Cookie Factory

Cookie Factory
Formation2025
Location
  • Denver, Colorado, United States
Founder and Executive Director
Amanda J. Precourt
Director of Exhibitions
Andrew Jensdotter
Artistic Director
Jérôme Sans
WebsiteOfficial website

Cookie Factory is a privately funded contemporary art space located in the Baker neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, United States. Opened to the public in May 2025, the 5,000-square-foot public art space is housed in a former fortune cookie factory.[1]

History

The art space was founded by real estate developer and art collector Amanda J. Precourt,[1] who acquired an abandoned fortune cookie factory in the Baker neighborhood of Denver in 2016. The building at 425 W. 4th Ave., originally built in 1941, was first a paper mill[2] before housing Sunrise Food Products Inc. for more than six decades.[3] It took nine years to renovate the space into art galleries on the first level and a private apartment on the second level.[4] The space opened to the public in May 2025; Jérôme Sans serves as artistic director and curator.[5][6]

Mission and programming

The art space hosts rotating exhibitions and contains gallery space, an outdoor sculpture garden, and video-screening rooms. All work shown at the Cookie Factory is site-specific and created in Colorado.[5] Cookie Factory invites artists to create site-specific projects inspired by the landscapes and culture of Denver and Colorado at large.[1] Cookie Factory is non-commercial, privately funded, and free and open to the public, established to facilitate community and collaboration in Denver.[7]

In addition to art exhibitions, Cookie Factory produces public programs designed to amplify the themes of the exhibitions on view.[8]

Exhibitions

The inaugural exhibition was Nothing Without Nature, a solo exhibition by Sam Falls, which ran May through September 2025 and featured new paintings, photography, and video work.[7] Fall's work explores humankind's relationship with the environment, and much of the work exhibited in Nothing Without Nature was created on-site in Colorado's Yampa River Valley.[8][6]

In November 2025, Cookie Factory opened Rush, a solo exhibition by American artist Gary Simmons. The installation features work from Simmons' erasure series, and includes large-scale wall drawings, new paintings, a wheatpaste installation on the building's facade, and a participatory reading room.[9][10]

Reception

Writing in Axios in May 2025 about the space's opening, Alayna Alvarez said, "Cookie Factory isn't just another private collection dressed up as a museum. It's a fresh model that's intimate, immersive and rooted in Colorado."[11] Zoe Stockwell of 303 Magazine described Cookie Factory as "a gift to Denver, introducing new artists to the community who haven't had the opportunity to let their work shine."[4]

Writing for The Colorado Sun, Parker Yamasaki said "it's an unusual model, one that merges Precourt's aesthetic sensibilities with her philanthropic tendencies with her upbringing in Denver."[2] Interviewing Sans for Frieze, Terence Trouillot praised the space as "a very human-scale institution" and "a paradigm shift."[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Loos, Ted (2025-05-07). "A Patron of the Arts in Denver Who Was 'Saved by Collecting'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2025-06-07. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  2. ^ a b Yamasaki, Parker (2025-05-23). "A new art center debuts in an old Denver fortune cookie factory". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  3. ^ Wenzel, John (2025-05-23). "Former Denver fortune cookie factory reopens as art gallery, sculpture garden". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  4. ^ a b Stockwell, Zoe (2025-05-08). "Abandoned Fortune Cookie Factory Set to Transform into Massive Art Gallery". 303 Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  5. ^ a b Ornett, Charli (2025-05-22). "Inside Denver's Cookie Factory Turned Art Gallery". 5280. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  6. ^ a b c Sans, Jérôme; Trouillot, Terence (2025-05-23). "'You Cannot Stop Creativity': Jérôme Sans on Denver's New Cookie Factory Art Space". Frieze. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  7. ^ a b Al-Masyabi, Ayah (2025-05-23). "Freshly Baked: New Art Exhibition Space Cookie Factory Opens in Baker". Denver Westword. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  8. ^ a b Carlson, Ethan (2025-06-03). "Former fortune cookie factory cracks future wide open in Denver's Baker neighborhood with new business venture". Denver 7 Colorado News (KMGH). Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  9. ^ Jones, Okla (2026-01-09). "Gary Simmons Brings Memory To The Forefront In 'Rush'". Essence. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  10. ^ Scott, Chadd (2025-11-02). "Gary Simmons takes on the American West at Denver's Cookie Factory". See Great Art. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
  11. ^ Alvarez, Alayna (2025-05-23). "Denver's newest art gallery is in an old fortune cookie factory — and it's free". Axios. Retrieved 2026-01-12.

39°43′22″N 104°59′37″W / 39.7228°N 104.9936°W / 39.7228; -104.9936

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