All kidding aside, empty frames are a great design element! From flea market finds to the pink glitter moulding you've always wanted to use, why not just pick a frame and hang it up sans artwork? Food for thought...
Friday, December 2, 2011
Trophy Home
A big trend here in Montana is to decorate your home with trophies - not attractive younger spouses, but dead animals that have been preserved by a taxidermist and mounted on a wall. There was actually a picture framer/taxidermist in Montana at one point - I envision the customer consultation going something like this: "Wow, that's a really lovely painting! Here, let me move this carcass off the design table." But hey, I digress...
Not every frame has to be for a picture, and not every trophy is a real animal. Case in point - what better way to dress up a big stone fireplace than with a cardboard rhinoceros in a blingy silver frame? This little project we did in early November was put together for someone with her tongue thoroughly in cheek! Word has it that the purple scarf has given way to a red one and some lights are adorning the frame for the holidays.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Holiday Art Walk
We re-hung the gallery for the holiday art walk and somehow managed to squeeze about 118 pieces in the gallery. This is probably a record. In fact, we ran out of hooks for our hanging system. Most of the Christmas decorations still need to go up, but here is a photo montage of how we look today.
Friday, October 7, 2011
It's all fun and games....
Time flies, eh? Lots of crazy things have been happening here at Frame of Reference since our last blog post, and I promise we will document every last one of them (maybe) here in the coming days. First, a quick one. Here is a fun framing package we put together for a client's mom. The client asked for something "wild and crazy" and this is what she is getting:
This is wicked in real life, and uses one of my favorite mouldings. We blew through about eight or nine matboards getting the cut right, and broke three blades on our mat cutter, but the end result was totally worth it!
This is wicked in real life, and uses one of my favorite mouldings. We blew through about eight or nine matboards getting the cut right, and broke three blades on our mat cutter, but the end result was totally worth it!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Reception and Festival Recap
Wow - what a crazy week last week turned out to be. The Artists' Reception for Tabby, Jeanette and Lisa was insane - the gallery was packed from just before 5p until almost 9p, nearly an hour after we normally shut things down. We sold three paintings the night of the event, something that's always a pleasant surprise - people usually look during the opening, then purchase later. Friday night saw the three of us (Roxie, too) exhausted and ready for a break, but no such luck, as Christine had a booth in the Festival of the Arts this year. Back at 6a to finish framing her last few pieces, then out on the street at 7:30 to help with setup. Christine had a good show - she sold a handful of paintings and took a couple of commissions, and she had a great time. The gallery was quite busy, and the new layout on the street was fantastic. I'll write a more extensive post with more photos in a couple of days, but now I have to return to framing; we're behind on the work, and frantically trying to catch up.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Last Fridays and Next Friday
Our monthly Last Fridays gallery night was last night - turnout was great, and we were mobbed almost the entire time! We were so busy that we didn't even get the food out until nearly 5:15, something that would normally cause me apoplexy. But hey, the Prosecco was out, and flowing, and the food made it eventually. We did a modern Greek theme for the food: bacon (yes, bacon) baklava, roasted tomato/onion/feta salad and cannellini bean/tuna/lemon/oregano salad, both in Phyllo cups. The food was fine, and Roxie got to have a nice play date with Marnie and Ted, but the best part was that Christine took commissions for four new paintings! Exciting stuff. Christine will be exhibiting next Saturday and Sunday at the Bigfork Festival of the Arts, our annual street art extravaganza - stop by and visit with her, and buy paintings!
Also next week is our Artists' Reception for the August show, entitled "Three is a Magic Number." We're featuring the three newest artists in our gallery - Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both of whom are new at Frame of Reference this season. The reception is from 5-8p on Friday, August 5th - here's the postcard we sent with all of the information. Please join us!
Also next week is our Artists' Reception for the August show, entitled "Three is a Magic Number." We're featuring the three newest artists in our gallery - Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both of whom are new at Frame of Reference this season. The reception is from 5-8p on Friday, August 5th - here's the postcard we sent with all of the information. Please join us!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Guest Blogger: Lisa on Art Intervention
Lisa is one of those summer residents we look forward to seeing every June. She's witty and fun, and her philosophical, political and religious views are right in line with ours, meaning that conversations never have to veer away from potentially dangerous topics. Christine and I spent an evening at Lisa's home a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to help her "like" her living room more. It bears mention that I would trade Lisa's house for mine, unedited, in a moment, were the opportunity to arise, and Christine has actually threatened to become a squatter in the winter months when Lisa and family return to the Bay Area. Suffice it to say that there's nothing wrong with the place, short of a sense on Lisa's part that not everything was...right. We moved a few things, made some suggestions for a bathroom design about which Lisa was at her wits end, offered some suggestions for lighting. The result was delight on her part, and an invitation from us to write about it! Here it is: Lisa's guest spot on our blog...
