Matting & Framing

Today I went out and purchased the necessary frames for this current art project I am working on for a local coffee shop. Luckily I took advantage of Aaron Brothers' Penny Sale: buy one get one for a penny! I decided to keep it simple and went with a wide black frame for both the B&W and color photos of which there are six. So that'll keep me busy for a day or so. I want to get them hung up by early next week.

Speaking of frames, a common frustration for artists is damage to frames. One would think that gallery owners would be more careful when handling and hanging artwork, but that's where I get my most damage. (I'm sure museums, i.e., MOMAs are extremely careful.) When hanging artwork, for starters, remove all rings and heavy jewelry. I always wrap my framed artwork and take extreme care in transporting them, wrapping them in bubble wrap and then in between blankets. From now on, I am making a concerted effort to mention to the gallery owners to please take care when handling. No one wants to buy a piece of artwork with dents or marks on the frame. I actually had to change a frame out because of this exact thing happening! I started out with wood frames, but because of the 'loss' suffered from damages, I changed to metal frames. That worked good too for a while since the anodized frames don't get too marked up and if they do it rubs off, but even these can get scratches. I try to keep it simple in selecting the frames, because most people really do want to make their own selection to go with the style of their homes. There really isn't an easy fix on this subject - it's kind of on a case-by-case basis. It's basically frustrating and I just wanted to get it off my chest.