Colony is moving! After 10 years in 324 Canal Street, we are moving to a new street-level gallery at 196 West Broadway. Keep an eye out for your invite to our opening bash. But until then, we're getting sentimental over here. ðŸ˜
The first time I walked up the creaky steps of 324 Canal Street to the second floor, I had already viewed dozens of commercial spaces in downtown Manhattan. It was 2013 and Colony was just a fledgling idea without a home.
The open loft space with 15 foot ceilings had graffiti on the walls, no lights, and the rotting plywood floor was pitched 14". Anything you put on the floor would roll to the front corner of the space. A thick layer of dust covered everything and the tin ceiling had all but rusted out in spots.
"It's perfect" I said, submitting an offer letter the same day. As a start up with no financials (and a girl with no financials) it was a long shot. But I went for it with my whole heart, because despite its rough edges, when I closed my eyes I could see the beginning of my dream taking shape.
I slowly started filling the space. First with the essentials like a floor and light. And over the past ten years, I've been fortunate to fill 324 Canal with friends and their work, with strangers seeking beauty, with anything, really, in the name of inspiration. Here at 324 Canal Street we've broke bread, downward dogged, bathed in sound, we've drank and we've drawn. We've made posters for protests, we've cried over election results, we've mourned losses and celebrated births. For the past ten years 324 Canal has been home.
Thank you all for wading through a sea of counterfeit bags on Canal Street to stand in front of a rickety door that did not have a number, but did have air conditioning water dripping on your head. Thank you for knowing which buzzer to hit, even when our little "Colony" sticker had peeled off. Thank you for not leaving when the cage door was impossible to open, and when the fluorescent lighting in the stairs flickered. Thank you for your smile when we popped our heads out at the top of the stairs to tell you to come on up, and thank you for your gasps when you came in (they never got old and always made me feel so proud). Thank you for coming back, again and again and thank you for making us a stop on your trips to NYC. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The work we made here, the experiences we created, are without contest my proudest professional moments. It is hard for me to imagine loving a space as much as I've loved this one.
196 West Broadway has big shoes to fill, and I hope you all will (again) help me fill them.
With excitement for the future,
Jean Lin
