A former wheel alignment shop on North 19th has reopened as Stillpoint, an integrative arts space where visual art, sound healing, and somatic movement share the same concrete floor. The building still smells faintly of tire rubber and transmission fluid, which owner Mara Lindquist describes as “a grounding base note for the higher frequencies.”
Lindquist, who moved to Bozeman from Portland in 2019, purchased the 3,200-square-foot building last October using what she calls “a creative lending circle” of twelve women who each contributed $15,000. The circle meets quarterly for potluck and dividend discussions. “We’re redefining what patronage looks like,” said circle member Jolene Harker, 52, a retired physical therapist who now grows medicinal mushrooms in her garage. “It’s not charity. It’s infrastructure.”
The inaugural exhibition, “Chassis,” features suspended steel sculptures by Belgrade-based artist Tomas Rios, who worked at Les Schwab for eighteen years before his disability claim. The pieces incorporate actual control arms, tie rods, and ball joints. Rios shapes them into forms that suggest both human spines and pronghorn antlers. “People ask if it’s ironic,” Rios said, adjusting his wrist brace. “It’s not ironic. It’s the same metal. Same body. Different arrangement.”
Stillpoint’s weekly schedule includes Wednesday morning “nervous system regulation” sessions with a certified somatic experiencing practitioner, Friday evening “resonance baths” using crystal singing bowls tuned to the Schumann resonance, and Sunday “witnessing circles” where attendees sit with a single artwork for forty-five minutes without speaking. The space also hosts a sliding-scale community acupuncture clinic on Tuesday afternoons in the former office, where the service writer’s desk now holds a Buddha statue and a bowl of organic clementines.
Construction on the four-story luxury condo complex next door — The Apex at Bridger View — shakes the walls most weekdays. Lindquist says she incorporates the vibration. “The jackhammers are just low-frequency didgeridoos,” she said. “We don’t resist. We entrain.”
The grand opening on August 22 will feature a collaborative performance by Rios and a Butoh dancer from Missoula. Admission is by donation. The building still has the alignment rack in the back. Lindquist says they may keep it. “It holds the question,” she said. “What are we aligning to?”