What's the Hang-up? framing and hanging art:
Whatever you hang on your wall--posters, pressed flowers, family photos--can be as captivating and enhancing to your home as any `masterpiece'.
SOME OF US WHO LOVE ART are better at wanting than having. We may exert tremendous energy in a diligent search for the best piece of art we can afford but feel unsure about how to display and care for it.
"One of the more distressing tendencies is the `decorator approach' to picture buying and framing," says Halima Taha, author of Collecting African American Art (Crown, $50). "There is nothing more tragic than buying an inferior work of art simply because it matches the mg or sofa pillows. Or misframing a work merely to match the coffee table." These hints will help calm your picture-hanging qualms:
Selecting the best frame A well-chosen frame dignifies its contents and allows even humble items to have more presence in a room. In a sense, the picture lives in the frame, and with it the viewer is led to full enjoyment of the work. "The first question to ask when selecting a frame is, `What am I framing?'" says Taha.
The answer has to do with what framers call the spirit of the work--a particular school or era of painting will suggest a certain type of framing. Although a good frame can be an ornament in itself, in color, period or style the frame should complement whatever it contains. Do not select a frame that matches a color from the picture, a common mistake, Taha says. Harmonizing a frame with your work of art is less desirable than providing a contrast.
Going the mat When choosing a mat, know that it has many functions, but the primary one is to separate the art from the glass as a way of protecting the art's surface. An elegantly cut mat has an inner beveled edge that forms a frame within the frame. Mats are available in any color imaginable and can be cardboard, silk, linen or another fabric. Matting in muted colors such as beige and tan works best with multicolored paintings and posters.
"Often people put too much ornamentation on the piece--too much embellishment on a frame, too many mats, too many colors around the piece. The work should be the focus," says Vicki Meek, artist, independent curator and director of the South Dallas Cultural Center in Dallas.
Getting it hung The artwork has been framed and matted, and now the fun begins: placing and hanging the piece. The arrangement of pictures has as much impact as the pictures themselves, which means you must decide where to display the piece so that it receives the attention it deserves.
"Placement depends on the aura you are trying to create," says Adron Griffin, owner of Ebony Fine Art Gallery and Custom Framing in Duncanville, Texas.
The art you'd like to show off most should be placed at the room's focal point--the place your eyes are drawn to when you enter. Think of every surface in the room as a personal art gallery and the walls as primary display space. How you live in the space determines the best placement. Do you want to see the piece as you walk into the room? Or is it something you'd like to view while sitting on the sofa?
Something "important" or oversized deserves to hang alone, with enough blank wall space around it to let it shine. Quieter works such as drawings, photographs and souvenir prints often work best in groups. These items may be strung along a hallway or clustered above a sofa. Together, they should create a rhythm or pattern that has a greater presence than each one would have hanging individually. Placing pieces on the wall in a line is a timeless technique, but you may try hanging pictures geometrically or using random patterns.
Before a single nail is driven, you'll want to establish the arrangement on the wall where you plan to hang the objects. Lay out the pictures or pieces on the floor, then lean them up against the wall, moving them around until the results suit you. (Tip: When you want to hang more than one thing on the wall, measure the height and width of the entire grouping--including the space between and around the pieces you'd like to hang--to make sure the arrangement will fit.)
When you're ready to hang them, begin with a central picture or object, and work outward from there. The center of most objects should hang at about five feet from the floor, eye level for the average person. Lowering a picture to waist height on a wall relates it to the furniture and allows it to be appreciated when you're seated.
Hardware for hanging pictures depends on the quality and composition of your walls. If they're plastered, wall-papered or wood-paneled, you may not want to drive nails into them and risk leaving permanent marks.
This leaves a few options in suspending pictures from something other than a nail or screw inserted directly into the wall. You can install picture molding (found at hardware and frame shops) at the level you want to hang the piece. Then using a variety of S-hooks, suspend the picture from the molding with silk or cotton cording or ribbons.
The drawback to picture molding is that the hardware is visible. If you prefer to keep hardware out of sight, you'll need to make holes in the wall behind the picture.
The most stable way to hang pictures is to attach a D-ring to each side of the frame, then slip each ring over a picture hook mounted on the wall. This method keeps framed works from tilting or wobbling. After you've secured the picture hook, use a length of picture wire that's eight inches longer than the width of the frame. Thread the wire into the D-rings and pull four inches of wire through either side, folding the short end back and twisting it tightly around the main wire several times. Hang picture wire onto the picture hook.
These hanging basics are applicable to any framed art. Use them and Taha's guide, and your walls will come to life with more skillful collecting and display.