When I arrived at my Ferndale cabin in early June, I was met with many things to excite my cheer. The copious rains had brought delicious fruit: my perennial beds sang with the promise of glorious summer blossoms and the spruce trees all wore new fringe, as bright and tender as a freshly picked pea pod. The lake was glittering, full and brimming with summertime dreams. To be sure, as with every year, there were abundant tasks: gutters to be cleaned, decks to be sanded, flies to be swept away. These annual duties consume one's emotional time every bit as much as the long days ensure one's physical exhaustion. But after the cleaning is finished, phone calls are made, maintenance visits scheduled, consultations through, I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I wandered the rooms of my cabin and stared with melancholy at my tired walls. Every nook and corner, lovingly organized the year before, now looked uninspired, dumpy . . . perhaps even a little cluttered.
I don't have a "decorated" home; I have an acquired home. Some of the furniture simply came with the house, left behind by the original owners. Keen to transfer more than the property's deed, they purposely let a few things remain -- part of the cabin's legacy: a pine dining table, witness to 30 years of marriage; six mismatched oak chairs, sentinels to a life in progress; a red plaid sofa with bun feet legs, waiting to absorb the winter weary after a long day in the snow.
Other things made their way to Montana from long stored boxes and crates, items too beloved to discard, yet betrayed by a growing family and relegated to deep closets and garage shelves. The old bed, hauled up from a youthful foray in New Orleans, mirrors picked up at a second hand shop during a sweep through Chicago's funky design district, the renovated doll house from my daughter's 5th birthday, made over from the days when my husband was a new professor and penny pinching was the necessary order of things. As the years progressed, we added what we needed, procuring pieces from local merchants -- barnwood side tables and lamps from Montana Expressions, dishes and crystal wine goblets from The Barn.
And Art. We definitely added art. A faithful attendee of Frame of Reference's gallery shows, a glass of wine and a few tidbits to nibble is quite possibly the most direct route to my aesthetic sensibility; I have never left their shows without a gem.
So my summer cabin is a patchwork. Does it all fit together? To my heart, absolutely. To my eyes . . . well, not so much.
And this year, as I walked about my little log home and surveyed the eclectica, the visual scrapbook that has become my second life, I felt daunted. "Is this the best I can do?" I don't expect my home to look like a Pottery Barn catalog with rows of monochromatic photos set over seagrass baskets full of plump purple pillows, coffee table vases full of tumbling and twisted branches that would prevent the casual conversations the room implies . . . move the bowl of baubles six inches to the left and crack . . . the picture shatters.
No, my home is not portrait of a life no one leads . . . . and I wouldn't want that. Seductive as it appears in print, such a home would be a facade, a staged walk-through, where the personal significance of any individual piece could be traced no further than the price tag on its underbelly. My home's decor needs a beating heart, which comes from the memory of each item and the knowledge of why it is there. Still, there is a restlessness in wanting, and I couldn't reconcile my desire for cohesion with my bohemian zeal. While I want to believe I am above cliches, sometimes shopping really does make me feel better. Holding as an article of faith that something new would provide the requisite salve, I headed out to Frame of Reference for some decidedly upscale retail therapy.
It doesn't take long to find something fascinating at Frame of Reference. In about five minutes I fixated on a Carol Wade painting I had admired for several months. My mind spinning with possible locations, I validated myself: "This will make all the difference. Surely, my little art shack will be complete if I take this home." My heart swelled with the certainty and rightness of my decision.
Only one small difficulty: where was it going to go? Already, other "certain" acquisitions were leaning against window frames and tucked into corners, little piles of preciousness sat in cabinets just waiting for wall space, circling in my mind like a car at the mall on the last saturday before christmas, touring up and down parking lot rows looking for a "spot." God, I thought: am I becoming a hoarder? Hmm. An art hoarder has a bit of chic to it, but it's a pathology nonetheless.
I think Derek and Christine sensed the trouble and discreetly worried that I might be getting out of control. "We'll bring it over," they declared, "and help you find the right place to hang it."
Thus, Art Intervention was born.
They arrived at the cabin and set to work. The new piece needed its own wall, and after clearing away a few things sentimental they found the vista for its proper appreciation. A part of the therapeutic method, Derek was necessarily stealthy. He would tell me to leave the room, then rearrange things before I could edit him, thereby forcing an unhindered perspective. A design duo, they were able to bring new breath to things I would have ritually shelved. It's not that my pieces were unappealing -- not at all; it's that my eyes could no longer see the palate with freshness. So habituated to a particular item's location, I lost the ability to imagine its happiness (and mine) elsewhere. As Art Interventionists, Derek and Christine were able to simply rearrange pieces to produce a more harmonious effect. With a tilt and a tap of the hammer, a square mirror became a diamond. A vintage tray on the mantle found its brethren in the kitchen. In the end, nothing was eliminated. Hurrah, I am not a hoarder! I have only been eager to create a home that tells a story through meaningful artifacts that whisper who we are. In my passion to build a psychic respite where one's possessions reveal the story of love, connection and shared history, I unwittingly lost the ability to "see" a creative result. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but an harmonious aesthetic, where balance, shape, form and color assemble to create spaces that please -- that effort is actually pretty objective. It's often hard to grasp this when you are in the midst of your own play, as it were, when every thing you see and touch is imbued with more than its contours. Some people are able to do this with ease, but for most of us, and certainly for me, a little help was a welcome thing. Derek and Christine were able to return each wall to a place of balance, and I no longer felt that something needed to be added to make it "right."
