A New Gallery at the West Baton Rouge Museum

Planting Roots,Growing Branches

The West Baton Rouge Museum unveils a retrospective of Ronald Trahan's works

Alexandra Kennon

When someone accomplishes something— particularly a lifetime of creating singular artwork that has come to be appreciated internationally—it is truly a beautiful thing to see their community rally around them to celebrate their work and achievements. This was just the kind of celebration on display the evening of February 18 at the West Baton Rouge Museum, at the unveiling of the new semi-permanent exhibit The Trahan Gallery: Rooting Metal, which celebrates the life, legacy, and artwork of Port Allen sculptor Ronald Trahan.

“Ronald [Trahan] is known around the world. But here in Port Allen, he’s our neighbor,” said the West Baton Rouge Museum’s Director of Programs Jeannie Luckett to the crowd, beaming.

Trahan—who began sculpting in wood, but has become famous for his three-dimensional metal works—comes from a long Port Allen lineage. He is a descendant of Valery Trahan, who while enslaved served as the valet of Louisiana Confederate Governor Henry Watkins Allen. The exhibition tells the story of the Trahan family’s history in West Baton Rouge, as well as Trahan’s artistic lineage—which includes the likes of August Rodin, Ivan Mestrovic, Antoine Bourdelle, and Frank Hayden.

As for why the exhibit is titled “Rooting Metal,” curator Bennett Rhodes explained that it has to do with the unique approach Trahan has to his art. “I started seeing the parallels [between art and nature], because Ronald is a really organic artist … when you have a seed, and plant it in the ground, the roots go down, and the branches go in all kinds of directions. And that’s how Ronald makes art: it’s rooted in his past, and his ancestry, and this region, and all the things he’s observed and learned,” Rhodes told the crowd at the opening. “It goes out and goes whichever way his imagination wants to take us. And so that’s what Rooting Metal is about.”

As attendees from Port Allen and beyond representing a diverse swath of generations and walks of life nibbled from paper cones of cornmeal-crusted catfish, sipped drinks, and bobbed their heads to the music of Last Ripp Brass Band, a steady stream of admirers approached Trahan to offer congratulations and take photos with the sculptor.

“It feels wonderful. I mean, it’s something I been working toward all my life, and to see it come together like this—I never thought it would,” Trahan said emotionally over the din of the crowd. “I enjoy my work. And I guess that’s part of why I kept doing it so long, because I enjoy what I do. And some of my pieces I create, and some of them come while I’m creating them, the thoughts come to me, and then they’re in front of my eyes. That’s the joy of it.”

westbatonrougemuseum.org