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The Gallery on 47th Street gets a three-month extension

The Gallery on 47th Street will be extending its schedule by three months after great success and recognition from artists and fans alike.
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The business will continue to feature artists until April, which exceeded their expectations. Jonathan Gardiner/NNSL photo

The Gallery on 47th Street will be extending its schedule by three months after great success and recognition from artists and fans alike.

Colin Dempsey, co-owner of the gallery, was asked if he thought the business would be operational into the new year, having reopened in September following a 12-year hiatus.

“No way. I would have smacked myself,” he joked, but his voice was tinged with excitement. “Every week, it just keeps getting better and better. We just feel like we really want to continue to see the space used this way, to be able to have this vehicle for creative endeavors.”

Having a long-burning desire to reopen their gallery, co-owners Colin and Ainsley Dempsey decided to purchase a new location neighbouring their former one, moving from 4911 47 Street to 4909 47 Street earlier this year.

The couple heard from many artists interested in having their work displayed in the gallery. In order to meet the demand, they scheduled weekly features from Sept. 2 to Dec. 2.

In September, Ainsley was open to the possibility that the the operation could spill over into 2023.

“We’re letting it go where it’s going to go. If there’s enough artists interested that we carry forward to the spring, we’re going to do that,” she said at the time.

The couple extended the gallery’s schedule again, adding nearly a full month of extra weekly features. On Wednesday, they featured the final artists they planned for this year.

Momentum didn’t stop there, however, and now the gallery is expected to remain open until April.

“We started as a one to two month thing and now it’s kind of got legs under it. We’re going to just keep going into the new year,” Ainsley said. “We’re booked now through till April.”

Interest from artists, their fans and other art enthusiasts continued to grow throughout the year, according to Ainsley.

“We have a really nice slate of regulars that come to every opening. Each artist brings in their own following, and their own friends and family. We have new people, kind of a new energy, coming through all the time,” she said.

Ainsley added that they would be decreasing the frequency of newly-featured artists.

“We’re gonna change it so (there’s) going to be a new artist every other week. That was one thing we got as feedback from our clients. In some cases they are out of town or they’re busy… and then they had to miss shows.”

The new year won’t alter the regular hours, however, with doors still open on Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The official schedule of artists for the new year has not yet been released.