Creating A New Life For Mayfair Mill

Mayfair Mill No. 1 is the latest former-textile mill to be revitalized in Spartanburg County.

Before it's closure in 2001, the mill ran three shifts, employed 600 people, made cotton cloth, and later produced blended polyesters. Now known as Mayfair Art Studios, the industrial space was converted into two floors of studios and creative workspaces-- for both resident artists and shared spaces for rent.

The 20,000–square–foot facility opened in March of 2020, located at 1885 Hayne St. in Spartanburg. The space features an upper floor of twelve private studios for resident artists that were completely rented out, with a waitlist, upon opening. On the main floor, find a ceramics studio with hourly wheel rentals, two dance and movement studios, multi-media 2-D and 3-D studios for glass and metalworking, photo/video and co-create studios, and more.

Meet Mayfair's twelve resident creatives.Resident creatives are required to work a minimum of 10 hours a week in their studios with their doors open and to participate in the majority of Mayfair's public events.In addition to the daily studio use, Mayfair Art Studios presents First Fridays at the mill-- a drop-in event every first friday of the month to meet the resident artists, see their current work projects, and tour the studio spaces. The next First Friday event is November 6th, from 5pm-7pm.Want to try your hand at the pottery wheel? Try an Intro to Wheel-Throwing class with professional artist Haley Swanson. (View upcoming class dates.) Learn all the basics of shaping, throwing, and sculpting clay while you create a unique ceramic vessel, then use your new skills for solo wheel-throwing whenever you'd like at Mayfair."The hard work of mill workers is the bedrock of Spartanburg's rich manufacturing heritage," said Jennifer Evins, CEO and president of the Chapman Cultural Center. "It is always people that make a place special and now filling it with artists and creative enterprises that are working to create a future for themselves and their families is critical to the economic viability of our county, just like the textile workers of 100 years."Georgia developer Pace Burt partnered with the Chapman Cultural Center to receive tax credits to convert the former mill into art studios. The $1.2 million project included a naming gift of $500,000 to dedicate the space to the mill workers.Want to live nearby? Arcadia Mills No.1 and No.2 are both loft apartments now-- as Arcadia Station Lofts (1875 Hayne St. next to Mayfair Art Studios,) and Mayfair lofts (100 West Cleveland St. across the train tracks,) respectively.Read more at GoUpstate.com; Article published October 8th, by Samantha SwannPhotos via GoUpstate.com, by Tim KimzeyResident Artists pictured above, in order of appearance: Ceramicist Leanne Flowers, Jocelyn Jones of Ladibugg Photography, Chris Kelly of KB Photography, Ryan Ridgeway of Ridgeway Studios