The opening reception for Dwell Time at Aspen & Pine Gallery drew roughly two hundred people Thursday evening, most of them holding kombucha flights from the gallery’s new wellness bar. The exhibit features mixed-media pieces examining displacement and belonging in the Gallatin Valley, installed in a ground-floor retail unit that housed working artist studios until January.

Gallery owner Maren Hollowell, who relocated from Portland in 2021, described the show as “a necessary conversation about what it means to put down roots in a place that keeps changing underneath you.” She said this while standing on reclaimed Douglas fir flooring that was, until recently, the subfloor of a ceramics studio where three potters split rent for twelve years.

“I think about the kiln that used to be where the crystal bar is now,” said attendee Jessamine Crow, 34, a massage therapist and part-time gallery assistant. “But also, the almond milk matcha is profoundly activated. I feel like the space is holding both things.”

The irony was not lost on everyone. Longtime Bozeman painter Dale Hargrove, who now commutes from Belgrade, stood near a large-scale photograph of his former studio door — now the gallery’s private office. “They invited me to the opening,” he said. “Didn’t invite me to stay.”

Aspen & Pine’s next show, Foundation, will explore the geology of the Bridger Range. It opens in the former printmaking studio next door, currently undergoing a $400,000 renovation.