As property owners continue to ponder how they might transition their light industrial space in small Mid-Shore communities into more viable opportunities, one solution can be found on a seldom frequented street in South Easton where artists have taken over the building.
In this case, the artists have not only signed leases but contributed both time and money in making the needed enhancements for habitable studio space after years operating as a machine shop. And over the last several years have combined forces to create what is now called the Davis Art Center.
This was not an overnight success. At first, visual artists and musicians would happen upon the old building almost by accident in their search for working space. And one by one, they came to the same conclusion that the Davis building had all the critical ingredients required to provide functioning galleries including large windows, tall ceilings solid “bones.”
The Spy caught up with two of the pioneering artists that took a chance on Davis Street. The first, Elizabeth Casqueiro, left a career in architecture to focus on her artwork, and now shows her work in her native Portugal, the World Bank gallery in Washington to the Massoni Gallery in Chestertown. The second is Heather Harvey, who is currently serving as the chair of the Art and Art History Department at Washington College.
Both of these talented artists reflect on why they agreed to invest in the Davis Center as well as what it means for the seventeen other artists who are now a part of a thriving art community.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Davis Art Center and the artists based there please go here
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