COEUR d’ALENE — Steve Gibbs said he has always had a strong desire to create.

Even as a child, the owner of The Art Spirit Gallery in Coeur d’Alene said he was constantly sculpting in the sandbox, drawing and painting.

“I’ve always been involved,” Gibbs added. “Just not on a fine art level because growing up in South Dakota you don’t have much exposure. I’ve always really liked being visual and, as my friends would say, being very anal about it.”

After graduating with a degree in graphic design from Montana State University, Gibbs spent the next 15 years of his life working as a designer in Montana and Southern California. When the company Gibbs was working with in California decided to move its marketing from in-house to an outside company, Gibbs used the opportunity to spend a year traveling.

“I was ready to fly the coop anyhow,” Gibbs said. “We put everything in storage, threw on backpacks and went around the world for about a year and a half.”

When Gibbs returned to the states, he bought a home in Coeur d’Alene — a place he said he had visited often over the years — on Government Way. It was at that time that Gibbs decided to transition out of graphic design, and into fine art.

“I’m not a computer jockey,” Gibbs said. “Pretty much all the design I did was pre-computer, and it’s a whole different game when you have to hand draw and line up and cut everything. I didn’t want to follow the computer, I wanted to build up my chops and, with my business, there wasn’t a lot of time to do that.”

Gibbs and a local artist began painting in a vacant floor of a three-story rental house on Sherman Avenue shortly after. When the couple decided to move back into the home, they suggested that Gibbs open a gallery on the main floor.

“It was not something I wanted to do long-term, but it was a way to meet some of the artists in the region,” Gibbs said. “And we really needed some galleries.”

Little did Gibbs know, the small gallery he opened in 1999 and called “The Art Spirit Gallery” would soon outgrow the small space and prompt a move to a more prominent location in downtown Coeur d’Alene. As the gallery grew, so too did Gibbs’ impact on the arts and culture in the region.

After 19 years of running the gallery, Gibbs began transitioning out of the role and now faces a new journey — battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

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When you opened it, did you think you would be spending the next 19 years of your life running a gallery?

I had no intention of that at all, or any expectation of it. But, once you get immersed and start diving in, you realize the importance of it and the involvement of it and the engagement of it.

We opened in July of 1997 in that space, so this coming July will be our 20th year and 200th show — and that’ll be a biggie. I’ve been reaching out to a lot of my top artists and telling them ‘Hey how about a really strong piece for this show?’

Artists are known for their often eccentric personalities. Do you have any memorable experiences with the artists you’ve met and worked with over the years?

Generally, the artists that have achieved the level of work where we want them in the gallery don’t get there unless they work with us and understand the business side of it. I’ve got some of the most wonderful people in the world that way.

They can be really creative, and a little bit different, but they’re really nice people that I like and enjoy working with. Otherwise, there’s lots of other artists out there.

All the artists I’ve worked with, they’ve become my good friends.

What’s it been like for you to build those friendships?

It’s been marvelous. Often times people don’t realize how much of art is a business. Those artists are not just ‘Oh yeah! I’m going to go paint something today.’ They are out there every day, it’s their job. Putting in the time, creating and exploring and developing their skills to get something on the wall — well there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t make it.

They’re working it every day the same way others go to a different job and I don’t think a lot of people realize that. The artists that have attained the level we show at the gallery, almost all of them work full time.

I’ve always been fascinated with this, and I am sure you’ve encountered it, but the “10,000 hour theory,” if you put 10,000 hours into something you can be great. Over the years of interacting with artists, do you believe in that? Or is it a balance of natural talent and plugging away at those 10,000 hours?

I think it’s a balance of both. If you don’t have that innate interest and drive to produce and have a general head that is creative, or a tendency that way, I think it would be hard to develop it. But, all those things don’t do you much good if you don’t put the 10,000 hours in.

I am a real believer that you’ve really got to learn your initial skills. You need to learn how your materials work, you need to understand basic composition and all of the tools you have. It doesn’t matter whether you’re painting a portrait, a still life, or an abstract — those things play into it.

