In her early years as manager of The Smith Gallery & Fine Custom Framing, Nancy Riggs often noticed customers looking behind her for the owner, Debbie Smith.
“People don’t do that so much anymore,” Smith says now. “I don’t know if that came from me expressing how much I trust my people or if it’s just a natural occurrence that I do trust them, and people can feel that.”
Smith has led the framing business founded by her father as it has evolved into a premier art gallery and provider of conservation-quality custom framing. In a field once dominated by men, it’s a woman-owned business staffed entirely by women.
Women have an innate attention to detail that sees every project through from start to finish, says Smith. She didn’t intend to hire all women, but in a sector where reputation is paramount and success is built on listening and meticulous craftsmanship, “you need that sensitivity.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“Truly, we are a team,” Smith says. “We ask each other’s opinions, and I trust each of the women that works for me without having to check on them all the time. I think they trust me to have their best interests at heart.”
Smith credits her late father, Sig Smith, with her business sense and her willingness to help people pursue their own paths, even if those paths take them away from her. Her artistic sense came from her charming mom, Polly Smith, an accomplished pianist and expert in the shop’s exquisite needlework framing.
The gallery showcases local artists because, while mass-market décor might fill a space on the wall, THE SMITH GALLERY original art “fills a space in your soul,” Smith says.
“If you look at a Monet, a Pissarro, a Wyeth, or any artist, those things are important because it shows our history,” she adds. “But the living, breathing artists need our money to survive now, and they are creating things for now.”
Customers seek out original art for continuing the conversation with a work that started in an artist’s mind and made its way to canvas, paper or sculpture.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“It speaks to you immediately, and if it speaks to you so loudly that you have to take it home, there’s no other way than to take it home and to continue that conversation,” Smith says.
Passion for the work equips Smith to find and lead the people who constitute a cohesive group. Her team members are knowledgeable about the gallery’s artists, and all are “artists in some way or other,” she says. They create visual art, sew, design masterful frames and prepare PowerPoint presentations that win commercial clients.
Photography By Karlo Gesner
“IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PASSION AND CREATIVITY WE FEEL IN EACH OTHER”
Smith and the four women on her in-house team—Riggs, Mallory Shelley, Mariah Cook and Chelsea Heydt—pitch in through life’s challenges and family responsibilities.
“It’s all about the passion and creativity we feel in each other,” Smith says. “Everything they give to me, I hope to give back to them, not just in how they’re paid, but in how they are treated. Respect is a two-way street. I think they respect me and what I do for them in return. It’s a cycle, and then we create the best things we possibly can because we’re all happy.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
In the early 2000s, Smith wrote a mission statement for her business: “To provide art and quality picture framing at a reasonable price in an atmosphere that promotes trust and encourages creativity with an enduring commitment to excellence.”
To Riggs, the mission guides her mindset as she frames a cherished memento or work of art.
“I think that this is going to be hanging in someone’s home for years, or decades,” she says. “I want to do the best job that I can.”
On the business, marketing and production sides, Cook appreciates her “hands-on opportunities for learning and growth.”
I’m really lucky to work with people that I like and respect,” she says. “You don’t get that everywhere. It’s a wonderful team.”
For Shelley, who loves to hang the artwork in breathtaking arrangements, work is “my happy place,” she says. “Everyone works as a team. When you need help, everyone’s here to help. Women are supportive of each other. They can relate to each other. Sometimes you feel talked down to, but with women, I feel like I’m equal and comfortable.”
Photography By Karlo Gesner
When Smith moved to the Harrisburg area to help her father with his business, she was 23 years old. A talented singer and actor, she could have pursued a career in performing.
I had not intended this to be my path, but now that it is, I embrace it fully, 100%,” she says. “Having a passion for what you do and being surrounded with people you appreciate and who appreciate what you do, I think that’s the secret.”
