Tucked away in a central Denver neighborhood is a building with a story to tell, an old 1940s fortune cookie factory turned art gallery.
“I come down here a lot and just sort of contemplate life and the world,” said Cookie Factory founder, Amanda Precourt, of an exhibit that’s tapped into more than 600 public cameras all over the world that always show a sunrise and a sunset.
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At the time, the cameras showed a sunrise in Bali, Indonesia, and a sunset in Philipsburg, St. Maarten.
It’s no surprise the room is one of Precourt’s favorite spots in the building she purchased and fell in love with nearly a decade ago.
“There were two inches of water and fortune cookies, like the fortunes floating everywhere, and vats that were made for making cookies still in here at the time,” said Precourt. “I knew that it would really be amenable and really a positive place to have art of some kind, and came to the space the Cookie Factory is by a series of good fortune.”
Eight years in the making, the Cookie Factory opened to the public, free of charge, in May. For Amanda, the mission behind the privately funded space is personal.
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“I hope that the Cookie Factory will allow others to heal through art, as I have in my life. Art has been a very important space and place for me to find mental wellness,” said Precourt. “People can use this as a place to gather and connect with friends and be with art, and also to come in total silence and just sit and be with the art, if that is what they need.”
Its inaugural exhibition features work by artist Sam Falls, created in Colorado’s Yampa River Valley.
“There’s a great quote about art, that art is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” said Andrew Jason Jensdotter, who co-founded Cookie Factory. “I don’t know if I agree with it all the way, but food for thought. I think this is a show that definitely comforts. It’s based in nature. It is very poetic. There’s a lot of poetry to these pieces.”
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The “Nothing without nature” exhibit will run through September, then switch to a new artist. As far as a long-term vision, Precourt is dedicated to keeping it a place for the community.
“I really want Cookie Factory to be received and seen as a gift that I’m making to the city,” said Precourt. “I just hope that we add more discussion and more space and more places for people to get together and talk about important subjects that art sometimes can elicit.”