Life out of Balance can find many expressions. For me, the simple effort of trying to appreciate my home nearly led me to the belief that I needed to start from scratch and race to the nearest Crate and Barrel. Shudder! I couldn't see the beauty and value of my own life unfolding, visually represented by the imperfect significant, the Wabi-Sabi at work in my own life. I needed fresh eyes to point out what I couldn't see. So, while each thing I own or hang on a string may not be utterly valuable or exquisite, it's a reflection of my life, that which I find dear, the objects that tell my story.
Cost of a painting: $2700
Art Intervention: Priceless
* * *
When I arrived at my Ferndale cabin in early June, I was met with many things to excite my cheer. The copious rains had brought delicious fruit: my perennial beds sang with the promise of glorious summer blossoms and the spruce trees all wore new fringe, as bright and tender as a freshly picked pea pod. The lake was glittering, full and brimming with summertime dreams. To be sure, as with every year, there were abundant tasks: gutters to be cleaned, decks to be sanded, flies to be swept away. These annual duties consume one's emotional time every bit as much as the long days ensure one's physical exhaustion. But after the cleaning is finished, phone calls are made, maintenance visits scheduled, consultations through, I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I wandered the rooms of my cabin and stared with melancholy at my tired walls. Every nook and corner, lovingly organized the year before, now looked uninspired, dumpy . . . perhaps even a little cluttered.
I don't have a "decorated" home; I have an acquired home. Some of the furniture simply came with the house, left behind by the original owners. Keen to transfer more than the property's deed, they purposely let a few things remain -- part of the cabin's legacy: a pine dining table, witness to 30 years of marriage; six mismatched oak chairs, sentinels to a life in progress; a red plaid sofa with bun feet legs, waiting to absorb the winter weary after a long day in the snow.
Other things made their way to Montana from long stored boxes and crates, items too beloved to discard, yet betrayed by a growing family and relegated to deep closets and garage shelves. The old bed, hauled up from a youthful foray in New Orleans, mirrors picked up at a second hand shop during a sweep through Chicago's funky design district, the renovated doll house from my daughter's 5th birthday, made over from the days when my husband was a new professor and penny pinching was the necessary order of things. As the years progressed, we added what we needed, procuring pieces from local merchants -- barnwood side tables and lamps from Montana Expressions, dishes and crystal wine goblets from The Barn.
And Art. We definitely added art. A faithful attendee of Frame of Reference's gallery shows, a glass of wine and a few tidbits to nibble is quite possibly the most direct route to my aesthetic sensibility; I have never left their shows without a gem.
So my summer cabin is a patchwork. Does it all fit together? To my heart, absolutely. To my eyes . . . well, not so much.
And this year, as I walked about my little log home and surveyed the eclectica, the visual scrapbook that has become my second life, I felt daunted. "Is this the best I can do?" I don't expect my home to look like a Pottery Barn catalog with rows of monochromatic photos set over seagrass baskets full of plump purple pillows, coffee table vases full of tumbling and twisted branches that would prevent the casual conversations the room implies . . . move the bowl of baubles six inches to the left and crack . . . the picture shatters.
No, my home is not portrait of a life no one leads . . . . and I wouldn't want that. Seductive as it appears in print, such a home would be a facade, a staged walk-through, where the personal significance of any individual piece could be traced no further than the price tag on its underbelly. My home's decor needs a beating heart, which comes from the memory of each item and the knowledge of why it is there. Still, there is a restlessness in wanting, and I couldn't reconcile my desire for cohesion with my bohemian zeal. While I want to believe I am above cliches, sometimes shopping really does make me feel better. Holding as an article of faith that something new would provide the requisite salve, I headed out to Frame of Reference for some decidedly upscale retail therapy.
It doesn't take long to find something fascinating at Frame of Reference. In about five minutes I fixated on a Carol Wade painting I had admired for several months. My mind spinning with possible locations, I validated myself: "This will make all the difference. Surely, my little art shack will be complete if I take this home." My heart swelled with the certainty and rightness of my decision.
Only one small difficulty: where was it going to go? Already, other "certain" acquisitions were leaning against window frames and tucked into corners, little piles of preciousness sat in cabinets just waiting for wall space, circling in my mind like a car at the mall on the last saturday before christmas, touring up and down parking lot rows looking for a "spot." God, I thought: am I becoming a hoarder? Hmm. An art hoarder has a bit of chic to it, but it's a pathology nonetheless.
I think Derek and Christine sensed the trouble and discreetly worried that I might be getting out of control. "We'll bring it over," they declared, "and help you find the right place to hang it."
Thus, Art Intervention was born.
