Left: Painting by Bill Garibyan.

Right: Bill, Nelli and Rena Garibyan.

Left: Painting by Bill Garibyan.

Right: Bill, Nelli and Rena Garibyan.

Idaho Art Gallery welcomes the community to a free exhibition event featuring two new guest artists, June 24 and 25, food, wine and art provided.

The goal is to bring the artistic community of Meridian and the greater Boise area together in a celebration of Idaho art and artists.

“We really want to make a contribution to the arts community,” Nelli Garibyan said. “There’s a lot of people, especially in Boise, working really hard to improve the arts community, but not as many in Meridian.”

Idaho Art Gallery opened in late January 2022. It is a family run gallery — Bill Garibyan is the founding artist, his wife Rena Garibyan contributes to PR and marketing and their daughter Nelli Garibyan has taken on the more administrative duties.

“We will only work with local Idaho artists,” Nelli Garibyan said. “We want to make sure that the work that you see at the gallery represents Idaho in some way, whether it’s the artists themselves, or the type of work. My dad’s paintings, they’re all Idaho landscapes. So they’re places all over the state.”

Idaho Art Gallery’s goal is to host a variety of art mediums and at a variety of price points.

“Some galleries that you go to, everything is super expensive, but we have prints starting at like $35,” Nelli Garibyan said.

In addition to Bill Garibyan’s Idaho landscape paintings, the gallery will host many guest artists throughout each year. Kicking things off in this exhibition are Maria Donnelly and Edie Martin. Donnelly is an experienced painter who focuses mainly on acrylics and watercolors. Martin is a glass artist, who started in stained glass, but now primarily focuses on fused glass, using a kiln and sometimes up to eight firings to finish a piece.

Martin’s raw materials include sheets of art glass, glass frit, which is tiny bits of glass. Also glass powders, glass stringers, glass noodles and also some metallic elements like mica powder and iridescent glass and dichroic glass.

“Sometimes I do etching or grinding and sandblasting or I use a drip water procedure where I put thin layers of glass powder on and then drip water into it directionally or randomly,” Martin said. “Once I am satisfied that I have everything on the piece that I want, then typically it’s fired again, to make it into a shape. It’s either draped over a mold or slumped into a mold that might make it into the bowl or platter or lamp.”

Bill Garibyan and both guest artists will be at the exhibition events, ready to discuss their methods and inspiration.

“It’s really fun because every firing is sort of a semi-controlled experiment; I never really know for sure what’s going to happen,” Martin said. “So it’s really an interesting art form.”

Idaho Art Gallery is located at 211 East Pine Ave. No. 108 in Meridian, open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit landscapepaintings.org to learn more about Idaho Art Gallery, and upcoming events.

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