Duluth.Art
An online art directory for the Duluth, MN creative community. Built to make local artists, public art, and events easier to discover—with zero sales or gatekeeping.
Overview
This is a free, community-first platform designed to grow organically, connecting artists with their audience without any commercial barriers.
Goals
- Create a non-commercial platform where artists control their profiles
- Build a category/tag structure that supports SEO and discoverability
- Allow artists to link to their own shops without selling through the site
- Showcase public art and events in a mobile-friendly, modern layout
What We Did
- Full-stack app using Supabase for authentication, database, and storage
- Built with Next.js App Router and Tailwind CSS for full layout control
- Role-based access control (RBAC) with row-level security (RLS)
- Implemented artist profiles, categorized by medium and technique
- Gallery uploads, slugs, and SEO-friendly meta and open graph tags
- Public artworks section with map-based discovery and future AR integration
Tech Stack
Frontend
Next.js 13 (App Router), Tailwind CSS
Backend
Supabase (auth, RLS, storage, Postgres)
Hosting
Vercel
Tooling
TypeScript, Supabase CLI
Behind the Build
Organizing artists by medium and technique required a dynamic, relational database structure. Supabase made it possible to keep everything normalized and scalable, while Tailwind let us build responsive layouts that were fast, legible, and easy to maintain.
Quick Stats
RapidlyGrowing Art Community
Indexed by Google in the first week
$0 in hosting costs for artists
<$10/month infrastructure
What We Learned
Trust is UX. By excluding direct art sales, we focused entirely on visibility and connection—two things many artists struggle with. Keeping it non-commercial removed friction and allowed the community to engage more freely.
Results Recap
- Local artist directory with real traction and trust
- Fully dynamic content and user-generated profiles
- Lean, fast, and scalable site structure
- Ready to expand into events, public art, and beyond