Art is powerful. However, for two lonely artists, art felt “hopeless.” They spent their days and nights making art, but they wanted to be making a difference. They wanted to fight back against a government trying to silence them.
Paint, sewing needles and fabric scatter the hardwood floor as determination wafts through the air. In front of an old white building, a small golden plaque adorns the Loudoun House.
The old wooden floor creaks as miscellaneous tables are set up, each item donated by a participating vendor or volunteer worker.
A glass tip jar lies on each table, a suggestion for awaiting customers. The Artisan Market, created by Audrey Clemmens and Emma Pike, was not for profit. Instead, the two young girls donated 100% of their earnings from the event to LGBTQ+ centers across Kentucky.
The two girls took home none of the profits themselves and neither did any participating vendor. Instead, every last dollar earned was split between four organizations: Lexington Pride Center, Queer Kentucky, Camp Beacon and Pikeville Pride.
On March 15, the Artisan Market opened its doors for the first time. Clemmens and Pike collaborated with the Lexington Art League whose education director, Steph Barker, tabled the market.
According to Barker, an afternoon where people can come together and speak face to face is just as important as a grand gesture, so when the girls reached out to the Lexington Art League, she said she jumped at the chance to help.
“It’s great to see so many young people making not only material goods, art, music, but making space for each other to come together and support each other,” Barker said.
Pike is an artist through and through, she said she created the market to showcase her talent while also giving herself a voice to make a change in her community.
According to Pike, there is a stigma surrounding young people that they can’t make a difference. Pike said she wanted to push past that stigma and create a place for all types of people to come together and create a supportive community of artists.
Pike said her sibling fueled her passion for creating the market. She said her sibling identifies as transgender and seeing their struggle due to recent legislation has been heartbreaking.
“It’s really scary just to watch what could happen to their healthcare,” Pike said. “The sibling bond is something that’s hard to break, so their anger and their fear is also mine.”
Pike said she was able to channel that fear and transform it into resilience to break the barriers put on the LGBTQ+ community by the Trump administration.
“It’s hard to be resilient in a time where you feel like you can’t really do much to support your community,” Pike said. “It (the market) kind of motivated us both to keep doing art and making it for a bigger purpose.”
Along with Pike, Clemmens said she co-founded the event to not only make a difference herself but also inspire others to do the same.
According to Clemmens, paying attention to the media and the current political environment is the key to involvement. While many citizens choose to remain ignorant of modern media, Clemmens said she remains vigilant with participating in protests, posting on social media and, now, the Artisan Market.
“You feel a lot better when you get involved with your community and you’re starting to do something, even if it’s just a pebble of a stepping stone to a much bigger problem,” Clemmens said.
Clemmens said she wants to uplift the LGBTQ+ community after so much hurt has been spread. She said her friends and family have been affected by the restriction of “gender-affirming care,” so this market is her attempt to check in on them and let them know someone is in their corner.
As targeted attacks are increasing, Clemmens said she wanted her event to not only raise money for the LGBTQ+ community but also to remind them they have safety in Kentucky and have places where their voices can be heard.
“Within LGBTQ communities, it’s been a fight to make ourselves heard and seen and take up space,” Clemmens said. “Especially with all of the incredibly targeted attacks going on with the current government.”
According to Clemmens, creating this market taught her she has a voice, she can make change despite being young or inexperienced and that empathy can make a world of difference.
“Sometimes it feels like we’re living in a bit of a dystopian world and things are spiraling out of control,” Clemmens said. “I think that they (the government) want you to forget that you have control and you have power . . . any individual person, especially young people, we have so much more power than we think we do.”
