Collar Works is a non-profit art space dedicated to supporting emerging and underrepresented artists, working in any media, exhibiting challenging and culturally relevant contemporary artworks. Expanding the current art vernacular in New York’s capital region, Collar Works provides a venue for community dialogue focused on serious, provocative, and spirited artworks.

Collar Works, 621 River St Location, 2020. SpaceLAB

Collar Works is committed to artist equity and provides an inclusive space with access for all, regardless of differences of race, age, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, migratory status, disability/abilities, political affiliation, veteran status and/or socioeconomic background.

Collar Works sprung from a desire to see artwork in the Capital Region of a less commercial nature. Given the number of colleges and universities in the area providing Master of Arts degrees, the representation of these young emerging artists seemed absent. Exhibitions in the area often lacked the power of contemporary art language, significantly under-representing artists working in energetic new media including video, performance, sculpture, drawing, painting, sound, etc. Collar Works defined these early exhibitions as unique amongst local venues by including artists with fresh and provocative visions.

Launching in 2009 as a collective, Collar Works operated as a transitory gallery, taking advantage of various empty commercial spaces in downtown Troy, New York, a city on the cusp of cultural renewal.

In 2010, Collar Works transformed 2,700 decaying and disheveled square feet of a former textile manufacturing building, located at 444 River Street, into a gorgeous and dynamic gallery space. 2011 brought a surge of what can only be described as grassroots support, proving a viable momentum and structure that appeals to curators, artists, and viewers alike. The exhibition cycle was built in collaboration with guest curators and artists whose investments of time and creativity brought Collar Works to its eminent status as the venue for culturally relevant works in the Capital Region. Collar Works called the third floor of 444 River Street home through 2014. Now, in its home at 621 River Street since 2015, Collar Works continues to thrive with visual arts installations and a growing group of dedicated patrons.