Community Life

We invite you to take a look at the "Community Life" feature of the Artspace website. Artspace buildings are lively, vital artist communities and our intention here is to offer a glimpse of the building-wide events and community activities happening in Artspace projects across the country.

Community Life Blooms at Switching Station Artist Lofts

The artists of Switching Station Artist Lofts in Chicago are an impressive bunch, and their efforts as a community are noteworthy as well. This summer Nancy Vachon, one of a group of residents who serve as the building's grounds committee, applied for a grant through the East Garfield Park Neighborhood Development Council. The grant was awarded and the residents were able to create "Artists' Garden", a median strip garden along the Madison Avenue side of the building.

Concerned with safety and litter problems along the heavily trafficked street, Switching Station residents planned the garden project as way to promote their presence in the community and enhance the area by the garden's flowering beauty. They view the garden as a community statement � that they care about their neighborhood and beautification.

In late July residents planted perennials and bulbs; recently a tree was added. A number of volunteer groups, including Openlands, Green Corps, and Youth Corps, helped with the digging. Plants were selected with a view to texture and color. As the garden gets established, the artists hope it will become a stunning visual art piece.

According to Vachon, resident and lead project coordinator, the garden is already helping to alleviate the litter problem along the street. "We hope the beauty of the garden gives passersby pause, inspires them to respect the neighborhood, and helps them have a better day," she says.

The community life of Switching Stations is blooming inside the building as well as outside. As part of the recent "Unlimited Perspectives" open studio event, residents unveiled a collaborative paper art installation called the Hands Project. The Hands Project, a permanent art piece, displays paper molds of residents' hands, as a way of documenting the artists who live and work in the building. As new residents move in their hand mold will be added to the installation so that the piece represents the evolution of artists coming and going from the building.

The Switching Station Artist Lofts, located in Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood on the city's West Side, opened in 2003. The property provides 24 units of live/work space for Chicago artists. Known as the Roentgen School, the building was constructed in 1906 as a telephone switching station.

Now filled with artists and their families, Switching Station is a vibrant, diverse, and extremely talented artist community. The group spans a range of artistic mediums including paint, photography, video, paper arts, dance, theatre, and music.

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