Emma Louise
Dollhaus II Story and photos by Daniel Israel
T
he Dollhaus II art gallery at 23 Cottage Street is owned and curated by resident Emma Louise, who owned and operated the original Dollhaus in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She moved from London to Brooklyn in 1998, hosting elaborate art parties in rented warehouses and clubs. After 9/11, 2001, Louise was lost. “I didn’t know what to do with my life,” she said. “I was sick of renting out these spaces. It’s a lot of work for a night to make art installations, pull in bands, pull in installation artists. I needed my artists to have at least a month.”
Enter the Dollhaus art gallery. “I never wanted to own a gallery, as a child or as a grown young lady,” Louise said. “But it was a natural occurrence from what I was actually doing.” After six years, Louise needed a break. “Running a gallery is a lot of work, with a lot of artists and it’s 24/7,” she said. “Artists are demanding, and shows are every month. It wasn’t really that I couldn’t afford the neighborhood anymore, but the neighborhood was changing a lot.” Louise moved to Canada to pursue her own art before returning to New York City. “I went to live in Montreal and worked on my own stuff and my own little films,” she
16 • BLP ~ SPRING | SUMMER 2021
In Bayonne and better than ever
said. “I moved back to New York and kind of had enough of Greenpoint and Williamsburg.” She packed her bags and moved to Jersey City.
To the Garden State “I was one of the first Brooklynites, the Wiliamsburgers, to move to Jersey City,” Louise said. “I needed a big space; I was a largescale painter. I was always looking for another gallery. I’m always attracted to offthe-beaten-path neighborhoods. Williamsburg was that when I was there, so Jersey was the next off the beaten path. So I stayed there and was constantly looking for a new space. By the time I had really settled, the
rents in Jersey City started to get insane.” Louise said Jersey City became expensive because everyone in Brooklyn was moving there. This prompted her to look elsewhere to open a new gallery. “I couldn’t find a place acceptable to me in Jersey City, and I didn’t feel comfortable with the art that was going on, and I’m a bit of a lone wolf,” she said. “So I started to hunt seriously for a space, and I had only ever been in Bayonne once. I saw something that was advertised as a storage space, and it was a good price. Before I even went over there, I said I’m taking it.” But the owner had already rented it to someone else. Louise was persistent. The