They arrived at the cabin and set to work. The new piece needed its own wall, and after clearing away a few things sentimental they found the vista for its proper appreciation. A part of the therapeutic method, Derek was necessarily stealthy. He would tell me to leave the room, then rearrange things before I could edit him, thereby forcing an unhindered perspective. A design duo, they were able to bring new breath to things I would have ritually shelved. It's not that my pieces were unappealing -- not at all; it's that my eyes could no longer see the palate with freshness. So habituated to a particular item's location, I lost the ability to imagine its happiness (and mine) elsewhere. As Art Interventionists, Derek and Christine were able to simply rearrange pieces to produce a more harmonious effect. With a tilt and a tap of the hammer, a square mirror became a diamond. A vintage tray on the mantle found its brethren in the kitchen. In the end, nothing was eliminated. Hurrah, I am not a hoarder! I have only been eager to create a home that tells a story through meaningful artifacts that whisper who we are. In my passion to build a psychic respite where one's possessions reveal the story of love, connection and shared history, I unwittingly lost the ability to "see" a creative result. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but an harmonious aesthetic, where balance, shape, form and color assemble to create spaces that please -- that effort is actually pretty objective. It's often hard to grasp this when you are in the midst of your own play, as it were, when every thing you see and touch is imbued with more than its contours. Some people are able to do this with ease, but for most of us, and certainly for me, a little help was a welcome thing. Derek and Christine were able to return each wall to a place of balance, and I no longer felt that something needed to be added to make it "right."
Life out of Balance can find many expressions. For me, the simple effort of trying to appreciate my home nearly led me to the belief that I needed to start from scratch and race to the nearest Crate and Barrel. Shudder! I couldn't see the beauty and value of my own life unfolding, visually represented by the imperfect significant, the Wabi-Sabi at work in my own life. I needed fresh eyes to point out what I couldn't see. So, while each thing I own or hang on a string may not be utterly valuable or exquisite, it's a reflection of my life, that which I find dear, the objects that tell my story.
Cost of a painting: $2700
Art Intervention: Priceless
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Summertime, and the livin' is...BUSY!
It's officially nuts here at Frame of Reference. Every year in about mid July, we start a difficult trend - we take in more work every day than we can produce. We're overwhelmed with walk-in traffic, which is lovely - I'm not complaining! But, we find ourselves coming in early and staying late in an attempt to get some of the work done while the doors are locked. It's a great problem to have, I assure you, and the only downside to the whole deal is that it's tough to get out and enjoy the incredible weather we're having right now. Ah, well - we've got lovely things in the gallery, so we aren't lacking for scenery or visual stimulation!
On that note, here's a new giclee from Sarah Rogers that arrived on Monday. It's entitled "Best Puppy," and it's a portrait of Sarah's dog, Buddha, a St. Bernard-Rottweiler cross. He's a big boy! There are only four of these, done on canvas and gallery wrapped so that they don't need frames - I don't imagine they will last long. In the box with "Best Puppy" we received a giclee of a sheep entitled "100% Wool," and an original, also of a sheep, called "Dry Clean Only." Sarah has apparently been on a sheep bender - we received an original two weeks ago, aptly named "Hand Wash, Line Dry"; it was here in the gallery for literally 2 1/2 hours before it found a new home. Seriously. We unpacked the box at 2:30p, and Christine sold the painting at 5p. Pretty cool! I will post photos of the sheep as soon as they're photographed.
Upcoming events at Frame of Reference: next week is our monthly "Last Fridays" reception. I know there's a post here on the blog about Last Fridays, so I won't go into too much detail. We don't have a theme yet, and we're not doing a specific opening because of the event the following week. But, I'm sure we'll come up with something fun, so please join us! Friday, July 29, 5-8p.
The following week is our big artists' reception of the year - Friday, August 5, 5-8p - the evening before Bigfork's iconic Festival of the Arts. Our show is "Three is a Magic Number" - we're featuring our three newest artists in the gallery: Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both new to us in 2011. I will be posting the postcard here on the blog next week; if you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please drop us a line and we'll make sure you get a postcard via Snail Mail!
Finally, as previously mentioned, Christine is exhibiting her work in the Festival of the Arts on August 6-7; please stop and see her, and buy lots of paintings so that Roxie can continue to eat her expensive dog food!
Upcoming events at Frame of Reference: next week is our monthly "Last Fridays" reception. I know there's a post here on the blog about Last Fridays, so I won't go into too much detail. We don't have a theme yet, and we're not doing a specific opening because of the event the following week. But, I'm sure we'll come up with something fun, so please join us! Friday, July 29, 5-8p.
The following week is our big artists' reception of the year - Friday, August 5, 5-8p - the evening before Bigfork's iconic Festival of the Arts. Our show is "Three is a Magic Number" - we're featuring our three newest artists in the gallery: Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both new to us in 2011. I will be posting the postcard here on the blog next week; if you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please drop us a line and we'll make sure you get a postcard via Snail Mail!
Finally, as previously mentioned, Christine is exhibiting her work in the Festival of the Arts on August 6-7; please stop and see her, and buy lots of paintings so that Roxie can continue to eat her expensive dog food!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
They're finally here!
I'm delighted to report that we've got a new addition to the gallery, something Christine and I have been working on since early May. We have shown jewelry for years, including our current display of Lola's Bolas - "Bling on a String", and now we have added some truly amazing timepieces from the Bozeman Watch Company.
