Custom Framing

In the 19+ years that I have owned a custom picture framing business, I've never seen the nature of the market change like it has in the past 2 years. Sometimes I wonder if people will stop having things framed. Of course, that's the extreme worrier in me. But, it is a good indicator of the priorities at least in this market in which we operate. In the past, that thought never even floated through my noggin. If you'd told me 5 years ago that Essyx, the oldest framing business in Johnson City, TN, would go out of business, I'd have laughed. Now, the doors are locked and there are 4 framers in a town that just a few years ago supported 8.

Our gallery is fortunate that we have more than one source of revenue although the framing is 75-80%. If it wasn't for framing, we'd have no art gallery or regular receptions for artists. So if you like what we're doing in the art community and you can't buy the art, keep us in mind for custom framing. It keeps us open and bringing local art to the community.

ETSU Sculpture Student Exhibit

This First Friday, April 2, from 7-9 p.m. at Nelson Fine Art Center, the ETSU Department of Art and Design invites you to see the "Student Sculpture Exhibit". ETSU specifically looks to provide an excellent education to the Northeast Tennessee region. This art exhibit showcases the quality of sculpture being produced by students that call the Tri-Cities and the surrounding area home. The students have produced great artwork that incorporates traditional and contemporary practices in sculpture. Please come out to support and see the great artwork of students in your community.

For more information about this event, call (423) 926-2931 or see us on Facebook. If you haven't already done so, please become a fan of Nelson Fine Art on Facebook for more news about exhibits, artists, and framing tips.

Art from the Buffalo School

For the past 5 or 6 years we've hosted an exhibit for Milligan College Art and Design students. Last year, there was a scheduling conflict and we had to have a year hiatus. Now, opening on First Friday February 5 is Art from the Buffalo School. The students have been in the gallery Wednesday and Thursday hanging and arranging for this showing. The work is diverse including photography, paintings, installation and some mixed media pieces. The Milligan exhibit will remain up till the end of February. The opening will be from 7-9 p.m. and we will have refreshments from Earth Fare.

Before and After

It's always gratifying to take a painting that was framed many years ago and bring it up to date. So often framing is used to force a piece into a decor. One of the upsides to framing practices is that we tend to be more neutral these days. It's so easy to look at something framed as recently as 10 years ago and identify when it was framed. Now, the best framing uses more classic frames and cleaner matting. We can always use subtle techniques like fillet's and spacers to create the custom look.

Here's the critique on why the "before" was wrong and why the "after" is right. 1) In the past, it was common to "pull out" a color from the painting and blast us with it. That is the major "wrong" in this painting. Now we use a neutral top mat with some subtle color or another neutral as an inner mat. 2) In the first framing, we are hit with too much mat and it tends to confine the painting. With the more neutral matting, although the same size as the before, the painting looks bigger and more open. The next 2 observations are more difficult to see in a photo. 3) When you use a single mat a painting can look very flat. With the double mat you get some dimension. 4) On the after, we used a spacer between the mats so it adds to the 3d feeling and it looks more custom. Finally, 5) the before frame is too small, period.

the kitties at Nelson Fine Art

Georgia and O'Keeffe send their heartfelt thanks for your patronage throughout the year.

Holiday framing sale

Here it is and it's simple: One item, 50% off the frame if you use one of our 200 instock mouldings.
Ends: December 10. (other components such as glass, mounting, labor, etc. not included in the discount)

Andy Warhol exhibit and framing

We just finished framing 64 Andy Warhol snapshots for an exhibit at East Tennessee State University that runs October 21-November 6 with a reception, Thursday November 5 at Slocumb Galleries while another at the Reece Museum runs till January 6, 2010. At first, handling of the Poloroids, we thought there was nothing notable, but it was the body of work that became so impressive and reminded me of the Pop culture nature of Warhol's style and vision. (I apologize for the sideways images. For the life of me, I cannot seem to rotate these images!)