I spend an inordinate amount of time combing through the pictures I save on my phone during the year, tracing stolen moments through images. Many of them captured the experiences and events that helped me grow as a writer this year.
In 2025 I set some stretch goals for myself, but nowadays, these targets are more about intentions than milestones. Nevertheless, as I look back on the year comparing my accomplishments to those “goals”, I’m pleased with what I achieved. Earlier this year I was approached with three unique opportunities to speak about my work as a writer. The first was a request from Jes Averhart to participate in The Salon, RTP, a convening of women business leaders, artists, chefs, and creative entrepreneurs who gathered over drinks to discuss our unique career paths. I sat on a panel with Leela Srinvasan, CEO of Parity and Ricci Wolman, CEO of Written Word Media. Artists were also present to discuss their works, chefs were on hand to give quick elevator speeches about their culinary journeys and a spoken word artist electrified the group with her stirring prose. The Salon was presented by Averhart and Lindsay Hebert, proving that when you bring together a diverse group of women representing many different backgrounds, areas of expertise, and creative talents, you will leave inspired and fulfilled.
Around that time, artist Jerstin Crosby invited me to join him on an Art Criticism panel with one of my editors from Burnaway, Robert Alan Grand and Sarah Higgins, the Executive Director of Art Papers. The event was hosted by the NCMA Winston-Salem, which led to another important convening led by Sarah Higgins in Atlanta where arts writers and critics came together to both bid a fond farewell to Art Papers, who is sunsetting their publication in 2026. The Arts Writers Symposium was an opportunity for writers, editors, and publishers to both ideate and recognize the publications and groups that are currently doing the vital work that will carry cultural criticism forward. While in Atlanta I met with writers and publishers that I had only communicated with virtually, some for almost a decade, and for me this signaled an important sea change. What brought us here, in our respective places within art criticism, will not keep us there, and we need to steel ourselves for what’s to come. Brewing within this political environment, a 10 year “crisis in criticism” and the reality of AI, is a concomitant resistance to technology. A flight (or retreat) to all things analog is happening as flip phones, blogs, and zines are all making a comeback, and I welcome this newfound sense dis:connectivity.
These convenings have been critical to my work this year. Every single “yes” opened a new door to me this year. This fall I gave a presentation to the Friends of Visual Arts at Barton College in Wilson, and traveled to Milwaukee with Burnaway Magazine with a group of fellow writers to experience the archival work of the Ruth Arts Foundation. These “irl” encounters enriched and revived me, forcing me out of the harried freelancer bubble of deadlines, pitches, and rejections. Beyond that, the people who have shown up to support this work has fortified me beyond measure.
And this is where I return to the artists. There have been so many creators, curators, arts leaders, and professionals who have supported my work in all its forms whether through writing, speaking, curating, or serving as a juror: I thank the NCMA Winston-Salem, Anchorlight, Artspace, Barton College and the Durham Art Guild for trusting me this year. I must thank Burnaway Magazine, Oxford American, Art|Basel, Art Papers, ARTnews, INDY Week, Walter Magazine, and galleries in the U.S. and beyond who have provided me with platforms to hone my voice and showcase the artists whose work inspires and challenges me.
There is a rather long list of colleagues, writers, mentors, and guides that have gone out of their way to provide support and encouragement. Those gardens are tended to off-line, but if you have read this far, please let this be a gentle nudge to you to thank those that have made an impact on your own work.
And if you have read this post up to this point, thank YOU for reading my work, sans the sage wisdom and discerning eye of an editor. Your support of my art criticism and the little space I have carved out of this enriching, enraging, challenging, ever-changing art world means more than you’ll ever know. Thanks for taking the journey along with me.
Happy New Year! Wishing you the space to dream and the courage to bring those dreams to life.
xo, Colony
ICYMI, here are a few of my favorite pieces written this year:
Anonymous: The Fourth Sister. Burnaway, August 11, 2025.
Through Canvas & Camera: Stuart and Robert Dance. Walter Magazine, June 19, 2025.
Ruth Asawa at Black Mountain College. Burnaway x Oxford American, June 11, 2025.
Who Was Alice Coltrane? A New Exhibition Honors an Icon. ARTnews, February 7, 2025.
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 
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