Avery Buckman
Born Avery Lay, in Fayette County, Kentucky, growing up amidst the well tended, historic architecture of Lexington, and the sheer beauty of rolling hills peppered with world renowned farms that encompass the surrounding region of the Bluegrass, Avery developed a true love of “space” and dwellings. She was named for her grandmother’s great uncle, Tex Avery, the artist famously known for creating Bugs Bunny and a host of other Loony Toons characters, beloved world-wide.
At an early age, she displayed an innate sense of art and design, and an ability to understand and use the principles of form and function to visualize and draw wonderful spaces. Benefitting from having artistic parents, she was always encouraged to spread her wings artistically, and guided towards many opportunities in education that nurtured her talents, such as summer programs at the Living Arts and Science Center of Lexington.
Avery attended the University of Kentucky, naturally gravitating towards and focusing on art, interior design, and architecture. After 6 years of excellent performance receiving formal training in these and other subjects, Avery was blessed with the gift of a first child, her son, Del. Shortly thereafter, she was blessed with another addition to the home, her daughter Erin. For a while, family was put before career options, as she added “mother” to her list of achievements. This life experience positively influenced her ability to envision and create functional spaces for today’s busy families.
When Avery did enter the job market, she was very fortunate to be hired by John Atchison of Atchison Construction, an established high-end construction firm in Lexington, for his design and drafting needs. She was privileged to become an integral team member of the company during a time of rapid expansion. After several years with Atchison, John had become a great friend, business “role model” and mentor, as well as an employer. One day he came to her and jokingly said, "Avery, I am going to have to fire you". He went on to explain that he thought she could make larger strides and achieve even greater success in her life by branching out on her own, and then offered his insights into how she could make it happen, while always maintaining the caveat that she would still need to do design work for him.
Faced with that challenge, she opened Avery's Studio, a freelance design firm geared towards Lexington area builders and homeowners (to this day, she still works with John and his partner, Steve Heller, of Atchison-Heller Construction). John was right. The phone calls started rolling in, and before long, Avery became the preferred designer for a consistently growing number of many prominent Lexington builders, as well as doing numerous plans for local homeowners, receiving glowing word-of-mouth references, accolades from satisfied clients, and building a well established local business. She has been honored for excellence in design by the Home Builders Association of Lexington, receiving "Home of the Year" awards in 1996, 1998, and 2006.
Along the way, Avery was given the opportunity to begin teaching her craft at Lexington Community College, (now Bluegrass Community and Technical College) and for 15 years has found the time to teach 3 to 4 classes per semester in art, architectural design, drafting and building products, including LEED certified and environmentally sustainable alternatives. She has become a mainstay of their architecture program, and in 2014 received the coveted teacher of the year award, honored for innovations in the classroom. She derives a great deal of reward from seeing former graduates of the program establish successful businesses, and is currently working to develop an internship program for the community college system.
Today, Avery has become a “go-to” member of the team for a solid group of prominent local builders. If you live in Lexington, you have probably seen many of her designs, as they range all the way from basic home improvements and remodels to a new multi-million-dollar athletic facility for a major university. She has designed countless kitchen and bath makeovers and large additions, as well as designing many new-construction homes, even been an integral part of several large-scale whole-neighborhood developments. To this day, she maintains her love for aesthetics and function, while tailoring her talents to her clients needs.
-Bill Buckman
