How Ann Rea Makes Both Art and Money By Jack Hamann Ann Rea was once one of those artists. Stuck in a cubicle. Staring at a screen. Collecting modest paychecks for work entirely unrelated to the five years it took her to earn an art degree. And hating every minute of it. “I had to pay back a student loan,”…
How do conservators restore damaged art works, what does it cost, and how does it impact value? By Isabel Thottam Imagine walking through a beautiful exhibit of famous paintings at a museum. You look closely at a Picasso and lean forward in admiration. Suddenly, you lose your balance and, without thinking, latch onto the painting to catch your fall. Whoops.…
In the past decade, the art and framing industry has faced a number of significant challenges. It has experienced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the crash of the housing market, and the proliferation of big-box craft stores. All of these factors have affected the sales and profitability of small independent frame shops and galleries. Yet, through ingenuity…
Marketing framing services through daily-deal companies is not for every business, but for those that are thinking about giving it a try, here are a few suggestions. Over the last several years, my shops have used daily-deal marketing to great advantage, and the following list contains some of my company’s success strategies. Daily-deal websites include Groupon, Amazon Local, and Living…
In many renovations, framed art is often at the bottom of the design budget. A designer asks that a client purchase the key elements first: flooring, furniture, rugs, window dressing, and decorative mouldings for the walls. These big-ticket items anchor the design aspects of the room and constitute the basis for all future metamorphoses of the room. Most prevalent design…
During recent trips to my favorite art gallery and an amazing museum exhibition, I was reminded of how important an artwork’s display is to the overall effect of the art. As I viewed the sculpture collections at this gallery and museum, I noticed how the pedestals on which the artwork rested enhanced my experience of each piece. If you’ve had…
Framers are always looking for ways to increase profits. They’ll try just about any advertising idea, even having their logo emblazoned on placemats at the local diner, cash-register tapes and bowling score sheets. They’ll squeeze suppliers for discounts; I’m guilty of this one. They’ll walk around their shops switching off lights to save a few pennies. However, one of the…
Why limit yourself to photography or painting when you can do both? In one piece, even? The signature style of abstract artist Polly Norman, whose Prehistoric Ride Through a Lavender Sky is our Work of the Week, combines both those media to yield a dreamy, kinetic feel. The Minneapolis-born artist shoots high-resolution black and white images through glass blocks, then…
