One Saturday a month, downtown Baton Rouge becomes a hub of creativity as artists from across Louisiana and neighboring states come together to share and sell their handmade crafts as part of an 11-year Red Stick tradition.The Baton Rouge Arts Market celebrated its 11th anniversary Saturday. The market, sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, is held downtown the first Saturday of every month and the first three Saturdays of December.Jewelry maker Suzanne Juneau was one of the founding artists of the market in 1998 and still sells her work there today.”Ten of us met and pledged we would come here every week for the first year,” she said. “Since then, it’s grown a ton.”The number of participating artists has grown to more than 70, and the rise in artists has brought a huge rise in attendees, said Maureen Joyce, marketing coordinator for the Arts Council.”[The market] contributes to the cultural economy and downtown development,” Joyce said.Local restaurants benefit from the large groups of people who flock downtown on Saturdays for the market and stick around for a bite to eat, said Katherine Scherer, deputy director of the Arts Council.The Arts Market is held in conjunction with the Red Stick Farmer’s Market, which is held every Saturday and allows local farmers to sell their produce directly to customers. Painter and muralist Anita LeJeune said the two markets have a similar purpose.”We have agriculture, so why not have art culture, too?” LeJeune said.The artists at the market formed their own art culture with the unique dynamic created by combining artists from various stages of their careers, Joyce said.”The artists feed off of each other,” Joyce said. “Artists who have been there for several years help [new artists] rise to the occasion, and new artists come with new energy and new ideas to spark real creativity and innovation.”Tom Lorio, who has made jewelry for 30 years and teaches a jewelry construction leisure class at the University, said there is a definite sense of community at the market.”Craftsmen talk,” he said. “They ask, ‘How did you make that?'”Lorio answered that very question for another market artist, Joanne McMullen. She met Lorio when she was the head of the University Evening School, now the Extended Learning program. Lorio taught jewelry construction classes for the program and got McMullen interested in expanding her jewelry operation.McMullen began working with beads, but took a class at the University with Lorio to learn to work with metals. She now sells both beaded and metal jewelry two booths away from Lorio at the Arts Market and is still taking in-studio classes with him.Though jewelry is popular at the market, it is only one of the many mediums the artists bring to the table.”You can find functional pieces like coffee mugs and jewelry and decorative pieces like paintings and sculptures,” Scherer said.The market also features pottery, hand-spun yarn, journals handmade with materials from Mexico, traditional Louisiana dolls and a soap maker.Baton Rouge resident Joe Wascome sells wooden crafts at the Arts Market, including bowls and paddles. He said he mostly works with scrap wood he finds within 100 miles of Baton Rouge, and has made many pieces with wood from trees damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav.Wascome is a builder by trade, and his art is a hobby that has come to occupy more and more of his time, he said. The same is true for Sid Gale, a 1963 University graduate who retired after spending 26 years in the Marine Corps.Gale now spends his time making metal art with his wife, Judy. Sid makes the pieces by using materials like spoon handles, rakes and shovels, then Judy paints them. Sid said his art is his pastime of choice.”I don’t rock in chairs, I don’t play golf, but I make metal art,” he said.The quality of the wares at the Arts Market is high because it is a juried event, Joyce said. A panel unassociated with the Arts Council reviews submissions and picks exceptional work to be offered at the market.”The people on the jury are dedicated to the preservation of fine arts and crafts — featuring real handmade objects and moving way from anything mass-production oriented,” Joyce said.—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]