From pottery to paintings, photography to jewelry and stained glass to wood carvings, Baton Rouge’s downtown streets at North Fifth and Main were lined with the city’s creative works on Saturday.
The Baton Rouge Arts Market is held on the first Saturday of every month, and it teams up with the Red Stick Farmers’ Market to sell its products to the community.
From 8 a.m. to noon, crowds of people are able to browse homemade items.
Among the artists was LSU alumna Madeline Ellis, creator of Mimosa by M.E. Mimosa is a jewelry line featuring necklaces, earrings and bracelets in various finishes.
Ellis said ever since she was little, she loved making beaded necklaces. Her degree in landscape architecture and world travels only fueled her passion for making jewelry for herself and friends.
Ellis said after getting married, her husband, Dawson Ellis, encouraged her to take her jewelry to the Arts Market in 2008. Ever since, Mimosa has grown and generated regular customers.
“The market has been a launch pad for everything that I do now because all of my first wholesale accounts came from here, and all of my exposure,” Ellis said.
Because of her long-term involvement with the market, she said the other artists are like family.
Another LSU alumnus, A.B. Crochet, set up shop with his original wood relief paintings. He draws his designs on the wood, carves them out and finishes each creation with a coat of paint. His technique is based on the Egyptians’ limestone carvings.
The process for his relief artwork is a little more thorough than others. He begins by finding the right “canvas” for his art.
“It is all Cypress wood — about 90 percent of my wood is from Lake Maurepas,” Crochet said.
Crochet said he’s dedicated to his work and puts focus on high quality.
“I’m a 4:17 guy, as in the a.m., so I put in a long day,” Crochet said. “Consequently, I’ve done thousands of these.”
While some Arts Market shoppers look for the art they can touch, others are looking for the art they can smell.
One of those stands is Mud-Pie Soaps. Creator Megan Welch started a brand of homemade, natural bath products, including soaps and bath bombs.
“The way I got started was kind of weird,” Welch said. “I was looking for a coupon for a well-known store in the mall. I won’t give a name, but everyone knows what it is. I Googled it, but what came up was making soap in your kitchen, and that’s how I got started.”
There are at least 20 different scents, including “Tiger Soap,” which is purple and gold. Welch said the process to make the soap is a lengthy one.
“[You’ve got to] let it sit in the mold for a couple of days, you unmold it, you let it sit and cure for a couple more days, then you cut them up into bars that sit for four to six weeks,” Welch said.
The sights and sounds of the Baton Rouge Arts Market are a large reason many patrons and artists return month after month.
The creator of Follette Pottery, Kent Follette, said he enjoys the art market for its “good crowd, great produce and terrific, world-class artists.”
The next BR Arts Market will be held Oct. 3.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Various art is on display Saturday, Sept. 5 2015 at the Baton Rouge Art Market.