’s community of art enthusiasts to see the creativity that lies right under their noses.
Margaret Blades, a “Brush With Burden” committee member, is acting as this year’s event chairperson. She works with a group of colleagues to compile a list of artists. As a long-term committee member for the facility, Blades has worked each year to keep the event fresh for supporters.
“[The theme of] the last two years have been ‘Louisiana’ in general — so the nature and culture of Louisiana,” Blades said. “We try to grow it each year. Last year, we added the separate photography exhibition.”
One change for this year’s event is its collaboration with CallForEntry.org, known as CaFÉ, which is a website used to host calls for events. CaFÉ organizes artist submissions into manageable content for venues and establishments so they can decide whom to contact.  The Burden Museum and Gardens used CaFÉ as the format for submitting entries into the “Brush With Burden” art show, a staple occasion for each year’s event.
The website’s organization of submissions has helped Blades and her fellow committee members handle the large amount of entries, a number that has only grown since “Brush With Burden” began.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Blades said. “We’ve accepted entries from California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas. We’re really, really pleased with that. We have grown from 90 entries in the first year to over 300 this year.”
This year’s art show will be judged by New Orleans artist Phil Sandusky. An author on art techniques, Sandusky works as an instructor of landscape and lifestyle painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts.
Blades said the committee’s choice of Sandusky is because of the center’s desire to host interesting local artists with reputable careers. Sandusky specializes in “plein air” painting, where an artist paints a live scene while present in the environment.
Sandusky is no stranger to participating in art shows. He said the “Brush With Burden” show is of specific interest since it contains “a good cross-section of work … that really makes a good portrait of Louisiana.”
Being a specialist in plein air, Sandusky said he tries to keep an open mind when judging art so as not to let his forte influence his perspective. For him, artists who are able to express their individual creativity show a higher merit over those who make art that is more derivative of other artists.
“When their only goal is to make something that looks different from what someone else does, that’s not good,” Sandusky said. “I just look for honesty — someone who just honestly communicates the poetry that they see. I try to keep an open mind as much as possible. It’s easy for an artist to gravitate to their own style.”
Of the many entries accepted into the “Brush With Burden” art show, one is by University studio art senior Joseph Turpin. He discovered the event through the Burden Museum and Gardens’ use of CaFÉ. 
Turpin said he discovered his talent early on, with support from his family and influences ranging from cartoons to athletes to musicians. His current work focuses on Baton Rouge’s hip-hop community. Turpin’s art depicts rap artists, both local and well known, in various graphic representations.
Turpin’s use of sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has resulted in meeting and sharing his portraits with some famous musicians, including Chicago artist Chance The Rapper.
“I want to create a reaction,” Turpin said. “I don’t want to paint something for me. I want to paint something for my community.”
The two pieces Turpin submitted show a duality in his creativity. One titled “Capital City” is a landscape painting of Baton Rouge’s downtown area as seen from the River Walk. The other, a much more abstract painting, is titled “Humid.” Turpin chose these works to better express to Sandusky the diversity of his abilities. “Capital City” acts as an expression of Turpin’s love of his hometown, while “Humid” exists as an unprecedented abstract
endeavor.
“I love Louisiana, and I’m always doing local paintings,” Turpin said. “If it’s not people, it’s also landscapes. [‘Humid’] is like nothing I usually do. I really did that painting because I didn’t really understand abstract.”
Like other artists competing in the show, Turpin said he is interested in the potential reward at hand — a month long showing in the Shaw Center for the Arts. Since he is always concerned with the public knowledge of his art, Turpin said he sees this prize as a step in the right direction for making his name in Baton Rouge’s art community following his graduation in May.
Turpin said he would view a loss at “Brush With Burden” as a necessary effort in his career. He makes sure to maintain at a balanced level of confidence and humility when submitting his art for judgment.
“I don’t have my hopes too high because … there’s so much competition,” Turpin said. “You don’t want to think you own it. I’d be upset, but it’s never going to affect my art. I’m always going to be constantly doing shows.”
The fifth annual “Brush With Burden” exhibition is scheduled from March 22-29. The art portion of the exhibition will be held in the Burden Museum and Gardens’s Steele Burden Memorial Orangerie, a glass-lined hall Margaret Blades believes will be the ideal place to view artists’ works. The exhibition will be open each day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Sundays from
1-4 p.m. 
You can reach Gerald Ducote on Twitter @geraldducoteTDR.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Raegan Labat

The juried fifth annual Brush with Burden art exhibition will run March 21-29 at the LSU Ag Center's Burden Center Orangerie.