The Bozeman Watch Company is the brainchild of Christopher Wardle of Bozeman, a self-described "watch geek" and an entrepreneur of the highest order. The United States dominated the watchmaking world from approximately 1850 to 1950, but starting in the early 1970s with the invention of the quartz movement, the mechanical watch industry was almost completely sunk in the US and in Europe, with only the Swiss companies hanging on in any number. American greats like Hamilton and Bulova still exist, but only as names owned by large corporate conglomerates like the Swatch Group, makers of the plastic fashion watches that took the world by storm in the early '80s. Swatch actually controls a giant...um..."swatch" of the watchmaking industry, and it owns famed companies like Omega, Tissot and Longines, among others. Swatch also owns ETA, the manufacturer of the movements (the guts) used in almost all of the mechanical watches on the market today.
Chris created the Bozeman Watch Company as the antithesis of all of this - Bozeman Watch timepieces are created from the ground up, with each component - from the case to the crystal to the movement - designed specifically for these watches, rather than assembled piecemeal from a catalog of available parts. The watches are made in very limited editions of 10 to 150 individually numbered pieces per design, and many of the editions sell out during their preproduction phase. Every model is certified as a Chronometer by the COSC, meaning that the watches are built to the highest standards of accuracy and precision in the industry. The artistry and attention to detail are simply amazing, and we are fortunate enough to be able to showcase the pieces here in the gallery!
For more information on these stunning watches, please stop in or contact us. We would be delighted to assist you in selecting an heirloom timepiece to be treasured for generations.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A Wee Rant About Good and Bad Framing
When we started this blog last year, the intent was to highlight cool projects and show new pieces from our artists. I never really envisioned this as a vehicle for teaching object lessons, and I promised myself that I wouldn't rant about bad framing...and, I've resisted the temptation for over a year now. But now, two projects taken in for framing in June have driven me to write a small rant, with an explanation to follow.
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The Rant: one of my catch phrases when talking about framing is, "Any idiot can put a frame on a picture, and many do." The implication here is that it doesn't take really any training or knowledge to smack stuff together and call it framing. In fact, more than half of the "professional" framers working today have never had any formal training, never attended a trade show or educational seminars, never learned anything from anyone other than the person who originally taught them to frame, be that a parent, a former boss, a book or simply hands-on experience. Framing isn't rocket science, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and as in many fields, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Our understanding of how artwork reacts with the environment and with items included in the framing package has grown exponentially in the 19+ years I've been framing, and failure to keep abreast of this expanded knowledge base is doing a disservice to one's customer base. For many things - pieces used as decorative art, like posters, etc. - it technically doesn't matter that the framing package is literally destroying the artwork over time, but for original art and things of sentimental value, you really should do some research and make certain that your framer actually has some formal training. I could go on here for days, but I'll spare you. I will show examples of good and poor use of adhesives in subsequent blog posts, but with the 4th of July weekend coming up, I've got to get back to framing! I'll leave you with a quick photo of Roxie basking in the sun.
Cheers, and Happy Independence Day!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Take a Chill Pill!
The box is obviously modeled after those hallway fire extinguishers in boxes marked, "In Case of Fire, Break Glass." (In doing some research for the project, I did run across a photo of a chainsaw in a box - the lettering said, "In Case of Zombie Attack, Break Glass".) This one contains a giant prescription bottle of "chill pills" and the directions for use state to take "1 tab every hour as needed for stress caused by residents," and to refill "Often - very, very often." The capsules are actually pill containers - they're roughly the size of a really big grape, and each one is labelled "Chill." There's an attached hammer in a cute floral pattern (the Director is a woman) and the glass is pre-broken with the capsules spilling out of the bottle - as if we'd captured the moment of ultimate need. It's tough to see in the first photo, so here's a detail shot with the light reflecting on the cracks...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Teaser
What the H... is that? Well, at this point it's merely a teaser photo. We're building a shadowbox as a gift for someone with a bit of a reputation for being high stress. What you see is the backing, with a little opalescent moulding shelf, upon which currently sits a giant Chill Pill. The finished shadowbox will be quite funny and should be completed some time tomorrow, but until then I thought I'd upload a photo because I didn't update the blog last week. Stay tuned to see the finished product...
Friday, May 20, 2011
New from Tabby Ivy!
You know, I used to be a really good photographer. Apparently it is a skill I am losing in my old age. But rather than wait for some good photos, because patience is not one of my strong suits, here are a couple terrible pictures of the new pieces we have from local artist Tabby Ivy. The first is a beautiful little 4x6 panel floated on a silk mat and framed with one of my new favorite mouldings. It is called "Central Park Promenade" and is priced at $225. What a wickedly good deal!
The next piece is so fresh some of the paint is still wet! So far it is unframed but we will rectify that situation next week. The panel is 10x8 and is titled "Almost to Valier." (That would be Valier, Montana, population 498, located 71 miles northwest of Great Falls.) Anyway, here it is:
Tabby was one of five artists who participated in a quick-finish event last night at the Bigfork Museum's annual fundraising auction. She also has a piece in the Hockaday Museum's 10th annual Benefit Auction of Miniatures; the "seal the bid" party is tonight!
