A warm, sunny afternoon gives relief from the preceding rough, icy winter that had for so long impeded progress on the newest house in the Artists’ Village in Lexington’s East End. Inside, owners Miki Wright and Chris Newman are making up for lost time, hard at work in clothes more befitting construction workers than an award-winning novelist and a seasoned graphic designer. Chris is busy installing cabinets while Miki is assessing the way light and shadows play across walls still awaiting her choice of paint color.
As the finishing touches are being applied, it already feels like home.
At the back of the house in Miki’s studio a long, sturdy art table lovingly made by Chris anchors the space. Miki relishes the thought of paint splashing onto the concrete floor, noting that the floor will become art in and of itself.
Upstairs, an oversize bedroom pulls double duty as a writing retreat—a quiet space for reflection where new characters are brought to life while old, familiar ones are resurrected.
“This monster-size bedroom is also my writing lair,” nods Chris. “I’ve done that a lot in my life. I kind of like the commute from my bed to a chair.”
Downstairs in another room, a desk and computer keep Miki connected to her graphic design clients. Later, when the workday is done and it’s time to play, Miki rolls up the wide garage-type door on her studio, inviting fresh air and neighborly interaction. In fact, all of the homes in the Artists’ Village have studios that provide direct access to the Art Park—a shared space designed specifically to allow art and community to meet and mingle.
Chris and Miki’s house is thoughtfully attuned to how they live and work, seamlessly integrating them into the larger Artists’ Village ecosystem.
Life Convergence That Was Meant to Be
Miki’s path began with an artistic freedom quite unusual for young public-school students. Growing up in Pennsylvania, from elementary school on she had access to materials most budding artists could scarcely imagine—red sable paint brushes, real canvases instead of construction paper, a plethora of paints, clay for sculpting and genuine silver for jewelry making.
“They just let us go crazy. We were turned loose to create,” she says. “The school provided us, on their dime, any supplies we wanted.”
A graduate of Georgetown College, Miki’s innate instincts for visual storytelling, combined with the realization that upon graduation she needed to make real money to pay actual bills, led her to explore graphic design. Over decades, she built a career in visual merchandising, event planning, and design as well as advertising.
“My job was to create desire in others, and I was naturally very good at it,” she explains. But embracing the more practical side of art came at a cost. Painting, in all its messy, exploratory, and freeing forms slowly disappeared from her daily life.
Chris’ success story also came as the result of an early childhood experience.
Chris’ dad was reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, and young Chris picked up the book to see a photo of Hemingway—envision beard and pipe seated behind a beat-up typewriter, Black Label bottle of whiskey close at hand—and decided then and there that writing was his calling.
“My dad had an old Smith Corona portable manual typewriter, and I taught myself to type with two fingers,” Chris remembers and laughs. “I still type with two fingers to this very day. Three if you count my thumb on the spacebar every once in a while. I wrote my first nine novels on a manual typewriter.”
By adulthood, Chris had made his writing dream a reality—moving to New York, publishing novels, and building a career as a best-selling author.
“I worked my tail off,” he says, while also acknowledging the role that luck—mentorship, timing, and opportunity—played in his success. His lived adventures, by his own account, have been crazy and plentiful enough to supply story material for a lifetime.
The two met many years ago when Chris was living and writing in Lexington, working with Miki’s former husband before moving back to California where he was born and raised. Years after, social media brought them back into each other’s orbit. They decided to take “long distance” to the next step, and Chris moved back to Kentucky.
When it comes to cohabitation, Miki craves light and space, but Chris needs quiet and focus. While their means of creative expression take differing forms, they live within the same reality: the need to consistently make art while navigating the practical constraints of living and working under one shared roof.
From Fragmented to Cohesion
Prior to their decision to build a home in the Artists’ Village, their work life happened in fragmented quarters in Miki’s Lexington condo. Even though Chris could write anywhere, the need for quiet solitude was problematic. And for Miki, a return to painting was a longed-for luxury, unattainable because the space just wasn’t there.
