We live so many kinds of love that it is surprising we don’t have more words in the English language to describe our zeal. Words like devotion, obligation, and passion refer to both lovability and offerings given from the heart; essentially our sacred duty to love and be loved.
This story is largely about familial love and how that extends out into the world to include friendship, sponsorship, and great works. Dedication often begins at home and is fostered with the type of care and consideration that nurtures excellence and facilitates a strong leadership ability. This is what cultivates boldness that is not overbearing, but is instead a type of beauty that inspires greatness in others.
Nelli Garibyan is one such example of a bold but benevolent community leader. “It takes some nerve to step outside of a prescribed way of doing things and begin to change things for the good of all.” But, Nelli is no politician, she is a rising star in the art world – specifically an art dealer and gallery owner. Her cherished ideal is to transform the business of art into a hardy, sustainable venture that galvanizes art communities and creates solid, livable income for working artists. “The art world has run on an outmoded system for so long that it’s really time for a new marketing model, one that allows artists to fully participate with their representation. It has been like ever shifting sands and it’s my goal to put a much better business structure in place.”
Along with her father, Bill Garibyan, she has gone many steps down this road in the last three years. From co-creating The Art Guide of Ada County to opening her latest gallery, IAG Boise on the corner of Idaho and Capitol Boulevard, she is living her promise in leaps and bounds. Three years ago The Idaho Art Gallery was a small exhibition space, albeit filled with Bill’s sublime landscape paintings, as well as the work of other artists. Nelli’s experience as a professional marketing consultant has since grown that garden into what is now IAG Meridian and IAG Boise.
To understand the deeper roots of her dynamic abilities, Nelli refers back to her family, specifically her parents, Bill and Rena. “We are Armenian’s who left Russia in the eighties to escape political persecution. My dad was a successful architect/designer and my mother was an English teacher. They decided to leave after a baby sitter had to hide me from vigilantes who were looking to harm Armenian children. My wonderful parents left everything they knew and loved to save me. So, I feel not only deep gratitude, I also feel an obligation to contribute to what they love – and Dad loves to paint.” She goes on to say, “I am not an artist, but I have gained a deep appreciation for the arts through my family and this experience. What an education in aesthetics! When I set out to help with the gallery, I had no idea that the learning curve would be so involved - not just learning about what constitutes good art, but also all the twists and turns of running a gallery - much less two.”
Her latest dream is to establish a downtown event that she calls Art Row Boise which will be a mapped promenade down Capitol Boulevard to showcase public art sites, The Boise Art Museum (BAM), The Blu gallery at Boise State, Capitol Contemporary Gallery, and, of course, IAG Boise. She hopes to culminate at The Rotunda gallery in the Capitol building itself, with pop-up exhibits. “This concept creates good opportunity for tourism as well as local art lovers and collectors. It will also help to advance the careers of local artists and contribute to Boise’s burgeoning art scene. We have a lot going on here in the arts that I think everyone should know about. Boise has some world class talent that needs to be seen and experienced!”
“Boise is such a great city,” she says with a huge smile. “When I began this art trek I did so to help my father live his dream. Now I realize I can help a lot of people, including contributing to the success of the beautiful city that I love. It doesn’t get better than that – and that is love that lasts.”