The next piece is so fresh some of the paint is still wet! So far it is unframed but we will rectify that situation next week. The panel is 10x8 and is titled "Almost to Valier." (That would be Valier, Montana, population 498, located 71 miles northwest of Great Falls.) Anyway, here it is:
Tabby was one of five artists who participated in a quick-finish event last night at the Bigfork Museum's annual fundraising auction. She also has a piece in the Hockaday Museum's 10th annual Benefit Auction of Miniatures; the "seal the bid" party is tonight!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Three Quickies in the Gallery
About a week ago I promised you a picture of the new paintings we received from Sarah Rogers. Finally, here they are. Ruby and Rufous. They are 8x8 watercolor panels and $600 each.
Pretty sweet, eh? We wanted to hang these in the window but suddenly the days have gotten sunny, and although our front window is double paned and Low-E, the paintings are watercolors so ixnay on the window idea. We also got a very sweet little painting from Tabby Ivy this week; Derek just built the frame for it today and we can't wait to put it out in the gallery.
For the first time in over 13 years we have grouped a bunch of small paintings together on the wall. Normally we have "blocks" of pieces by the same artist, but we wanted to showcase these little jewels together. As the sign says, "Good things come in small packages."
Last but not least for today, we got some wickedly cool photo frames from our friends at Bella Moulding in Chicago! The front and back are made of clear acrylic and they are held together with four small magnets. They hold a 4x6 photo and are so hip they will fit in any decor.
We have a lot going on in the framing department this week as well, including seven or eight prints for the designer down the street, Indonesian stick puppets, a print from Ethiopia, a map of Jamaica and the largest Rothko print I have ever seen. There is a fairy, some tipis, two mirrors and a chalk pastel portrait. We hope to post pictures of some of the more interesting framing projects soon.
Pretty sweet, eh? We wanted to hang these in the window but suddenly the days have gotten sunny, and although our front window is double paned and Low-E, the paintings are watercolors so ixnay on the window idea. We also got a very sweet little painting from Tabby Ivy this week; Derek just built the frame for it today and we can't wait to put it out in the gallery.
For the first time in over 13 years we have grouped a bunch of small paintings together on the wall. Normally we have "blocks" of pieces by the same artist, but we wanted to showcase these little jewels together. As the sign says, "Good things come in small packages."
Last but not least for today, we got some wickedly cool photo frames from our friends at Bella Moulding in Chicago! The front and back are made of clear acrylic and they are held together with four small magnets. They hold a 4x6 photo and are so hip they will fit in any decor.
We have a lot going on in the framing department this week as well, including seven or eight prints for the designer down the street, Indonesian stick puppets, a print from Ethiopia, a map of Jamaica and the largest Rothko print I have ever seen. There is a fairy, some tipis, two mirrors and a chalk pastel portrait. We hope to post pictures of some of the more interesting framing projects soon.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Bling on a String!
Lola's Bolas are the latest addition to the collection of cool things here at Frame of Reference - the photo above is a shot of our newly filled display case. The traditional "bolo tie" is considered de rigeur Western Formal Wear (along with a good pair of jeans and your best boots) for many events here in Montana; our friend Tara has brought a modern and fashionable twist to the table, with styles for both men and women. Many of the women's bolas have matching earrings and bracelets, and several of the men's styles can be paired with a matching women's necklace for a coordinated look, whether you're out on the town or just lounging around the campfire. The bolas are suprisingly affordable, with prices ranging from $45 to $75; bracelets and earrings range from $15 to $35. Stop in and try on a little Bling on a String for your very own!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Our Swanky New Look!
That old template was a little boring, wasn't it? With the busy summer months right around the corner, Christine and I have been consumed by our usual desire to improve ourselves and our business. We have the technology. We can be better...faster...stronger... (Ach, if only we had six million dollars!)
Seriously, though - lots of changes for Frame of Reference in 2011. We've just taken on a new artist about whom we're very excited, and we'll post a little about her as soon as new paintings arrive. We've added a new jewelry line, created by a good friend right here in Bigfork. More on her later, too! We are also working on offering a couple of product lines here that are very artistic, but aren't "art" in the traditional gallery sense - they're not paintings, or sculpture. Can't say more about that until the deals are done, so to speak, but, once again, watch this space for more information. Suffice it to say, Frame of Reference continues to grow and mature, and this year, we'll be better than ever!
About the new look for this blog: we'd appreciate your feedback. Is the new font easy enough to read? Do the links work? Do the colors make you ill? At the behest of a client who couldn't find our phone number, we've added contact information just below our profile - thanks for the suggestion, Frank! Finally, I'm working on a background picture that's a little less generic, and a little more "us" but honestly, the templates are not as user friendly as I'd like and I ran out of patience today. Thanks for your patience. Cheers!
Seriously, though - lots of changes for Frame of Reference in 2011. We've just taken on a new artist about whom we're very excited, and we'll post a little about her as soon as new paintings arrive. We've added a new jewelry line, created by a good friend right here in Bigfork. More on her later, too! We are also working on offering a couple of product lines here that are very artistic, but aren't "art" in the traditional gallery sense - they're not paintings, or sculpture. Can't say more about that until the deals are done, so to speak, but, once again, watch this space for more information. Suffice it to say, Frame of Reference continues to grow and mature, and this year, we'll be better than ever!
