Before Harbor Point, There Were Artists

“Art serves to establish community. It links us with others and with the things around us, in a shared vision and effort.”

— Gerhard Richter, Notes, 1962

I started working with the Loft Artists Association in 2019, when I took over their bookkeeping. What started out as a part-time opportunity turned into an education about a place that has been part of Stamford’s art scene, and the South End, since 1978.

I was born and raised in Stamford and remember the South End before it was Harbor Point. In the late eighties my mom’s company had offices and warehouses there, and I worked in them over the summers. I remember how abandoned the area still was, years after Yale & Towne closed.

A decade before I was working in a warehouse, three artists — a sculptor, a painter, and a folk-art curator — had already moved in. James Jackson Burt, Sophia Gevas, and Dan Prince saw the huge windows and the open floors, built that way because a factory in 1900 needed optimal daylight, and recognized them as studios. What was originally practical for making locks turned out to be ideal for making art.

Early on, they opened the doors. What became Stamford’s first Open Studios weekend started as artists letting anyone who wanted to come walk into the rooms where the work was happening: art, film, music, performance, in raw industrial space. The community responded. So much so that in 1988 the Stamford Museum & Nature Center gave the group a full retrospective.

Eventually, the South End, which they helped revitalize, became the center of economic development. They held the original studios until 2008, when the luxury conversions began. They moved to Canal Street and in 2013 moved to 575 Pacific Street — fourteen studios and a gallery. Two moves in five years, in a neighborhood they’d been in for forty-eight years.

The doors are still open in 2026. Open Studios, started back in 1978, is still going on — inviting the community in. The LAA offers kids something to do over their summer breaks with free art classes. Artists from the surrounding areas get to take part in two juried shows and the opportunity to get wall space and prizes. Anyone can walk in and see what’s new on the studio walls.

In a world that can be very ugly, it offers a chance to see beauty.

Like 1978, there is always a need for a fresh perspective. The organization is looking for new members who bring new ideas. Local businesses can use the space to sponsor classes or have company off-sites. As Harbor Point continues to become the focal point of Stamford, the Loft Artists Association is once again right in the middle of the revival.

Oh yeah, that bookkeeper from earlier is writing a lot now. Even publishing books. Being exposed to the LAA awoke something in him.

Maybe it will do the same for you?

If interested, visit the studios at 575 Pacific Street, check them out at www.loftartists.org, or contact them at info@loftartists.org.