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Joe Provey primarily works as a painter dealing with textures and layers, but he also writes. He and other artists have formed an artists community, known as the Nest, in a former factory building in Bridgeport. However, they are now looking for another home because a developer plans on turning the Nest building and other structures on the 2.5-acre property into a 130-unit condominum project.

The work lives of artists and artisans are spent, for the most part, in solitude -- thinking and creating.

Painters, sculptors, potters, textile artists, photographers, woodworkers, jewelry-makers, quilters often work alone -- and that can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection.

That's one of the reasons that some area artists have eschewed a home studio, opting instead for the "sense of community" that comes from renting space with like-minded individuals in one of Bridgeport's old factory buildings.

In the city's West End is one such artists' community: The Nest at 1341 Railroad Ave., in a building that was at one time owned by Casco Products, a manufacturer of automotive power outlets and cigarette

Nest
lighters.

Soon, however, the Nest will be no more as plans by developer Garfield Spencer to transform the Nest building and other structures on the 2.5-acre spread into a 130-unit condominium complex were approved during the summer by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

This incubator for the arts has been home to about 30 artists at one time or another during the last seven years, said Victor Mulaire, the building's former owner, founder of Nest and owner of the Cricket Hosiery Co., which shares space in the Nest building.

The draw of these old factory buildings are many: inexpensive rents (which have been as low as a few dollars per square foot), open spaces and high ceilings, the availability of natural

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light that pours in through huge windows, and the camaraderie that's found among creative types with similar interests.

Mulaire, of Weston, said that although financial pressures forced him to sell his Nest building to Spencer -- "My back was up against a wall" -- he hasn't given up on the arts community concept, which "is good for the artists, good for me, good for the city." In fact, Mulaire and several other current and former Nest artists are now exploring the possibility, with the help of Bridgeport economic development officials, of finding a new home in another vacant vintage building where Mulaire and the artists could reunite.

And Mulaire reports that Spencer recently indicated that he and the artists probably will have about a year before they will be required to move because conversion of the Nest site is scheduled for the project's final phase. And that is "giving us some breathing room," he said.

David Flynn, of Norwalk, the on-site Nest coordinator, a fabricator of wood and metal sculptural light fixtures, said he has polled about 30 current, former and prospective Nesters, and they overwhelming voted to look for a new building along with Mulaire, for whom they seemingly have nothing but praise. (Several artists reported that Mulaire charged them a monthly rent based on what they could afford, and sometimes gave them space for free as long as they were "serious" about using the space for work and not just "hanging around" the place.)

Flynn said he can't imagine working in a setting that didn't include a bevy of artists.

"If you're in an office building for eight hours a day, you're going to talk about business. If you're in an arts building, you'll talk about art. It's the creative spark that we all need."

Painter Susan Breen, a resident of Bridgeport's Black Rock section, said she became a Nest artist because she "missed the sense of community" that she had experienced while working in New York.

"I think it's vitally important to be part of a community. The impromptu critiques and the brutally honest feedback from other artists are so important. We talk about the exhibits we've seen, and the museum and gallery shows at this place or that. And it's so great to be able to share coffee with someone," said Breen, who along with her husband, photographer David Ryan, were one-time Nesters.

"It's important to me," added Joe Provey, another Black Rock painter, "to have some ability to socialize with fellow artists. It would be very difficult for me to create in a vacuum. At Nest, I was able to connect with other artists."

For painter Mary Jo McGonagle, of Fairfield, who has four young children at home, Nest offered a quiet refuge, where you could "bounce ideas off of other artists, where you had tons of natural light.

"And you didn't have to worry about spilling paint on the floor," McGonagle added, laughing.

"I love that building, and I love being at Nest," said Aime Ontario Fraser, of Shelton, who is among a handful of artists still on the property. A fine-woodworking professional specializing in boat-building and furniture-making, Fraser is the author of "Your First Shop: A Practical Guide to What You Really Need (Getting Started in Woodworking Series)."

"The whole idea of being part of an arts community, with like-minded people, is really appealing," Fraser said. "And I love the collaboration; we all help each other in so many ways" with tasks, chores and feedback. "And the people are so great. Vic is obviously not making money on this; it's his way to give back to the community. He's one of the nicest and kindest guys you could find."

Nest artists seem far from dispirited about the need to find new digs. When it comes to studio space, artists are resigned to a gypsy-like existence as they move from town to town, building to building, to find the most affordable rents.

The facts of life in a free-market economy are thus: Artists are given cheap rents because there are few other takers for the rustic spaces (often without air conditioning or an abundance of heat). Often when a city's fortunes improve, as they did in Norwalk and Stamford a number of years ago, the old factory buildings become attractive to developers for housing, offices, restaurants and other commercial ventures -- and the artists are squeezed out.

In Bridgeport, it seems that as one artists' community dissolves, another pops up. When the owners of the International Enterprise Park at 914 Arctic St., formerly Remington Arms Co., asked all the artists there to leave, many found refuge in the former American Fabrics Co. building at 1069 Connecticut Ave. (Among the artists who resettled there are Denyse Schmidt, a quilt designer whose works are sold in high-end boutiques throughout the country, and painter Brechin Morgan, who captured headlines a few years ago for sailing single-handed around the world, with his sketchbook on board, on his 27-foot Otter.)

Old factory buildings on Housatonic Avenue have had artist-tenants for years; as have the Bridgeport Trade & Technology Center (the former Singer Sewing Machine plant) at 480 Barnum Ave., and the Bridgeport Innovation Center (the former American Chain and Cable Co.) at 955 Connecticut Ave. Another addition to the arts scene is one of the buildings in the former Frank Armstrong Manufacturing Village, founded in 1885, at 305 Knowlton St., directly on the Pequonnock River.

With some luck, and the city of Bridgeport's help, Victor Mulaire and the Nest gang hope to soon open another new haven for themselves and other area artists searching for an intellectual and creative home.

"I truly believe that this downturn in the economy is a temporary thing," Mulaire said. "I believe the nation and Bridgeport will go forward. And we'd love to be a part of that."