About the new look for this blog: we'd appreciate your feedback. Is the new font easy enough to read? Do the links work? Do the colors make you ill? At the behest of a client who couldn't find our phone number, we've added contact information just below our profile - thanks for the suggestion, Frank! Finally, I'm working on a background picture that's a little less generic, and a little more "us" but honestly, the templates are not as user friendly as I'd like and I ran out of patience today. Thanks for your patience. Cheers!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Spring? Really?
Have you noticed that almost ONE THIRD of this year is gone already? What the heck happened? Time really does go by faster when you get older. Not that I'm getting old or anything, I'm just repeating what I've heard....
Spring has sprung here in the Flathead Valley. No, really, it has. It did snow a little yesterday, and it is a bit chilly and rainy today, but Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. Mother Nature has been messing with us this year and we can't quite figure out what's coming. Except possibly a lot of flooding. That should be fun.
Time to rehang the gallery again tomorrow, because this week is Last Friday. I think we are going with an Easter-ish food theme that may include marinated asparagus and lamb meatballs. We have until tomorrow evening to decide on a menu, so why rush.
We got two fantastic new paintings from Sarah Rogers today, just in time for a new window display. We will post a picture soon. And we have some other interesting things coming in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for updates - we promise to be better about posting.
In the meantime, this is where Christine has been for the past week, while Derek and Roxie toiled away in a nice spring blizzard:
Goofy says hi.
Spring has sprung here in the Flathead Valley. No, really, it has. It did snow a little yesterday, and it is a bit chilly and rainy today, but Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. Mother Nature has been messing with us this year and we can't quite figure out what's coming. Except possibly a lot of flooding. That should be fun.
Time to rehang the gallery again tomorrow, because this week is Last Friday. I think we are going with an Easter-ish food theme that may include marinated asparagus and lamb meatballs. We have until tomorrow evening to decide on a menu, so why rush.
We got two fantastic new paintings from Sarah Rogers today, just in time for a new window display. We will post a picture soon. And we have some other interesting things coming in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for updates - we promise to be better about posting.
In the meantime, this is where Christine has been for the past week, while Derek and Roxie toiled away in a nice spring blizzard:
Goofy says hi.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Stuff Happens
Avulsion - ah-vul'-shun - noun: The forcible tearing away of a body part, either by trauma or surgery. Why is that defined here? Stay tuned...
There are many joys to owning a small business - among them are no time clock to punch, no lousy coworkers to tolerate, the freedom to take a nap on the work table when the mood strikes you, and many other things. (See below.) There are also many pitfalls, particularly in our new and downsized economy. There are no regular paychecks unless you have enough sales to meet payroll, and there's nobody else with whom to share the unpleasant tasks like cleaning the bathroom, shovelling snow or calling past due accounts. And, when things go wrong or stuff breaks, there's nobody else to deal with it. You gotta do it yourself.
The compressor died on Wednesday morning; after five years of faithful service, it sheared its piston and went from being simply loud to sounding as if it were going to explode. Since it powers most of the tools in the workshop, production came to a grinding halt. On the bright side, we bought a lovely new compressor a few years back, but it was never installed because it's much larger than the space we had allotted, and it's REALLY FREAKIN' HEAVY! Heavy enough so as to be difficult for two people to carry up the stairs, so it has been sitting in the storage unit, waiting to be appreciated. We bit the bullet and installed it Thursday morning, and work continues. On an exceptionally positive note, the new model is what's known as a "silent compressor" - designed for use in dentists' offices where a device that's louder than a snowblower will scare the patients away. This baby is about as loud as a refrigerator running. Fantastic!
Last bit of the "stuff happens" post - when you work with tools every day, eventually you have an accident. Christine and I are used to minor cuts and dings, since we work with glass and razor blades all of the time. However, occasionally something happens every once in a great while that sends you to the Emergency Department - it's the Law of Averages, I suppose. Yesterday my left thumb had an altercation with the table saw - a freak injury that was a result not of my own carelessness or stupidity, but because of a large flaw in the wood that I was cutting, forcing it to kick away from its intended path through the saw. My left hand was supporting the wood on the outflow side of the blade, and the kickback drew my hand back into the saw. I was incredibly lucky for two reasons: first, the blade was only about 5/16" deep because I was just enlarging a rabbet in some moulding, and second, because I was on the far side of the blade, its motion kicked my hand away from the saw, rather than into it. So I was dealt a glancing blow, rather than one that could have potentially amputated the digit. A visit to the ER and the eminently skilled Dr. Kyle Weber got me cleaned up and bandaged - the wound is an avulsion, as described at the beginning of this post. Nothing to sew. Scary, and it will leave a nasty scar, but I'll retain full function with my thumb and it will heal completely so long as I keep it clean. On the bright side, I should be good now for another ten years, since that's about how long it's been since I visited the ER with an injury. Yeah, I know it doesn't really work that way, but I can delude myself...
Out of respect for those with weak stomachs, I'm including a picture of the sexy new compressor, rather than one of my thumb.
There are many joys to owning a small business - among them are no time clock to punch, no lousy coworkers to tolerate, the freedom to take a nap on the work table when the mood strikes you, and many other things. (See below.) There are also many pitfalls, particularly in our new and downsized economy. There are no regular paychecks unless you have enough sales to meet payroll, and there's nobody else with whom to share the unpleasant tasks like cleaning the bathroom, shovelling snow or calling past due accounts. And, when things go wrong or stuff breaks, there's nobody else to deal with it. You gotta do it yourself.
