Current Exhibits
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KINKEAD GALLERY
A Step Away From Skin
Group Show
August 1 – September 25th
For many people, tattoo artists are known primarily through the images they create on someone else’s body. A Step Away From Skin invites viewers to look beyond that familiar canvas and discover the artists themselves.
This exhibition brings together tattoo artists working through painting, drawing, sculpture, pyrography, mixed media, and other processes. Away from commissions and client requests, these works offer a more personal look at each artist’s interests, experiences, and creative voice.
From abstraction and realism to portraiture, nature, and surreal imagery, the exhibition reflects the diversity of artists working within the tattoo community. By removing the body as the canvas, A Step Away from Skin celebrates tattoo artists as accomplished artists whose creativity extends far beyond the skin.
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GLO GALLERY
Graham Allen
CHRONICLES OF A SALVAGED SENTIMENT
Solo Exhibition
August 1st - September 30th
Originally from Indianapolis, Graham Allen has worked as a graphic designer, artist, and muralist in Kentucky for over 25 years.
His work combines weathered textures, collage, typography, and imagery inspired by ghost signs, urban art, pop culture, nostalgia, and early advertising. Using acrylic, wood, stencils, earth, markers, found references, and original characters, Allen creates layered compositions that explore contemporary social landscapes through humor, storytelling, and imagination.
The worn and imperfect qualities of his work evoke something both familiar and aged while creating new narratives that invite viewers to find their own meaning within each piece.
Graham Allen Instagram: Graham9071
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ATRIUM GALLERY
Ken Burney
Stories in Color
June 5th - August 22nd 2026
Ken Burney is a Lexington-based contemporary artist whose vibrant paintings explore culture, history, music, movement, and personal narrative through bold color and expressive brushwork. Influenced by his early artistic training in Detroit and a professional background in graphic design, Burney creates dynamic works that blend emotional storytelling with cultural reflection.
In 2024, Burney was commissioned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to create the official artwork for the 150th Governor’s Derby Celebration. His painting Winners entered the Kentucky State Art Collection and was displayed in the Kentucky Capitol.
Stories in Color highlights Burney’s passion for visual storytelling, with each painting capturing moments of memory, identity, and human experience. Through expressive color and form, he invites viewers to connect their own stories to the work.
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COMMUNITY GALLERY
The Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky
The Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky is a registered 501(c)3) organization that has been helping and supporting families since 1993, when a small group of parents envisioned better opportunities for their children with Down syndrome. Today, that vision and our organization have expanded, enabling us to offer a range of programs and services completely free to our students and their families.
Kinkead Gallery
A Step Away From Skin
Group Show
For many people, tattoo artists are known only through the images they create on someone else's body. A Step Away From Skin invites viewers to look beyond that familiar canvas and discover the artists themselves.
This exhibition brings together tattoo artists working outside the boundaries of skin, revealing deeply personal explorations through painting, drawing, sculpture, pyrography, mixed media, and other traditional and experimental processes. While the technical precision, composition, and visual storytelling developed through tattooing remain evident, these works demonstrate a freedom to investigate ideas that exist beyond commissions and client requests.
The exhibition highlights the remarkable diversity within the tattoo community. Rather than representing a single aesthetic, visitors will encounter abstraction alongside realism, intimate self-portraits beside surreal narratives, quiet observations of nature alongside emotionally charged symbolism. Each artist brings a distinct voice, reminding us that tattooing is not a style. It is a creative practice rooted in the broader language of art.
By removing the body as the canvas, this show gives a chance for these artists to share work that is entirely their own. These pieces speak to personal histories, curiosities, and creative ambitions that often remain unseen behind the walls of a tattoo studio. Together, they challenge assumptions about tattoo artists while celebrating their place within the larger world of contemporary art.
This exhibition is an invitation to see tattoo artists not simply as skilled craftspeople, but as accomplished artists whose creativity extends far beyond the skin.
Glo Gallery
Graham Allen
CHRONICLES OF A SALVAGED SENTIMENT
Solo Exhibition
August 1st - September 30th
Originally from Indianapolis, Graham Allen has been a Graphic Designer, Artist, and Muralist in Kentucky for over 25 years.
While melding textures, scattered collage and ‘weathered character’ often seen in found objects and ‘ghost signs’ (old hand-painted advertising, often preserved on buildings and barns), his more recent body of work is inspired by urban arts and pop-culture as well as nostalgia and early advertising.
Built using combinations of acrylic, wood, stencils, earth, markers as well as both found references and original characters, his unique narratives include witty typography and ‘gritty’ compositions loosely influenced by concepts dealing with today’s social landscapes as well as humorous and thought provoking, self-made scenarios.
The tactile and ‘less-than-perfect’ elements share the experience of both something maybe aged and familiar to some viewers though are applied to a more modern story one may or may have not felt seen before, thus adding to their own interpretation and partial insight to both self and inventive exploration of modern and sometimes intuitive or imaginary themes.
Graham Allen Instagram: Graham9071
Atrium Gallery
Stories in Color
Ken Burney
Ken Burney is a contemporary visual artist whose work explores culture, movement, history, and personal narrative through bold color and expressive brushwork. Based in Lexington, Burney creates paintings that merge emotional storytelling with dynamic compositions inspired by music, community, Black culture, and lived experience.
Originally from the Metro Detroit area, Burney’s artistic journey began at an early age through youth art programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts. His creative path later expanded through studies at City College of San Francisco and years working professionally as a graphic designer for advertising agencies and newspapers, experiences that continue to influence the structure, rhythm, and visual energy of his paintings.
Burney has become widely recognized for work that balances contemporary expression with cultural reflection. In 2024, he was commissioned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to create the official artwork for the 150th Governor’s Derby Celebration. His painting, Winners, became part of the Kentucky State Art Collection and was displayed in the Kentucky Capitol behind Governor Andy Beshear’s desk. His work has also appeared in Vogue during coverage surrounding the historic Derby celebration.
The exhibition Stories in Color represents Burney’s ongoing commitment to visual storytelling. Each painting serves as a narrative fragment — capturing emotion, memory, identity, music, and movement through layered color and expressive form. Whether depicting musicians, cultural icons, imagined moments, or abstract human experiences, Burney invites viewers to find pieces of their own stories within the work.
As a Kentucky Crafted artist, Burney continues to create work that bridges fine art, public art, and community engagement while celebrating the power of storytelling through paint.
The Community Gallery
The Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky
What is Down Syndrome?
In every cell in the human body there is a nucleus where genetic material is stored in genes. Genes carry the codes responsible for all of our inherited traits and are grouped along rod-like structures called chromosomes. Typically, the nucleus of each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, half of which are inherited from each parent.
Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21.
This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome.
One in every 772 live born babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, making Down syndrome the most common chromosomal condition.
Down syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels.
Our Mission
The Down Syndrome Association of Central Kentucky exists to celebrate our Down syndrome community, support individuals with Down syndrome and their families in our region, and educate ourselves and others about the true joys and challenges of Down syndrome.