106 Gallery is a large-scale exhibition space owned by Dwelling Place and managed by Avenue for the Arts. It is Located at 106 S Division along the SoDiv commercial corridor in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Formerly the site of Calvin College's art gallery, it is now divided between a Dwelling Place workspace and an exhibition space. It includes gallery amenities like adjustable track lighting and six 10' x 2' x 8' moveable gallery walls, as well as six large street facing windows.

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Halfway There, solo exhibition by Mahsa Alafar Alafar’s project looks at the relationship between migration and memory, examining how

On display: March 3–24, open hours Tues/Thurs 10amー4pm
Opening Reception: March 6, 6–9pm as part of the First Friday Art Walk.

Artist Statement

Displacement shapes both cognitive processes and the preservation of one’s personal history. Cortisol, a stress-response hormone, quietly erases edges of the past, and switching between languages—Farsi to English and vice versa in Alafar’s case—can alter how memories are stored and recalled, contributing to their erosion over time.

Memories function like material archives: some fade, some persist, some exist only as fragments of sensation. Past experiences—faces, gestures, and sensory details—can be partially lost under the pressure of survival. New memories formed in migration differ in texture and depth, resembling crisp digital images compared with the grain of earlier life experiences.

Through the integration of family snapshots and contemporary materials, Halfway There redefines memory from an archival act to the intersection of biological, cognitive, and sociocultural processes.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

April: KCAD senior art students
May: GVSU senior illustration exhibition
June: Visible. Vital. Unignorable: Selected Works by LGBTQ+ Michigan Artists 
August: Long Exposure, group photography exhibition

We are currently taking applications for our 2027 exhibitions calendar. Student shows, group shows, solo shows, experiments, dream big, and tell us about your idea in our application form ⇩⇩⇩

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2026

January: Junk Drawer by 13 Grand Valley senior art students
February: Enclosures: Scenes of Motherhood and Memory, a two-person painting show by Rebecca Senior and Samantha Fay.

2025

January: My American Dream by Katya Grokhovsky
March: Dialogue of Souls by Mary Jane Pories and Merima Smajlovic
April: Where Horizons Meet, GVSU Illustration Senior Exhibition
May: Double Vision, a GRCC and KCAD Collaborative Student Show
June: Main-ten-ance by Anthony Brazeau
July: Critical Nostalgia by Savannah Calhoun and Anna Lobbes
August: The Only Thing to Consecrate by Alexa Grambush
October: Anything but by Jamie Weinfurter
November: Looking Back | Moving Forward: The Avenue Turns 20.
December: Junk Drawer by 13 Grand Valley senior art students

2024

January: B.O.S.S. — Best of Senior Seminar, a show of work by GVSU seniors.
February: More Than Our Hearts Can Bear curated by Annamarie Buller
March: The World is on Fire curated by Annamarie Buller
April: GVSU Senior Illustration and Graphic Design Exhibition
June: Pharaoh Khalil Art Residency Culmination
August: Funkytown, a group exhibition of abstract, colorful work curated by Melody Hoffer.
September: The Trauma Project by Scoob, Juried Grand Prize winner at ArtPrize
October: Studio Work by Mark Rumsey
October: Hatred for Humanity by Chapel of Ghouls
November: Art Swap & Frame Giveaway.
December: Collateral Damage, a group show of work by seven Grand Valley Senior Seminar students.

2023

December: B.O.S.S. — Best of Senior Seminar, a show of work by GVSU seniors.
October–Nov: Forest Fires: Art and Activism by Son Visual
September: Fresh work by Bryce Saber
January–June: Various programming by Dwelling Place’s new artist-in-residence program.

2022

January: Dream within a Dream by Catbird Saintly
December: New work by Kae Pershon
September: New work by Ben Boss
August: New work by Victor Fitzsimons
May–July: Lavern on Monday by Kerry Murphy Rolewicz