More than a 100 years ago, the textile mills in Woodberry produced most of the cotton canvas in America. The mills have long since closed but, in an ironic twist, canvas again has become a very important part of life in this industrial village along the Jones Falls.
Artists looking for large, cheap studio space in which to paint have moved into these once vacant industrial spaces, creating a unique artists' community in the process. With sculptors, metal smiths, jewelry makers and potters, the painters have in the past 10 years been transforming the area's industrial architecture into a Baltimore version of SoHo, New York's artist district housed in cast-iron warehouses.
Brian Taylor, a graduate of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, has had his 3,000-square-foot space in a former mill for two years. "There are a lot of artists here, doing serious work," said Taylor, who works in oil and also sculpts. "My space was very rough but the rent was inexpensive."
Many of the artists in Woodberry are full-time professionals such as Taylor and his friend Chris Gavin. "Depending on how reconditioned the space is, commercial rents run about $2 to $3.50 a square foot," said Gavin, a native of Scotland who does sculptural ironwork and furniture pieces.
Because he uses traditional blacksmithing techniques in his work, he needed a raw unfinished industrial space that hadn't been renovated into apartments, a hard thing to find nowadays, he said.
Zoning restrictions prohibit the artists from living in their studios, so many live in other parts of Woodberry or in nearby neighborhoods. Taylor lives in Mount Washington and Gavin resides in Hamilton.
John Talbott, an agent with O'Conor Piper & Flynn-ERA in Lutherville and a five-year resident of Woodberry, has sold properties in the area, some to artists. He says that it's a great place to live and very affordable.
Television Hill
One of the main residential areas in Woodberry is off Druid Park Drive at the foot of Television Hill, the home of WJZ, WBAL and WBFF. With three giant television antennas looming above them, rowhouses on Hooper, Rockrose, Girard, Malden and Keystone avenues form their own special enclave within the community.
Talbott, who lives on Keystone, describes it as a quiet, friendly place where it's not uncommon to find a pie or other home-cooked food left by a neighbor on one's back porch.
