Artist Cannot Paint in an Artists’ Building

By J. Taylor Basker

PATRICIA MELVIN watering Westbeth roof garden, August 2026. Photo by J. Taylor Basker.

The paintings of Westbeth artist Patricia Melvin are a tour de force of skill, technique and passion for the beauty of the Hudson River, its surface and skyline, depicting harmony between the river, nature and humans.

Since she moved into Westbeth five years ago, she produced nearly 100 paintings of the river she could see clearly through her windows in her apartment/studio on West Street. However, last year the building installed new windows that used a type of UV glass that keeps out the full spectrum of light and eliminates the blue purples at the end of the spectrum. This especially kills the cobalt blues and casts a yellow-green hue on everything. Artists and photographers who need light to work are especially affected. Melvin pleaded unsuccessfully with the building to permit her to replace the windows at her own expense with a higher grade of glass that does not affect the light.

The lower grade of UV glass uses sand with a higher iron content that contaminates the glass. Cheaper glass uses low-cost chemicals and uneven coatings that block part of the visible light spectrum and fail to filter light evenly. The layers break down over time under direct sun exposure and turn yellow or hazy. Ironically, this glass has been used for an artist building where the founding mission is to provide residents “with a place to live and to work.”

All types of visual artists are affected and there has been much conflict; many refuse the new windows. Melvin was one of the first to have the new windows installed before people were aware of the light problem. She has not been able to produce much work since the windows changed as she paints with light and demands accurate visibility of the blues of the river and sky from her studio. This is a great loss for her career and for people who love and value her art.