In looking to build their final ‘forever home’ together, they wanted more than just shelter. They wanted the physical and financial stability to age in place with grace as well as the space to both work and play. To be surrounded by intriguing, inspiring neighbors who understand what the making of art—in all its forms—requires, would be icing on the cake.
“We’re not moving again,” Miki states adamantly, Chris nodding in agreement. At 74, both are planning ahead for permanence.
Both of them knew that traditional home layouts don’t account for how artists live or work. Space to create is typically something to be fit in or worked around, rather than the reason a house is built in the first place.
Framing Up a Future
The couple’s views about life and art dovetail nicely with those of Art Inc. Kentucky, where an affiliated artist’s creative endeavors are understood from the perspective of both passion and profession. For Miki, the appeal of affiliating with Art Inc. Kentucky, a social enterprise of nonprofit Community Ventures, was immediate.
“I need to sell my art,” Miki notes pragmatically. “Paint costs money.”
Gallery opportunities and business support are two specialties of Art Inc. Kentucky. For Miki, that offered a way back into painting—both as an expression and as a financially sustainable practice.
For Chris, although he is well-established as a writer, Art Inc. Kentucky provides him local visibility connecting him to the city that he has come to love. His books are available at ArtHouse Kentucky, where it is hoped they will engage readers and fellow Lexingtonians who may be interested to know that the author lives just a block away.
A Life-Altering Discovery
For Kentucky creatives Art Inc. Kentucky, via the Artists’ Village, turns the concept of a life lived for art completely on its head.
Miki first encountered the concept years ago at an Artists’ Village open house. Although the live-work spaces spilling out onto the Art Park intrigued her, it just didn’t feel quite doable for her at that time. Later, she brought the Artists’ Village to Chris’ attention while he was still living in California.
He, too, was drawn to the live-work homes in a park setting with studio space that instantly morphed from enclosed to open-air. Chris was intrigued by the circle of brightly colored homes inhabited by like-minded, working artists and writers. And like Miki, he loved the idea of immersing himself in the historic culture of Lexington’s East End and the larger body of neighbors who reside there.
Of course, for a couple determined to make their next home their last, financial practicality was a large part of their decision to locate in the Artists’ Village.
Built to Last. Built to Be Their Last.
An Artists’ Village build solved both the practical and creative needs of the couple. Financially, it is practical from the standpoint of predictability and high-quality construction. A manageable mortgage means stability on their fixed income. Physically, because it was designed with 36-inch doorways throughout, a curbless, roll-in shower, and the ability to live all on one level if needed to convert upstairs space in the future to a caregiver apartment, the house ticked all the boxes for seamlessly aging in place.
Chris doesn’t mince any words: “For us, this is one heck of an opportunity. For what we are paying all-in here in Kentucky, in California you couldn’t buy a shed in someone’s back yard.”
For Miki, the creative impact is clear. For the first time in years, she gains a place to play, experiment, and make guiltless messes.
“I just want to spill paint,” Miki says, laughing.
To stretch their money even further, taking on the finish- work themselves immediately turned effort into equity.
Life Among Kindred Spirits
What excites them almost as much as the house itself is the community that surrounds them.
The Artists’ Village offers conversation, feedback, and shared understanding—things Miki says she needs to make art but that were often missing elsewhere.
Miki imagines gatherings: friends, art, conversation, and honest critiques that will help her grow and thrive as an artist. Inherently, the studios invite both connection and visibility.
A House That Has it All
Every detail in the home reflects intention—shower tiles inspired by hotel suites designed by Chris’ California friend, oversized doorways and rooms bathed in light and colors that change hour by hour throughout the day.
Both see their next chapter—pun intended—unfolding. Miki’s joyful return to painting. Chris’ desire to mentor young writers. The couple radiates excitement and anticipation to live in a home imbued with whimsey and fun. A place where a cozy writing retreat is seamlessly woven into a warm, expansive living space built for longevity. Here, they’ll make new memories and enjoy each others’ company for a very long time.
Together, Chris and Miki anticipate a life of interaction, participation and belonging. They are excited to finally be a part of the Artists’ Village community, a group that collectively embraces the philosophy that “home is where the art is.”
Interested in joining Artists’ Village? Contact Mark Johnson of Art Inc.