Young people dive in and what to be creative and just take off before they’ve learned the basics. But, those people that are really taught and pay attention to the basic foundation, then they are equipped to take off afterward and explore creatively. It’s hard to develop those skills if you don’t have the foundation.

Why is art and culture an important aspect of a community like Coeur d’Alene?

You need a balance. Art can be beauty and a great, positive break from the rat race of the day in a lot of ways. It’s also a tremendous, creative way to just push people’s thinking.

Artists are leaders in a lot of ways and developing that creative thinking can be applied in so many directions throughout life.

Right now, I think the arts in Coeur d’Alene are all about community. People come out for the Art Walk, they fill the restaurants. They are out and about having a great time. It’s a culture within the community that is really important.

When people come into the gallery, they’re not pissed off, they’re not wearing their politics on their sleeve. They’re coming in to enjoy and see the beauty of it and learn about who their friends are that live down the street who are producing this work. Art and community together is just a real positive.

You’ve played a huge role in the blossoming of the arts in Coeur d’Alene, and you were recently honored for that with a lifetime achievement award during the Mayor’s Awards in the Arts. What does receiving that honor mean to you and, moreso, what does it mean to you to have played that role in the community?

It warms my heart. It feels so great.

It’s been a pure love to be able to employ myself in the arts for 40 years and to be in a community like Coeur d’Alene for the last 20. I have a huge, huge group of supporters out there who are really happy to see the arts and it makes me feel great to be a part of it. It takes a whole village, and there are a lot of people out there who have put in countless hours too.

To see the arts be as strong as they are in Coeur d’Alene is a really, really rewarding feeling knowing that I got to play a part in it.

In June you got some life-changing news when you were diagnosed with ALS. Tell me a little bit about how it felt to get that news, and how you plan on tackling this next chapter?

It was confirmed in June that I have ALS. It’s a journey that is a one-way path. It causes you to re-focus and reflect and pay attention to what’s important. I work at enjoying every day now without so much the thought of what you’re going to do long term in the future other than making sure I get the gallery to a place where it runs smooth beyond me.

Every day is a new surprise with what’s going on. But I’ve got such a great support group.

Has the transition at the gallery gone smoothly?

We’d already started the process of transitioning at the gallery a year or two ago because I was going to start focusing on retirement and skiing and kayaking more.

Going into the future, as I start disengaging from the gallery more and more just by necessity now — we are on a good path to continue on. They’re doing a good job. There’s still a lot of teaching I am doing as we go because I did all the graphic design and hanging, plus connecting to the state arts community and the business community. Getting all that stuff set up takes a good amount of time, but they’re really good at it. They can take all that beyond even what I could do because they’ve got a threesome force that can accomplish twice of what I was able to.

On Nov. 11, a lot of your personal collection will be on display at the gallery during a show that both celebrates you and benefits your treatment. With this collection, are there any pieces that you’re particularly fond of?

First off, I love art and I love these artists. That’s what sells art more than the pieces themselves, the relationship you build with these artists. I’ve been buying for the last 20 years because I have great relationships with these guys. I moved into a small house here in 2009 which is packed with art and my intent was, here in the next few years, to expand the house. So I’ve got a lot of pieces that are just stacked waiting for that.

But, since we are no longer doing that, I thought I would put it up for sale. We’ve got a lot of that work coming in and the artists all want to know how they can help and a lot of my core artists are donating pieces. Some of my top clients are donating pieces as well.

It’s going to be a good, diverse collection of work that I really like.

There’s a favorite old piece of mine by Mel McCuddin called “Mr. Bountiful” of a big, fat-bellied guy with suspenders and a little hat, standing there with his arms up in the air in front of field of vegetables or whatever. I had sold it to one of my good friends from college who is now living in Missoula and he is donating it to the show.

That must mean a lot to you to have all these folks supporting you during this time?

Oh it’s just wonderful.

Just the whole community of support I’ve gotten has been wonderful. I get more hugs than ever whenever I go anywhere and so many people have offered to help in any way they can. I can’t imagine what it would be like going on this journey without all of this support because it really takes a village, and we’ve got a strong one.