Solarium, a new plant shop and art gallery, to open at former Pittsfield Plant Connector location | Business

PITTSFIELD — Since 2024, Anastasia Drayton has run her pop-up, Foraged and Found, inside the Plant Connector’s West Street storefront.

Now, following the shop’s closure in August, the storefront is hers to transform into Solarium, a plant shop and art gallery.

“Our mindsets are really similar, about focusing on how plants connect people to each other, to the natural world, to create, like a community hub in this space,” Drayton said about Plant Connector owners Bonnie Marks and Emilee Yawn.

“I just want to steward that energy forward in continuing to have this be … a place of inspiration, creativity, but also a place of solace.”

With a background in plant science and horticulture, Drayton creates botanical art — such as paintings, wreaths and terrariums — incorporating foraged plants to “celebrate the beauty of the natural world.”

“Having worked with plant science, it’s so amazing to see repetition in patterns, in tree branches, in the veins of leaves,” Drayton said. “So I wanted to show people that maybe aren’t seeing that every day like I am, how amazing that kind of stuff is close up.”

However, her creations will just be a fraction of the store’s offerings. In addition to plants, Solarium will feature nature-based home decor, self-care products and work from local artists.

Drayton plans to redesign the center of the 46 West St. space as the Atrium Gallery — an art venue curated by muralist Mike Carty that will feature work from local artists, with its name paying tribute to Carty’s heart transplant.

“I’m excited about that to kind of meld, like even further, the plant world and the science world, together with art,” she said. “I just [want] to both stick with the theme of nature and also support small, individual artisans like myself.”

Following Marks and Yawn, Drayton is planning to host workshops on plant care and art, including kid-friendly programs such as fairy house building.

“I really want to have that engagement and excitement [of] people getting their hands on stuff instead of just buying a plant,” she said. “I want them to come in and create with them.”

Drayton also aims to draw on her plant and soil science degree and two decades of experience by leading educational seminars.

But at the heart of her vision for Solarium is a space where visitors can relax, recharge and linger.

“Working with plants and flowers, creating landscapes, what I really love is creating environments for people where they can take solace, take respite,” Drayton said, drawing from her time in landscape design. “I want people to feel like they’re coming home … If you want to grab one of the books I have on the shelf or just hang out for a bit, that would be wonderful.”

Looking ahead, she hopes to invite other local makers and artists to collaborate, just as Marks and Yawn did for her.

“I feel like I am not central to this, that I will have other makers here for pop-ups,” she said. “Maybe they’re gonna give demonstrations, and [I’ll] just sort of be the facilitator of everybody getting together. That’s what I love.”

The store will remain closed for the rest of August, with a grand reopening planned for mid-September.

“I really want to do this for the community,” Drayton said. “I’m just really excited to load it up with plants and have everybody come back in.”