The compressor died on Wednesday morning; after five years of faithful service, it sheared its piston and went from being simply loud to sounding as if it were going to explode. Since it powers most of the tools in the workshop, production came to a grinding halt. On the bright side, we bought a lovely new compressor a few years back, but it was never installed because it's much larger than the space we had allotted, and it's REALLY FREAKIN' HEAVY! Heavy enough so as to be difficult for two people to carry up the stairs, so it has been sitting in the storage unit, waiting to be appreciated. We bit the bullet and installed it Thursday morning, and work continues. On an exceptionally positive note, the new model is what's known as a "silent compressor" - designed for use in dentists' offices where a device that's louder than a snowblower will scare the patients away. This baby is about as loud as a refrigerator running. Fantastic!
Last bit of the "stuff happens" post - when you work with tools every day, eventually you have an accident. Christine and I are used to minor cuts and dings, since we work with glass and razor blades all of the time. However, occasionally something happens every once in a great while that sends you to the Emergency Department - it's the Law of Averages, I suppose. Yesterday my left thumb had an altercation with the table saw - a freak injury that was a result not of my own carelessness or stupidity, but because of a large flaw in the wood that I was cutting, forcing it to kick away from its intended path through the saw. My left hand was supporting the wood on the outflow side of the blade, and the kickback drew my hand back into the saw. I was incredibly lucky for two reasons: first, the blade was only about 5/16" deep because I was just enlarging a rabbet in some moulding, and second, because I was on the far side of the blade, its motion kicked my hand away from the saw, rather than into it. So I was dealt a glancing blow, rather than one that could have potentially amputated the digit. A visit to the ER and the eminently skilled Dr. Kyle Weber got me cleaned up and bandaged - the wound is an avulsion, as described at the beginning of this post. Nothing to sew. Scary, and it will leave a nasty scar, but I'll retain full function with my thumb and it will heal completely so long as I keep it clean. On the bright side, I should be good now for another ten years, since that's about how long it's been since I visited the ER with an injury. Yeah, I know it doesn't really work that way, but I can delude myself...
Out of respect for those with weak stomachs, I'm including a picture of the sexy new compressor, rather than one of my thumb.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Paint on Purpose
Okay, so in the last post I mentioned that Christine has been painting in earnest, and that I recently sold four of her landscapes in the gallery. Christine is kicking around three distinct styles currently - the aforementioned trees and words (as shown in the previous post) and abstractions like the one above. We discovered that paintings like this one are somewhat difficult to frame; too much going on around them diminishes the strength of the central figure, but putting them in a little nothing frame makes them seem...confined, I suppose. As a result of this, Christine has been experimenting with mounting her paper paintings on prepared gallery-wrapped canvases - it's a great technique that allows a painting to be displayed without a frame. Watch for more pictures as she completes a few more pieces.
The painting sales have given Christine a healthy boost of self-confidence, and she's making plans to begin entering art festivals, her first likely being the Festival of the Arts here in Bigfork. This event always falls on the first full weekend of August, and brings roughly 10,000 people to Bigfork to walk the streets and shop the festival. Start painting now, Christine - you need a lot of stuff to fill that booth!
Final thought for the day: Christine has started her own blog to catalog her paintings and the process - find it at http://www.paintonpurpose.blogspot.com/.
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year, New Artist
Happy New Year! I apologize for allowing the FOR blog to fall by the wayside over the past few months, and fully intend to keep up in 2011. It's not a New Year's resolution, because I don't really believe in those, but I am resolved...
The title of this post is a little deceiving, because our new artist isn't exactly new. The painting above was done by Christine Vandeberg, one half of the Frame of Reference team (or, one third if you count Roxie - and who wouldn't?) Christine has been painting for several years now, and since I sold one of her paintings to a couple in New Zealand a few years ago, she is technically "internationally collected." Most of her paintings in the past have featured words, either inspirational or simply meaningful. Here's an example:
There are several word paintings here in the gallery, and Christine will continue this series. One thought of special note - she takes commissions. The word of your choice can be done in the color palette of your choice - please call or come in and talk to her about it!
So, back to the New Artist part. As you can see, the painting at the top of this page is a radical departure. Christine has started painting on paper, creating her own iridescent papers and then painting abstract landscapes with a palette knife. This painting was a Christmas gift to me - thanks, Christine! The first of this series of trees was painted in early December; Christine brought it in to work one day to show me what she was doing. I told her how much I loved the painting, and encouraged her to do more of them so we could frame them for display in the gallery. Reluctantly, she did so; we framed three paintings and put them in the front window as a winter display. It was quite rewarding to Christine to see the number of people who stopped to look at the paintings, and several people came in to inquire. Sadly, we had to turn them away, as I sold all three, plus a fourth painting (purchased sight unseen) 24 hours after putting them on display! Christine is working fervently to replace them, and she ordered more paint and larger paper to see if the paintings can grow a bit. Stay tuned for details!
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