Copious Notes

“Untitled” (2008) by Beverly Baker. Color pencil and graphite on paper, 23 x 29 inches. Images courtesy of Institute 193.

“Deep in the Heart of the Brain” (2009) by Marvin Francis. Papier-mache and acrylic paint, 17.5 x 10 x 7 inches.

Institute 193 won’t just be an innovative art outpost on Limestone this weekend. The influential Lexington gallery will also be an exhibitor at the Outsider Art Fair in New York through Feb. 3.

At the fair in the Chelsea district, the Institute is presenting an exhibit called What is a (W)hole featuring works by Kentucky artists Marvin Francis, J.T. Dockery, Beverly Baker, Robert Morgan and a video Lexington artist collective Resonant Hole. It will also be presenting works by Alabama artist Lonnie Holley and New Jersey photographer Albert Moser.

The show, which opened Thursday, gained the notice of the New York Times, which wrote:

“At Institute 193, a nonprofit gallery and publisher from Lexington, Ky., notice should be taken of the pieced-together panoramic photographs of Albert Moser, the tumultuous ballpoint pen drawings of Beverly Baker, and much else.”

 In addition to the exhibition works, 193 will be selling limited edition prints by Holley and Lexington artists Robert Beatty and Louis Zoellar Bickett II.

The Outsider Art Fair opened in 1993 as a venue for outsider, self-taught and folk art.

“Untitled (Spud Crazy, Page 5)” 2011. By J.T. Dockery. India Ink on Bristol, 11 x 14 inches.

Crystal Bader and Bruce Burris have owned Latitude for 10 years. They are shown with some of the organization's group projects. Copyrighted photos by Rich Copley | staff.

Just before lunchtime at Latitude, a yoga class breaks up, the lights go on and the ­community’s artists get to work.

Beverly Baker is working on her latest colorful creation, Will Fister pieces new items into the numerous scrapbooks he carries in his backpack, and Paul McGurl scans a book for new words to place on his ­collages of languages. In Latitude’s foyer, Jessie Dunahoo is ­piecing ­together his latest quilt of ­plastic shopping bags.

Artist Beverly Baker shows one of the pieces she is working on at Latitude.

Bruce Burris and Crystal Bader, co-owners of the ­artist community geared toward people with disabilities, say it’s a fairly typical morning at Latitude, doing what the project was geared to do.

“For lots of people living with disabilities, they have a pretty low quality of life,” Burris says. “We wanted to give people a means of expression and direction that would raise their quality of life.”

That’s in part what inspired Bader to suggest Latitude as a name for the group when it was founded 10 years ago.

“The word is a directional word,” Bader says. “It implies movement, perspective and autonomy.”

Bader and Burris met when Burris was ­heading Minds Wide Open, an arts outreach connected to ARC of the Bluegrass. Bader joined Burris, and for a while, they were the only paid staffers of ARC, an organization that provided housing and services for adults with disabilities. ARC closed in 2005 due to bankruptcy.

Well before that, in 2001, Bader had suggested to Burris that they strike out on their own.

“Crystal said, ‘We should try this ourselves and call it Latitude,’ and I instantly said yes,” Burris says.

Will Fister shows off images he created for a project at Latitude in which he and other artists there made album covers.

The independence ­allowed them to build the program the way they wanted, although it has never been easy. Neither art nor social services is seen as a lucrative field, and ­Burris credits his and Bader’s spouses, Robynn Pease and Shaun Webster, respectively, with lots of support.

In the beginning, they were in a space at Mecca Dance Studio that owner Teresa Tomb allowed them to use.

“We literally had no start-up money,” Burris says. “I don’t even think she ­mentioned rent, but we wanted to pay a portion of what we made. I think or first payment was $22.”

The center is ­primarily supported by billing for services through Medicaid and private donations. It also makes a small commission from sales of art, but Burris says most artists at Latitude sell work through galleries, in which case sales terms are between the artist and the gallery.

Latitude has had its artists show work around Lexington. At Third Street Stuff, owner Pat Gerhard maintains a regular space for Latitude artists; other places include the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and Institute 193, where Dunahoo’s exhibit Sheltered Environment just closed.

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