Sharon Egiebor is an assistant editor on the national desk of The Dallas Morning News.
SOME OF US WHO LOVE ART are better at wanting than having. We may exert tremendous energy in a diligent search for the best piece of art we can afford but feel unsure about how to display and care for it.
"One of the more distressing tendencies is the `decorator approach' to picture buying and framing," says Halima Taha, author of Collecting African American Art (Crown, $50). "There is nothing more tragic than buying an inferior work of art simply because it matches the mg or sofa pillows. Or misframing a work merely to match the coffee table." These hints will help calm your picture-hanging qualms:
Selecting the best frame A well-chosen frame dignifies its contents and allows even humble items to have more presence in a room. In a sense, the picture lives in the frame, and with it the viewer is led to full enjoyment of the work. "The first question to ask when selecting a frame is, `What am I framing?'" says Taha.
The answer has to do with what framers call the spirit of the work--a particular school or era of painting will suggest a certain type of framing. Although a good frame can be an ornament in itself, in color, period or style the frame should complement whatever it contains. Do not select a frame that matches a color from the picture, a common mistake, Taha says. Harmonizing a frame with your work of art is less desirable than providing a contrast.
Going the mat When choosing a mat, know that it has many functions, but the primary one is to separate the art from the glass as a way of protecting the art's surface. An elegantly cut mat has an inner beveled edge that forms a frame within the frame. Mats are available in any color imaginable and can be cardboard, silk, linen or another fabric. Matting in muted colors such as beige and tan works best with multicolored paintings and posters.
"Often people put too much ornamentation on the piece--too much embellishment on a frame, too many mats, too many colors around the piece. The work should be the focus," says Vicki Meek, artist, independent curator and director of the South Dallas Cultural Center in Dallas.
Getting it hung The artwork has been framed and matted, and now the fun begins: placing and hanging the piece. The arrangement of pictures has as much impact as the pictures themselves, which means you must decide where to display the piece so that it receives the attention it deserves.
"Placement depends on the aura you are trying to create," says Adron Griffin, owner of Ebony Fine Art Gallery and Custom Framing in Duncanville, Texas.
The art you'd like to show off most should be placed at the room's focal point--the place your eyes are drawn to when you enter. Think of every surface in the room as a personal art gallery and the walls as primary display space. How you live in the space determines the best placement. Do you want to see the piece as you walk into the room? Or is it something you'd like to view while sitting on the sofa?
Something "important" or oversized deserves to hang alone, with enough blank wall space around it to let it shine. Quieter works such as drawings, photographs and souvenir prints often work best in groups. These items may be strung along a hallway or clustered above a sofa. Together, they should create a rhythm or pattern that has a greater presence than each one would have hanging individually. Placing pieces on the wall in a line is a timeless technique, but you may try hanging pictures geometrically or using random patterns.
Before a single nail is driven, you'll want to establish the arrangement on the wall where you plan to hang the objects. Lay out the pictures or pieces on the floor, then lean them up against the wall, moving them around until the results suit you. (Tip: When you want to hang more than one thing on the wall, measure the height and width of the entire grouping--including the space between and around the pieces you'd like to hang--to make sure the arrangement will fit.)
When you're ready to hang them, begin with a central picture or object, and work outward from there. The center of most objects should hang at about five feet from the floor, eye level for the average person. Lowering a picture to waist height on a wall relates it to the furniture and allows it to be appreciated when you're seated.
Hardware for hanging pictures depends on the quality and composition of your walls. If they're plastered, wall-papered or wood-paneled, you may not want to drive nails into them and risk leaving permanent marks.
This leaves a few options in suspending pictures from something other than a nail or screw inserted directly into the wall. You can install picture molding (found at hardware and frame shops) at the level you want to hang the piece. Then using a variety of S-hooks, suspend the picture from the molding with silk or cotton cording or ribbons.
The drawback to picture molding is that the hardware is visible. If you prefer to keep hardware out of sight, you'll need to make holes in the wall behind the picture.
The most stable way to hang pictures is to attach a D-ring to each side of the frame, then slip each ring over a picture hook mounted on the wall. This method keeps framed works from tilting or wobbling. After you've secured the picture hook, use a length of picture wire that's eight inches longer than the width of the frame. Thread the wire into the D-rings and pull four inches of wire through either side, folding the short end back and twisting it tightly around the main wire several times. Hang picture wire onto the picture hook.
These hanging basics are applicable to any framed art. Use them and Taha's guide, and your walls will come to life with more skillful collecting and display.
Sharon Egiebor is an assistant editor on the national desk of The Dallas Morning News.