As an economic development organization focused on helping people start businesses and buy homes, Community Ventures has long been committed to helping connect Kentuckians with the tools and resources they need to thrive. Often taking an outside-the-box approach to its mission, the organization has overseen the launch of several unique and creative economic development projects in central Kentucky, including ChefSpace, a Louisville-based kitchen incubator that helps burgeoning culinary entrepreneurs get their footing; Mustard Seed Hill, a restored former military boarding school in Millersburg, Kentucky, that now serves as a private school, event space and economic development hub; and The Met, a 75,000-square-foot mixed-use facility in Lexington’s East End, designed to bring economic resources and rejuvenation to that area.
In addition to a handful of residential lofts and office space, The Met offers reasonably priced real estate for several small businesses, which in turn provide valuable commerce and employment opportunities to the area. The Met’s businesses include DV8, a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch that employs people undergoing recovery from addiction; an immigrant-run salon called The Nail Shoppe; and a second location of the popular coffee shop Manchester Coffee. The development is also home to Art Inc. Kentucky, a fellow Community Ventures project and Lexington-based nonprofit dedicated to helping launch and bolster the careers of regional artists.
Mark Lenn Johnson, pictured in Art Inc. Kentucky’s Artist Studios space, located in The Met development on the corner of Midland Avenue and East Third Street. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
Artist and entrepreneur Mark Lenn Johnson, a longtime employee of Community Ventures who is at the helm of Art Inc., refers to The Met as “a fully realized community development.”
“We’re using art created by East End artists that speak to and memorialize the community’s history to bring people in to the East End that may not otherwise visit here,” he explained.
With a degree in mathematics and economics, Johnson’s professional career started out in banking, then moved into the world of finance and small-business development when he started working in the micro-business lending department at Community Ventures in 1999 (he left in the organization in 2001, returning again in 2013). But as an artist with a talent for glassblowing, Johnson has long held the arts in high esteem as well, and when Community Ventures was mapping out the plan for The Met, Johnson pitched an idea to CEO Kevin Smith and the Board of Directors: What if the organization took the same approach that had seen successful results for the culinary industry with Louisville’s ChefSpace but geared it toward a program focused on the arts instead?
Fortunately, Johnson’s boss saw the value in the idea and green lighted Johnson to move forward with his vision: a multi-pronged approach that provides artists with affordable space to live, work, and display and sell their art.
Four years after launching the organization, Johnson feels grateful to have found a way to merge his passions for both helping people navigate the business world and also working with art and artists.
“We recognize artists are small-business owners,” Johnson said. “They need the same resources as any entrepreneur.”
While his main office is still located on North Broadway inside the Center for Entrepreneurship, Johnson spends much of his time in The Met’s creative complex, which is home to two separate-but-related aspects of Art Inc.: a studio space with 16 reasonably priced art studios in a collaborative community environment called Artist Studios, and a retail gallery called ArtHouse Kentucky, which displays the work of about 60 local artists, from paintings, jewelry, sculpture and photography to handmade candles, soaps and artist-designed furniture.
The organization also offers a bevy of resources for its participating artists, from technical assistance, marketing and selling opportunities, to workshops, demonstrations, lectures and mentors. Artists also have access to financing, business and home ownership education, as well as entrepreneurship training and other programs.
“It’s an active space,” said Johnson.
Another notable aspect of the program is the nearby Artist Village, which features newly built “tiny homes” for artists to purchase as live/work spaces. Located along Warnock, Goodloe and Race streets, just blocks from The Met, the village features four completed units that are currently occupied, one of which Johnson shares with his two dogs (and his two sons, when they are home from college). A fifth dwelling is under construction, with plans in the works to build nine more. Each artist-owned home has an attached art studio and all of the homes surround an “Art Park” green space, where the community can gather to hear poetry readings, attend art fairs and musical concerts.
Abstract artist and mental health therapist Stephanie Batts works in her Artist Studios studio back in May. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
For Johnson, his presence in the neighborhood has been a homecoming. Having grown up two streets over from The Met’s location, Johnson knows the neighborhood intimately, including the area’s history and many of its residents. He relishes the opportunity to help breathe new life into an area so close to his heart – a place that was once a thriving hub of cultural activity, before economic hardship tool its toll in recent years.
