Art on the Boulevard, a fixture of the Vancouver arts landscape for almost two decades, is closing its doors on March 22. The news may come as a surprise to those who have visited the gallery regularly over the years and purchased one, or perhaps many, works of art from gallery director and Vancouver resident Kevin Weaver, 53. “It was really difficult to come to this decision but sometimes the universe just tells you that ‘It’s time,’ ” Weaver said. “I wish it wasn’t that way but it’s also — what’s the saying? ‘Don’t be sad that it’s gone, be happy that it happened.’ ” There wasn’t one specific thing that precipitated the gallery’s closure but rather, Weaver said, “a series of things,” among them the fact that the way people learn about and buy art has changed radically since the gallery’s opening in March 2006. Social media and online purchases play a significantly larger role, Weaver said.

Art on the Boulevard has evolved to match the times, with a presence on Facebook and Instagram as well as online sales, but Weaver said that galleries are especially sensitive to economic fluctuations. The pandemic and inflation have not helped, Weaver said. If you’re focused on paying rent or putting food on the table, Weaver said, you probably won’t be spending money on art. Nevertheless, Weaver said he tries to make every person who comes through the doors feel comfortable, even if they just come to “quietly have the space to themselves.” That welcoming atmosphere is entirely by design. Art on the Boulevard is a nonprofit gallery founded by Friends of the Arts, a small group of local philanthropists and art supporters who hired Weaver to direct the gallery when it opened. The intention was to encourage the arts to flourish, Weaver said, not just in the gallery but throughout downtown Vancouver.

“Good art attracts good art,” Weaver said. Art sales pay the gallery’s bills, Weaver said. But profits beyond that are donated back to the community, usually in the form of artworks, occasionally as funds. Recipients include YWCA Clark County (where Weaver served on the board from 2010 to 2016), Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation (where Weaver was on the board from 2011 to 2017), Humane Society for Southwest Washington, Confluence Project, Columbia Dance and the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes. Altogether, the donations amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of artwork, Weaver said, pointing out that the IRS doesn’t allow artists to write off the cost of donations of their own artwork other than the price of supplies. “They don’t donate some piece that’s been sitting in the back of their studio for five years,” Weaver said. “They’re donating pieces that are on the gallery walls. They know they’re taking potential sales out of their pockets.”

Altogether, Weaver said the gallery has represented 157 artists over 19 years. Several of Art on the Boulevard’s current artists have exhibited with Weaver since the early 2000s, when he managed the now-closed Yoshida’s Fine Art Gallery in Portland’s Pearl District. Longtime Art on the Boulevard artists include the late Harry Wheeler (a close friend of Weaver’s and fixture of Vancouver’s art community), Denise McFadden, Elizabeth Ganji and Fay Kahn. Weaver also said he’s been honored to host several parent-and-child exhibits, including one with pieces by three children under 10. Weaver’s willingness to exhibit even children’s art speaks to his community-building approach to the gallery. It’s easy to think of the gallery as a stuffy place where only the wealthy can afford art, Weaver said, but “the vast majority of people who come into the gallery aren’t necessarily in a position to buy art and that’s OK.” If a piece of art brings someone joy, the gallery’s done its job, he said.

“If there’s something that you like in here, just come in and talk to me,” Weaver said. “Now’s the time. I will work with you. The artists want their work to go to somebody who really appreciates it and loves it.” When Art on the Boulevard first opened, downtown Vancouver had very few galleries, Weaver said. The only two galleries from that era that are still open are Aurora Gallery Fine Art and Custom Framing, which opened in 2004, and Firehouse Glass, which opened in 1999. (The Arts District wasn’t designated until 2014.) Weaver said he could expect a couple thousand visitors to his Portland gallery during First Friday art events. In Vancouver, Weaver said it was “an uphill climb” to get people in downtown galleries at any time. Weaver said that Vancouver’s monthly Art Walk, launched in the mid-2000s, was so named because art supporters would lead groups of people around Vancouver to show them where the galleries were.

Now downtown Vancouver is thriving but that makes it even harder to say goodbye, said Weaver, who isn’t certain what he’ll do next. Weaver said that it’s not one small business closing. It’s more like 50 small businesses, because each artist will need to find other homes for their paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery, glass works, jewelry and fiber art. “Like any business, if you put out the best possible product that you believe in, people will react to it,” Weaver said. “It’s the artists and the people who support the gallery. I’m just the guy behind the desk who tries to put it all together.”