Idaho Art Gallery promotes artists & boosts small businesses

From paintings to sculptures and even photography, art can mean many different things to many different people. But there is nothing abstract about the pivotal role the Idaho Art Gallery plays within both the local arts and business communities.

Located on Main Street in downtown Meridian, the gallery is operated on the business side by Nelli Garibyan, and her artist father, Bill, Armenian immigrants who came to the U.S. more than three decades ago from what was once the former Soviet Union.

Like the vivid colors depicting an Idaho landscape, their partnership blends perfectly, with one simple goal: To promote small businesses by promoting local artists.

“Anyway we can do that by putting more art into the world is our directive,” she said. “People are motivated by supporting local art, and local small businesses come to us asking for our help consulting and curating. And we are happy to do that.”

From sales to even artistic rentals, the gallery covers all aspects of providing decorative pieces for area businesses.

“If they want to curate a space, we can come in and sell them work,” she said. “Or we even have a rental program where we can lease them art to put up on their walls and then rotate the pieces every few months.”

But as Nelli Garibyan quickly learned, helping other businesses with their artistic needs and working with those who deal in artwork is not as simple as applying a stroke of the brush to a blank canvas.

“This is the most challenging small business I have ever run,” said the Boise State University alum who spends her full-time hours buying and flipping small businesses. “This is not for the faint of heart. There is emotion involved.”

And in the art world, emotion is what helps create perspective, or as her artistically talented father likes to say, “Art is food for the soul.”

“Sometimes people come in and see something and they want to buy a piece,” he said. “But I always tell them they must pick the painting that speaks to their heart. I don’t want them to come back in a couple of weeks or a month because now they are unhappy. Art must 100% speak to the heart.”

Color this one of the many lessons Bill Garibyan gleaned from his dad, also an artist, while growing up in the former Soviet Union. Referring to his father as “a man of few words,” Bill Garibyan, as a boy, learned to mix paints, put canvas into frames and even make silkscreen before spending many of his young adult years working for a large-scale art design company.

Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Bill Garibyan set out to paint a new chapter of his life, moving his family more than 6,000 miles across the world to Twin Falls.

But like any quality art piece that takes time to complete, he had to be patient and put his love of art on pause in order to provide for his family in his new home in America.

“I took any job that was available at that time,” he said. “You have to do that to feed your family.”

From handyman gigs to several years working in a window factory, the lifelong artist never lost his desire to return to his one true love: Oil painting, particularly Idaho landscapes.

With retirement came inspiration.

“The gallery has been my dream. I’d been painting still in Twin Falls because I was retired,” he said. “I had to come back to my routine, my first love.”

With the help of his business savvy daughter, Idaho Art Gallery opened in 2022, moving to its current location in the heart of Meridian’s downtown business district this past year.

“When dad called and said he wanted to do an art gallery, I thought this would just be another business for me to work with,” Nelli Garibyan said, laughing.

An artist in her own right when it comes to flipping businesses for profit, she soon learned running an art gallery is far different venture than the businesses she typically deals with.

“In the art world there are feelings,” she said. “It’s a lot of ‘I love this blue or that pink,’ and there are these emotions involved. I have to be less callous from a business perspective.”

And because art in any form can be classified a “want” rather than a “need,” selling it can be a meticulous process.

“You need shoes. You need plumbing. But you don’t need art,” she said. “You should, but it’s a luxury that brings happiness to people. But you need to get them there first.”

And that’s where her father’s love of impressionism and oil painting helps bring a colorful aspect to the family-run business. The gallery he envisioned now features an array of paintings, sculptures and photography that range in price from $500 to $10,000. Profits on sales are split between the gallery and the artist.

“Dealing with art, you have to work with the people,” Bill Garibyan said. “Everyone is different, and you have to satisfy them with what they want.”

In fact, he is able to use his array of talents to work on 10 separate pieces at the same time. “But my favorite piece is the one I am working on today.”

Giving the people what they want is also a specialty for Nelli Garibyan, who curates pieces for local companies. “A sector of our revenue stream is commercial artwork for businesses opening up.

They come to us for wall art, such as murals, or they will look to purchase artistic pieces for their walls.”

From commercial properties to privately owned businesses, the Idaho Art Gallery helps represent a diverse range of artists and creations for a myriad of business owners and private connoisseurs.

“It’s not just about culture and the employees, but it’s also about the aesthetics and the feel and how much a company is willing to invest in the place where you work,” she said. “It says a lot about you as a business or company and how it propels your brand forward.”

Understanding the medium in the art world, Nelli Garibyan stressed, is equally important as understanding the way any successful businesses work. “The one thing I found in the art world, which applies to many small business owners, is that people do things because they love it and are passionate about it, and not so much because they are good at business.”

And being good at the Idaho Art Gallery means providing an array of artistic perspectives, highlighting a variety of local and national artists, and remaining a fixture within the local business community.

“The unique value proposition that I bring is that I am incorporating true business processes and best practices when it comes to an art gallery,” she said. “That seems to be unique, but it should be that way. Every business should have the foundational business aspect to it.”

Annually, the gallery hosts about six exhibits featuring a roster of diverse artists. The gallery uses a strict vetting process before allowing any artist to show their work.

For a lifelong artist like Bill Garibyan, inspiration comes not only from nature, but through other artists and other mediums.

“We are always learning. Even if you are at the top, it does not matter,” he said. “You must keep learning.”

Another valuable lesson his father taught him is to keep moving forward. “It is foolish for an artist to fall in love with his work. It’s very dangerous. It will make you blind. You must always be evolving.”

In managing the gallery, “evolving” and “involvement” go together for Nelli Garibyan.

“We are local and our money stays in this community,” she said. “We have so much support from those who come in to buy or browse. Our goal is to have something here for everybody. We’ve  chosen to have a vast range because we don’t want to exclude people.”

Keeping the whole family involved is also in the mix. Bill Garibyan’s wife, Rena, who once taught English and used her skills to help others navigate the same immigration program that helped bring the family to Twin Falls, provides event catering. Nelli Garibyan’s husband, Mike, a contractor, helped build the gallery.

In addition to producing the “Art Guide of Ada County,” a publication that aims to support a unified local arts community, the gallery sponsors Art for A Cause, an annual philanthropic endeavor that aims to assist local nonprofit organizations. This year’s benefactor from those who share a passion for art and community enrichment is the Boys and Girls Club of Canyon County. The event is slated for March 27 at the Riverside Hotel.

“This is not the easiest business to turn a profit, and we’re certainly not trying to get rich,” Nelli Garibyan said. “We just want to sustain our business and bring something beautiful to the community. Boise and Garden City both do a fine job of bringing culture to their communities, and we want Meridian to be on the map and to do that as well.”