Life and Art on the South Boston Waterfront
Ever wonder what it would be like to work where you live? The artists of Fort Point on the South Boston waterfront do that every day.
When Maggie Connors is home, she is surrounded by boxers. Some spar, their black synthetic leather gloves connecting with other men’s shoulders, while some stand sweating, their thin white tanks appearing to heave as they catch their breath.
“I find the beginning and ending of their workouts most interesting,’’ said the 44-year-old artist, whose drawings center on her side job as a personal trainer.
Connors lives in Midway Studios, Boston’s largest building of artists who live and work together.
“It’s excellent,’’ Connors said of her home. “You can wake up and have a cup of coffee before getting to work.’’ Connors, a painter and sculptor, uses a variety of media including charcoal, watercolor, chalk, graphite, and ink, which are strewn about her apartment.
She’s lived in the Midway building for 10 years, and said she is inspired by the wide variety of artists who inhabit the space.
Besides painters, Fort Point is home to artists who design jewelry, clothing, comics, wire sculptures, pottery, handmade cards, and music. There are photographers, videographers, choreographers and calligraphists. Much of their work hangs in the hallways of Midway Studios and local galleries.
“Every studio is different,’’ Connors said. “Everyone has a different layout.’’
Connors recently knocked down one of her walls in preparation for the spring “Open Studios’’ event, where the public is invited inside local artists’ studios.
“I don’t want guests to feel like they’re encroaching on my living area,’’ Connors said, gesturing to a queen-size bed, half-hidden from her studio space with a partial wall. The event runs from May 15 to May 17, and is hosted by the Fort Point Arts Community, a nonprofit dedicated to the local arts community. Visitors can also explore galleries and pop-up exhibit venues, all within walking distance of one another.
Located at 15 Channel Center Street on the South Boston waterfront, Midway Studios was purchased by Fort Point residents in 2013 as a place dedicated to preserving artists’ studios and housing.
“With the redevelopment of the neighborhood, we’ve held strong,’’ Connors said of Fort Point’s vibrant arts community.
Midway was first established in 2005 as a place for artists to live affordably in Boston, when the real estate boom was displacing hundreds of working artists in Fort Point. But in 2013, Keen Development, the building’s owner, said it wanted to sell the space, so the artists rallied together and raised over $20 million to buy it. This allowed artists like Connors to exhale — she no longer lives in fear of losing her home. “The sense of security I have being able to live here is huge,’’ Connors said.
Connors is one of hundreds of artists who call Fort Point home. Artists have lived in the neighborhood since the late 1970s, and currently own two other spaces beside Midway Studios, which houses 89 artists studios. The 249 A Street Artists Cooperative and The Artist Building at 300 Summer Street provide live-work space for an additional 90 artist households.
Like Connors, Kristen Alexandra, a metalsmith who lives and works at 249 A Street finds living where she works rewarding. Alexandra makes jewelry, flatware, and sculptures using metals like brass and sterling silver. She has lived in Fort Point since 1993.
“I love it,’’ she said of her condo, which she’s had for eight years. A small room with soundproof walls allows her to hammer loudly, and “get dirty,’’ she said, before taking time to regroup in the rest of her living space. “I get the time I need to let my fingers rest and the metal cool, and can let ideas marinate for a few hours.’’
Not facing a daily commute to a studio allows Alexandra to be “super efficient,’’ she said — evident by the large glass jewelry case in her home, filled with delicate earrings and necklaces the artist sells at galleries around the country.
Singer-songwriter John Cremona, 59, represents one of the original Fort Point artists. He’s lived in the neighborhood for 24 years and fondly remembers the days of paying $250 a month for 700 square feet. “I liked it because it was a lot of space and it was all artists,’’ Cremona said.
Though Fort Point’s building boom has drastically changed the area, Cremona said the influx of businesses and restaurants has made the neighborhood more vibrant. “More people frequent the FPAC community and galleries and explore,’’ he said. “And since there are so many more people here, artists can sell their work.’’
Cremona moved into a space in Midway Studios a couple weeks ago, and is in the process of renovating it. Like many other historic warehouse buildings in Fort Point, Midway Studios, constructed in 1911, used to be owned by The Boston Wharf Company, which built brick and timber buildings for the warehousing of raw materials. Many of the buildings were initially used for storing sugar and molasses, followed by wool.
Though cardboard boxes are scattered about the airy studio, Cremona’s electric guitar is already unpacked. So is a wooden easel and paint supplies.
He’s eager to finish unpacking so he can get back to work. “A lot of times, what we do is overlooked,’’ Cremona said. “But the contribution artists make to the community and to society is essential. If you took music away, people would pay a million dollars just to hear a song.’’
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