For the past seven years, Art Melt has brought together thousands of people in the dying heat of Louisiana summer evenings.
Louisiana State Museum will host the eighth annual Art Melt on Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., featuring about 70 pieces from local Louisiana artists.
The free event will also feature an outdoor art market, food trucks and catered food, bands and performance artists, vintage cars and an anticipated crowd of about 5,000 people.
The 2011 Art Melt is kicking off with a preview party tonight at the museum. With a paid ticket of $75, attendees can see and buy the artwork before the general public.
This is only the second year the event has hosted an intimate preview party, where the winners of the juried art competition will be announced.
Scott Higgins, Art Melt chairman, said artists who participate in the competition receive several benefits.
“In a galleried show you’ll get maybe a hundred people there, but at Art Melt there are 5,000 people to walk through and see your art,” Higgins said. “The fact that we use nationally ranked jurors is appealing to many people. This event has launched the careers of some local artists.”
The winners of the juried art competition receive cash prizes. The first place winner receives $2,000 and a spot in local gallery Ann Connelly Fine Art. The second place winner will receive $1,000, and the third place winner will receive $500.
Sandy Parfait, community gallery curator for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, worked with other curators to coordinate the museum show.
“It’s one of the largest juried exhibitions in the state, and I think it’s a really great opportunity for artists,” Parfait said. “And it really highlights Baton Rouge as an art capital and also as a place where art happens. I love being a part of it from an Arts Council standpoint, but there are so many people who make it happen.”
Three nationally ranked jurors scored the pieces and chose the overall winners — jurors included Rachel Wolff, Brooklyn-based critic, writer and editor; Benjamin Hickey, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Masur Museum of Art in Monroe; and Kelli Scott Kelley, University associate professor of painting.
Higgins said the event is only open to Louisiana artists.
“The sole purpose is to promote the local culture and the local artists, so it’s an incredible platform,” Higgins said. “It great to do something for the community and then to have these artists get promoted and for people to see the artwork.”
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]