Major Native Art Collection Plans Upstate New York Space

(MENAFN- USA Art News) ### Two Former Hardware Stores Become a 10,000-Square-Foot Art Hub as Forge Expands Public Programming in Katonah

A pair of modest retail spaces in Katonah, New York, is being recast as a sizable new platform for contemporary art. The collection behind Forge has acquired two adjacent former hardware stores, each measuring 5,000 square feet, creating a combined 10,000-square-foot footprint for exhibitions and public-facing activity.

The first purchase, collection founder Gochman said, was a single 5,000-square-foot hardware store. A second space of the same size nearby soon followed.“Artists love hardware stores!” she noted, describing how quickly the project's scale doubled. The expansion, she added, is tied directly to a broader push to grow Forge's public programming.

Forge's ambitions extend beyond the familiar rhythms of collecting. The organization also supports artists directly, including through an annual fellowship and residency program it sponsors. That emphasis on artist-centered infrastructure is now being paired with a more visible, accessible venue in Katonah.

As Forge builds out its next phase, it has also brought on new leadership. Gochman said the hire reflects a desire for a director who can move fluently between studio practice and institutional realities. She described her staff as all women, and said the team felt it was“important to bring on a director who has a deep understanding of artists and institutions alike,” adding that the new director has“an amazing ability to translate our mission into something meaningful and accessible for a broader public.”

Phipps, who joins Forge after getting to know the organization through her work in museums, said the role feels like a natural continuation rather than a leap into the unknown. She became familiar with Forge while curating the landmark 2023 Jaune Quick-to-See Smith retrospective at the Whitney.“It's nice to come into something I have awareness of, and understanding of what the goals are,” she said by phone.“It's not all totally brand new but pretty exciting.”

For Phipps, Katonah's practical advantages are part of the point. She contrasted the new site with the challenges of drawing audiences to more remote art districts.“It can be hard to get people to Bushwick,” she said, underscoring that Forge's location is“just steps from the train station,” a detail she believes will make the program easier to reach for a wider public.

The organization's evolving profile is also reflected in the kinds of works that circulate around its activities and networks. Among the images associated with the news is“Hamat'sa Bear Headdress (circa 1998)” by Beau Dick, pictured courtesy of Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.

With 10,000 square feet now in play, Forge's Katonah project signals a familiar but consequential art-world shift: private collecting energy being redirected into semi-public cultural space, with artist support programs and institutional-caliber programming positioned as the connective tissue. The next test will be how that expanded footprint translates into sustained audiences, and whether accessibility, in Phipps's sense of the word, can become a defining feature rather than a footnote.

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