With just a click of your heels and about a ten-minute drive off campus, you can find yourself standing at the colorful doors of Homegrown Collectives. Located on Southland Drive off Nicholasville Rd., Homegrown Collectives is a local art gallery selling one of a kind pieces of art ranging from organic soaps to wire sculptures.

“My intent going into it was to give aspiring artists an easier platform,” Luke Eldridge, one of the founders of Homegrown Collectives said.

When Homegrown Collectives opened on Black Friday in November of 2014, there were six artists involved including Eldridge. Today, they have expanded to 150 artists with no plans of slowing down. 

While the goal is to assist artists in sharing their work, Eldridge also put emphasis on how they aim to help artists advance their artistic skills. Continually getting turned down from galleries at the start of an artistic career can be both discouraging and disappointing. It is a process that can take a toll on one’s confidence. Homegrown Collectives hopes to teach artists how to carry themselves with confidence and to maintain a more positive self-image.

Homegrown Collectives prides themselves on the sense of diversity and originality that their collection of artworks embody in comparison to other art galleries that limit themselves with less variating types of art. Everything sold is made locally and with many of their artists in house, Homegrown Collectives still preserves focus on how the artist wants their work to be sold. The artist defines the price that they feel their work is worth, then once their work is sold, the artist is allowed to decide how much of the profit goes back to Homegrown Collectives. Eldridge defined their system as a co-op.

Every Wednesday night from 6-10 p.m. Homegrown Collectives hosts family friendly workshops that are free and open to the public. A wide variety of art activities take place at the workshops, including jewelry making and tie dying outside during the summer. Homegrown Collectives regularly posts about its workshops on Facebook, Instagram and its other social media accounts.

According to Eldridge, once Homegrown Collectives opened its doors, it didn’t take very long to start to accumulate regular customers. Eldridge joked about the amount of effort they put into advertising at the start of the business that was probably unnecessary. Regulars are also present at Wednesday night events, creating a space for local artists to network with one another and spend time with like-minded individuals. 

“We inspire each other,” Eldridge noted. “I think that’s kind of what it’s all about, it’s people lifting each other up.”