With the monthly Baton Rouge Arts Market, residents can support local creatives and hear the personal stories behind a wide variety of art pieces and styles.
For more than 20 years now, the Baton Rouge Arts Market has shared a space with the Red Stick Farmers Market on the first Saturday of each month. This month’s market was moved to the second Saturday of the month to avoid a conflict with the Fourth of July.
On 5th and Main Street from 8 a.m. to noon, patrons could browse through 27 unique art vendors selling candles, kitchen utensils, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, quilts and more.
Jeweler Ana Maria Andricain at Jewel of Havana just recently took over as the director of the Baton Rouge Arts Market this past October, coming into the position ahead of the November art market.
What matters for Andricain is that the art market is not your run-of-the-mill pop-up; this is a space where customers and artists can meet face to face, as Andricain believes that it makes the art pieces worth that much more.
“If they get to know the artists better, they’ll understand the work better. It means more when you take it home because you have the story behind what you’ve purchased,” said Andricain. “It’s not just some big box store that you’re walking in and they have 10 million of it. You’re getting a one-of-a-kind or maybe a limited edition from the person who actually made it.”
Andricain herself creates a series of different jewelry pieces all inspired by her life and family. “The Steel Magnolia” collection relates back to one of the first plays she saw in New York and a symbol for feminine strength, the “Draped In Love” collection came from her cancer journey, and the “Snow In Havana” collection is inspired by her family’s Cuban heritage.
“When I was growing up, my mom had this little box of jewelry. And every time she took out a piece to get ready to go out with dad and I’m hanging out, it would spark a memory for her,” explained Andricain. “Either a person or a place or a time. It connected her. I always joke that I learned about all of my relatives from pieces of jewelry.”
Another artist that exemplifies this idea of a memory in every distinctive piece is Judith Braggs, who was chosen by Andricain and her assistant, Christy Barrett, to be this month’s featured artist. Through her small business, Judith Folk Art, she creates quilts depicting people and moments from her childhood growing up in Cherie Quarters, Louisiana.
The characters in Braggs’ quilts are silhouettes of children she knew, all dressed up in church or play clothes, and on swings or with slingshots. Yet none of these children have faces. Braggs said that she does this for two reasons: personal connection and a bit of tough love.
“People that buy my art, it reminds them of something back from their past. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t put faces,” said Braggs. “The other reason is I didn’t go to art school, so I don’t really know how to draw. The first time I tried to do a face was when I was making a quilt and it was my dad. I asked my sister, ‘what do you think about this?’ She said, ‘don’t do faces.’”
One vendor was selling practical kitchenware items made out of recycled wood from across Louisiana. Bubba Traxler, also known as the Cajun Carver, runs his small business, The Red Stick Spoon Company, with his wife Paula Traxler.
Bubba emphasized how everything is hand-crafted, his carvings do not use any kind of artificial intelligence or computer-controlled machines. After all, the roux spoons they are most well-known for came to be both right and left-handed through sheer human mistake.
“I was cutting out a spoon and I accidentally cut it the wrong way. I looked at it and walked inside and told my wife, ‘I think I just made a left-handed spoon.’ And that’s how I got started. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one to think of it. It just happened to me that way,” said Bubba.
This authenticity and individual creativity are what draw many customers to the market, like Ascension Parish resident Rebecca Turner.
Turner took the drive from Gonzales to downtown to gather ingredients and utensils to help make her kitchen more handmade and less plastic. It is not just for her, though; she comes out to buy a wooden spatula or homemade soap for the sake of the neighborhood.
“Supporting small business supports your community. Everyone out here, they’re trying to make a living, so I like to support the small businesses. It helps us thrive as a community,” said Turner.
For updates on the next Baton Rouge Arts Market and on new vendors, check out its Instagram and website.
