Artists Down Under – August 2019

EXHIBITION AND GALLERY FRAMING HINTS

By Judi Lapsley Miller

DOWN UNDER

art ists

Australia and New Zealand

So you’ve taken the plunge and agreed to do an exhibition - congratulations! One of the first major decisions is framing. If you’ve not done it before, it

can be quite intimidating. Hopefully this article will take some of the uncertainty out of it, or at least will help you know which questions to ask.

My key take home message? It is important to see the frame not merely as a vehicle for the print but as an extension of the art itself.

Exhibition framing is a big decision, a big expense but it is also an investment. It pays to take a long view and not worry too much about recouping your

costs in just one exhibition. Instead, look for and line up future opportunities to use your frames, including galleries, personal customers, and group

exhibitions and competitions.

Why frame? For exhibitions its usually essential if you’re printing on paper (I’m mainly considering photo-artists here who deal with prints). You can

hang paper prints, but they risk damage. Galleries and stores usually like a couple of framed pieces even if you’re mainly selling prints. Some custom-

ers are happy to frame their own prints, but many more find the thought of choosing a frame inconvenient and even formidable, especially if they can’t

visualize the results. Many would very much like the artist’s choice (and this might come as a surprise) because they feel confident that we know what

we’re doing and that we have an artistic vision for the piece. If nothing else, having something tangible in front of their eyes helps them visualize what it

will look like in their home.

To give you some idea what experiences have led to my opinions about framing, over the past couple of years I’ve participated in and organized a num-

ber of solo and group exhibitions and have put framed pieces into galleries. I was lucky enough to win a weekend course with The Learning Connexion

and chose their framing course. I was also fortunate to have an exhibition at Edges Art + Framing and spent a couple of days getting a behind-the-scenes

look into what’s involved with framing and time to consider the choices. From these experiences, I created the Tiny Art project where I mount tiny ver-

sions of my prints in tiny frames that Edges make, which has allowed me to experiment with many types of frames and framing techniques. In exhibi-

tions, I’ve used stretched canvas, simple black frames and white mats that were professionally made, simple black frames and white mats that were

purchased online, slim rustic wooden frames and glass, TinyArt pieces that covered a wide range of frame styles, and now large rustic frames or ornate

Italian-style frames both with anti-reflective glass. For pieces going into galleries, on occasion I’ve pulled out all the stops with ornate frames and

internal champagne gold filets with anti-reflective glass - expensive but they look stunning and are hard to resist! So over time I’ve gathered many hints

and tricks.

Four TinyArt tūi pieces surround an ornately framed

medium-sized tūī print, in the NZ Academy of Fine Arts

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