"What is the one thing that makes life possible in New York City? As mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani would say, it is affordable housing. This was also true in the 1950s, when three women-all newly single mothers-founded an artist haven in a rowhouse in the East Village, a raw neighbourhood at the time better known for shelters like the Bowery Mission."
"When the artists Lois Dodd, Eleanor Magid and the late Louise Kruger (1924-2013) bought their house together in 1959, each taking over a storey for themselves, they all had young children of the same age. Without husbands to tell them what to do, they put their work first. Dodd even got rid of her bed to make space for artmaking; to this day, she still sleeps on a roll-up mattress."
"Dodd, a painter, hade numerous works from her perch on the third floor, using the window frames as borders in her depictions of the streetscapes and gardens outside. She was also the only woman among five founders of the artist-run cooperative Tanager Gallery on East 10th Street. It was the first in what would become an alternative-gallery district."
Affordable housing made possible an artist haven in a 1959 East Village rowhouse purchased by three newly single mothers — Lois Dodd, Eleanor Magid and Louise Kruger — who each occupied a floor and prioritized art while raising young children. Dodd painted streetscapes from the third-floor window frames and helped found Tanager Gallery. Magid founded the LES Printshop during the 1968 teachers' strike and taught at Queens College, diversifying her practice amid gender discrimination. Kruger worked as a sculptor and learned woodworking. Their collective home fostered influential, enduring community art institutions.
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