Welch's next installation will feature seven chairs she is working on in her new live/work space. She uses paint, minerals and fabric to create the chairs. In the loft is "Homage to the Bees," a series of baskets made of stained and painted spray foam insulation wrapped around newspaper using a frame of twigs.

In late January, the center opened six new live/work units for artists, the final stages of a steady effort to find new life for an aging but worthy landmark.

When Historic Seattle took ownership of the Home of the Good Shepherd in 1975, the huge classical revival brick building designed by Alfred Breitung and Theobald Buchinger was the proverbial diamond in the rough. That was a polite way of saying it was a white elephant. Since they arrived in Seattle in 1890, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd had taken in and educated girls in need. In 1907, 11 nuns and 171 girls moved from their initial location on First Hill to the much larger Wallingford facility and its acres of green space and orchards. A succession of nuns and girls followed until the school closed in 1973.

Long-deferred maintenance, building-code deficiencies and the vast space could have been liabilities. Instead, they were challenges met as time and funding allowed. Now the building shelters 20 nonprofit agencies, including the Wallingford Senior Center. It was home to Pacific Northwest Ballet until the organization moved to the Seattle Center.

Coincidentally, new artist live/work studios are on the top floor, once used for the sisters' dance classes and costume storage. "The Good Shepherd Center is a wonderful example of a historic building taking on new life and becoming a thriving community asset," says John Chaney, Historic Seattle's executive director. "And the new units will help to address a critical problem in Seattle — affordable housing for artists."

Despite its age, the building appears very much as it did in 1907. Plywood in some upper windows is evidence that stained-glass windows in the chapel are being repaired in preparation for revamping the space into a performance hall.
Next to one of the chairs artist Mary Welch is working on in her new studio is a wall devoted to photography. Her panoramic photos of architecture, nature, everyday objects and scenes are framed by her eye to bring new attention to them.

The city's 1995 housing levy and the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund provided major funding for the project.

Interested artists (some who had been on a waiting list for years) were invited to apply for a spot when construction began last summer. More than 30 applications were received. Historic Seattle evaluated 14 applicants based on dedication and concentration of energy to artwork, as well as a demonstrated need for space. The six selected represent a range of specialties, from painting to doll- and mask-making.

For Jan Haag, a poet, textile artist, writer and painter, this move is the dream of a lifetime. When she heard about the project five years ago, she was one of the first to get on a waiting list. But as it was slow to materialize, she forgot about it and settled into a comfortable apartment on First Hill only a year ago. "It was very nice, but it was not this," she says as she gestures toward the windows facing east and south to mountain and city views.

Jan lives very simply, with little furniture and only a few artworks other than her own meticulously worked colorful needlepoints. She has no phone, no CD player, no television. The space is well-suited for her needlework, which challenges her eyes and hands with its tiny scale and intricacy of color and pattern. "The light just pours in and I get all the light I need," she says. Jan also writes poetry, and there is plenty of room for her computer and desk space. "What I mostly need are huge spaces for sorting and reading and leaving books out to read later. That's all a writer really needs.

"To be in an aerie in the sky, in 11 acres of 'almost country' in the middle of Seattle, is offering an artist paradise on earth," she says.

		Bright colors and intricate patterns characterize Haag's work.

Mary Welch is an installation artist whose pieces stimulate thought and emotion. In February, with a grant from Artist Trust, she was busy creating an interactive installation called "seven chairs," which incorporates light and sound and encourages consideration of the chakra system, thought to be a source of energy for psychic or spiritual power. Her materials are wood, foam, velvet and other fabrics, gold leaf and gems. Topaz, amber and pearls, for example, are used in embroidery and inlay.

Until her recent move, Mary created her works of art from a tiny basement apartment. Like Jan, she was excited to make the change. "I moved about eight blocks but literally light years away." In her former location, "There was an L-shaped stairway down to the basement and I could touch the ceiling, so I had to assemble a lot of art on site or in the backyard." Her new, light-filled space and high ceilings excite her. Now she can complete her pieces in the studio, see their colors and experience the way they relate in height and scale.

The look of her home will change periodically as her art does because whatever she works on is her living environment. "I don't see any difference," she says, "between where I live and what I'm making."

Lawrence Kreisman is program director for Historic Seattle. He serves on the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and is author of "Made to Last: Historic Preservation in Seattle and King County." Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.