Art Melt: Better for the bumps – Editorial

If you’re new to the Baton Rouge cultural scene, you should know the hands-down hottest local event is a funky, midsummer mash-up called Art Melt.

Unfazed by the steamy evening July air, thousands of your fellow citizens saunter in and out of galleries and museums in and around the Shaw Center for the Arts, taking in works by some of the area’s best and most original artists. Thus enlightened, the crowds then spill into downtown restaurants and bars, all adding up to one of the summer’s most interesting nights.

Art Melt has distinguished itself as an event with panache. A hot-ticket preview party kicks things off Thursday night, followed one night later by a packed opening that this year drew more than 10,000 people. The brainchild of Forum 35, Art Melt is a savvy combination of culture and good times, elevating art to something the entire community can celebrate.

In the six years since its creation, it has enjoyed robust and enthusiastic crowds. But in a city where fledgling events rarely go off without a hitch, Art Melt has had to survive bumps, bruises and growing pains.

Last year, for example, some of the city’s most talented artists were conspicuously absent. They complained the show was too parochial, too heavy on “crafts” and too light on original art. And some said its prominence as a hot night on the town had eclipsed its role as a cultural event with genuine merit.

But still the crowds came. This year, Forum 35 prudently empanelled three respected jurors to screen more than 600 submissions, eventually selecting more than 70.

This year’s show produced its own modicum of drama when gallery owner Susan Brunner and an Art Melt co-chairperson decided at the last minute to pull from the opening a portrait of a nude woman, even though the jury had screened, approved and chosen the work. Cries of censorship rang out, and the artist himself protested outside the Shaw Center for all on opening night to see.

But, it turned out, the photograph was returned to the gallery walls by the end of the weekend, and Forum 35 issued a public apology for the lapse in judgment.

Despite those hiccups—and others in previous years—Art Melt was again a smash success. Forum 35, an organization that for years seemed to be in search of a purpose that resonated with the larger community, has certainly built something that has the community’s attention. Hard-working volunteers put in months of work behind the scenes to make Art Melt happen. They and the organization are to be credited for creating something original and fresh, and for attracting Baton Rougeans from all walks of life to experience artwork that challenges them to think and feel.

Art Melt is maturing like a quality piece of art: it’s challenging, it’s informed by the lessons of its life, and it’s always a surprise. We trust that, just as they have in previous years, Art Melt and Forum 35 will consider and learn from this year’s bumps in the road as they plan an even more successful event for next year. We can’t wait to see it.