Art around town: Hot Art, Cool Nights returns to Mid City; WBR Museum’s new Prohibition exhibition, and more
Summer may be on its way, but that doesn’t mean that the Baton Rouge art scene will be taking a vacation any time soon. From a mid city sprawl to a cozy indoor exhibition, take a look at this week’s upcoming art events:
This Friday, May 6, marks the 13th annual Hot Art, Cool Nights, the Mid City Merchants art festival known for featuring some of the city’s best up-and-coming local artists in the restaurants, shops and businesses you already know. Running from 6 to 10 p.m., the festival area spans from I-10 to Lobdell Avenue and from Claycut/Broussard to Florida Boulevard/North Street. Anyone wanting to make a night of it— eating and drinking and soaking up as many sculptures, paintings, jewelry, photographs and live music as possible—should be sure to catch the shuttle bus transportation, or simply stroll along Government Street and take in the excitement firsthand.
The West Baton Rouge Museum will open a new exhibition this Saturday, May 7, called Huey Long and the Noble Experiment: Prohibition in Louisiana, a complement to the National Endowment for the Humanities’ On the Road exhibit, Spirited: Prohibition in America, which will arrive at the West Baton Rouge Museum this summer. The Long exhibition will include images of a Louisiana Prohibition Parade, several photos of the Kingfish, an image of men celebrating after the repeal of the 18th amendment, Louisiana liquor bottles (c.1800s-1960s), and a 1920s flapper dress on loan from the LSU Textile and Costume Museum. The exhibition runs through September 4.
Anyone interested in some of the city’s youngest artists should be sure to catch the Grand Slam Finals of the 10th annual ALL CITY Teen Poetry Slam Festival this Saturday, May 7, at the Claude L. Shaver Theatre at LSU. The event will also feature a performance by award-winning slam poet Danez Smith. The winning team at the Grand Slam will be crowned WordPlay ALL CITY Champions, and the top six individuals will have the chance to represent Baton Rouge at the 2016 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam in Washington, D.C. Grand Slam tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at eventbrite.com.
The students from J.K. Haynes Elementary School will be displaying their art work in the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge’s Firehouse Gallery until tomorrow, Friday, May 6. A visitor reception will take place at 6 p.m. on May 6. The exhibition showcases the work of sixth- and seventh-grade art students. As part of an Artist Residency Program presented in partnership with The Links, Inc., the Arts Council sent teaching artists Mary Singleton and Ramon Reyes to J.K. Haynes Elementary School to teach students who otherwise might not have had this cultural opportunity.
This month’s ARTiculate Artist Talk at Baton Rouge Gallery will take place at 4 p.m. this Saturday, May 7. In conjunction with the gallery’s new exhibition, “Before the Fork,” this event will feature a panel discussion moderated by Maggie Heyn Richardson, author and food writer for inRegister and 225 magazines. She will discuss the farm-to-table trend and will talk with panelists about how the exhibition’s featured artists created the works on display. Panelists include artist and LSU AgCenter Communications Director Frankie Gould, Slow Food Baton Rouge President Carl Mostenbocker, City Pork Corporate Chef Ryan Andre, Fullness Farms owner Grant Guidroz, artist David Scott Smith and artist Ross Jahnke. The talk is free and open to the public. “Before the Fork” will be on exhibit May 1-26, with no admission charges during normal gallery hours.