“This area was once a true arts district, a place to see and be seen, and we hope to have that happen again,” Johnson said. “I feel very much at home and am excited about what we can accomplish.”
In addition to glasswork, Johnson also is a photographer. He has an award-winning photography series titled Fountain Falls, featuring macro images of water drops captured in motion with his colorful glasswork as backdrops. His kiln-formed glasswork, inspired by late Kentucky glass artist Stephen Rolfe Powell and painter Ellis Wilson, among others, is often expressed in decorative bowls with undulating shapes, serpentine lines and flowing colors. His creations are on display at The ArtHouse Kentucky gallery.
Smiley Pete reporter Celeste Lewis recently sat down with the artist and entrepreneur to talk about his work in the creative community of Lexington.
What are some favorite early memories of growing up in Lexington? I was born in Lexington’s historic East End and lived at the corner of Fifth and Ohio streets in one side of a brick duplex with my mother and father. I had really good friends that lived in the other side of our duplex, one that lived a few houses down and two that lived directly across the street from me – my mom actually got her hair fixed in the front side of one of their homes.
We were too young to cross Fifth Street by ourselves, so when we played superheroes and bad guys, we would just yell across the street at each other. We all had the same lady for our babysitter – Mama Taylor – and she lived right down Fifth Street as well.
When I was old enough, my parents would give me change and let me run down to a corner grocery store on Chestnut and Fifth. Back then, it seemed like an all-day journey – an adventure – to get there. I’d get my bag of candy and then head back home on my make-believe “long and dangerous journey.” It was only a block, but it felt a lot longer and it fueled my imagination. Those are all some very precious memories.
How did you begin working as an artist and how were you introduced to glass as a medium? I developed a love of antiques from my father – my first business was actually an antiques business. I happened across an old piece of Fenton carnival glass at a yard sale one day, and I was absolutely captivated by it. That a thing of such beauty was actually made by someone’s own hands was absolutely fascinating to me. I also was drawn to colorful vintage jewelry pieces. So, I decided to learn how to make my own jewelry – first starting out with stringing store-bought components together by hand, then progressing to polymer clay and ultimately to lamp-working and glass-bead making. I love working with a torch. There’s just something about making beautiful things from fire.
Once I was already familiar with the basic properties of glass from my glass jewelry work, I took some classes here in Lexington under Laura Hallock and some glassblowing classes up in Louisville and started following artists like Stephen Rolfe Powell – a couple of his students actually trained me – and Dale Chihuly and Lino Tagliapietra.
What inspires you in your creative work? Especially these days, the world can be a really tough place. It seems everywhere you turn, there’s hate and division and so much sadness. My hope is that my work, whether it’s my glass or my photography, brings a joyful and colorful respite to someone’s day, even if it’s only momentary. If only for a moment, I hope my viewer can escape the ugliness and the tragedies of this world and experience a few joyful and serene moments while viewing my art.
What’s next for The Met? The main thing we want to do is bring a grocery store. The pandemic has slowed that plan, but as we listened to the residents of the area, we realized it is a food desert and we’d like to change that. So we hope to get that plan back on track.
What advice do you have for emerging artists? Take time to learn your art and develop a quality body of work. Evolve and keep doing so. Create a website and social media pages and communicate and hone your message about your art and your journey to becoming an artist. Remember your love of your art every day and what a blessing and a responsibility it is to be an artist; and then every single day, work to get even better and to make a difference in your own way.
What’s the best piece of advice you received you’ll never forget? Do something with your life and your talents that help people. And always treat others as you would want them to treat you.
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Johnson's kiln-formed glasswork, inspired by late Kentucky glass artist Stephen Rolfe Powell and painter Ellis Wilson, among others, is often expressed in decorative bowls with undulating shapes, serpentine lines and flowing colors. His creations are on display at The ArtHouse Kentucky gallery. Photo by Emily Giancarlo
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Johnson's kiln-formed glasswork, inspired by late Kentucky glass artist Stephen Rolfe Powell and painter Ellis Wilson, among others, is often expressed in decorative bowls with undulating shapes, serpentine lines and flowing colors. His creations are on display at The ArtHouse Kentucky gallery. Photo by Emily Giancarlo