Artists losing cherished studio space

The former Codman factory may be old and decrepit, but for the 100-plus artists who worked there for the last decade, it was perfect. High ceilings and large rooms, and picture windows for proper lighting.

But now, the artists who remain there are being evicted from their studios. The owner plans to turn the building into condos.

"I, in my wildest dreams, never thought this would happen in this building," said Mary Sheehan Winn, an artist who has kept a studio in the factory for more than a decade.

"This is a big loss, because it's not going to reestablish itself anywhere."

Many of the artists in what is called the Fourth Floor Arts at Plain Street Studios have already left. The few dozen who remain are scrambling to find new studios. Some will go home, building makeshift studios in garages. Others are headed to the nearby American Sandpaper factory. Some are still looking, with no prospects in sight.

The eviction has effectively splintered what has become an important center for the arts community south of Boston, a place where artists could talk to, and learn from, one another, they say.

"It concerns all artists on the South Shore, it concerns all the arts on the South Shore," said Chuck Lathrop, a former president of the Fourth Floor Arts group, who has rented studio space for 14 years.

The redevelopment of the Rockland warehouse is not unique. In South Boston, for example, the Four Points Arts Community is facing eviction so that its building can be developed into condominiums.

"Every luxury loft space that is created from old warehouse commercial stock takes away space from artists, small businesses, and manufacturing businesses that will not be built again anytime soon," said Kathleen Bitetti, executive director of the Artists Foundation in South Boston, a resource center and clearinghouse for artists.

"On the South Shore, those types of building are very, very rare now."

But despite the statewide studio-to-condo trend, the closing of the Codman building was still a surprise.

There was little the arts group could do to prevent the conversion to condominiums. In May, town voters approved a zoning change allowing residential use of the building, effectively approving its development.

The Quincy developer was not available this week for comment or to elaborate on his plans for the old factory.

Hidden in a neighborhood not far from Rockland's downtown, the building has chipped paint and broken windows, and recently several of the rooms were broken into. It has no heat in the winter, and no air-conditioning in the summer, but still artists could be found working there on any given day.

For them, the price was right -- cheap enough for artists to make a profit from their work.

The old factory has had three owners since studios were first opened 14 years ago. Each year, the Fourth Floor Arts group would hold an open house that attracted more than 1,000 people during the weekend-long event. At first, it was family and friends, but soon community groups showed up, too.

"There are a lot of people who do a lot of work," Lathrop said. "This has been a vibrant artist community for a very long time."

The artists' sudden reality that they will have to move soon, so that asbestos removal can begin, has the remaining membership organizing on their own behalf, to raise community awareness of the work they do and their need for space such as the old Codman factory.

Last week, they gathered at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset for a town meeting-style forum to discuss the plight of artists who earn their livelihood with their artwork. Through the eviction, they have become familiar with the Citizen Artist Campaign, sponsored by the Artists Foundation in South Boston.

"I've learned quickly that artists need to become political," Lathrop said. "We have to become advocates for ourselves."

But learning new political skills won't help keep the Codman building as their home, and they are lamenting the loss of a place where, the artists said, you can find solitude when you need it, and a sense of community when you want it.

"It was ideal for us," said Kathi Dugan, an artist who calls her studio space "Wonders on Walls."

Milton Valencia can be reached at valencia@globe.com.