Alternatives to Traditional Framing
Scene from an 2021 exhibition at La Poste, Perry, Iowa.
Left: Jennifer Drinkwater, Between the Ditches, acrylic on wood panel, 36” x 36”, 2021.
Right: Jennifer Drinkwater, A Beauty We Didn’t Expect, acrylic on wood panel, 36” x 48”, 2021.
I paint on wood instead of canvas. There are three reasons I do this:
I don’t love canvas. The smooth, durable surface of wood allows me to drip paint, aggressively use sandpaper, and peel away paint to expose texture and layers. Canvas is too delicate for my rhinoceros-like-sensibilities.
Shipping. I don’t worry about paintings stretching, warping, or getting punctured.
No framing required. With canvases, you typically want a frame to protect from warping. Painting on a wood panel can eliminate the framing option for collectors. The sides of the panel can be treated with a clear polyurethane or painted, and hanging hardware is secured directly onto the wood sides. Frames can be attached if the collector desires a more polished look, but it isn’t necessary.
Husband Aaron handcrafts my panels. He does top-notch work, even in the snow.
Panels, panels everywhere. Courtesy of Aaron Swanson.
Last week, I wrote a little about discerning whether you need a frame or not.
And you may have thought “I just spent a bunch of money, so it’d be great NOT to frame” or decided “I want to display my cool postcard or print collection and I do NOT want to wait until I can afford frames for all 78 of them.”
Congrats! You’re not alone! And you have lots of options!
Kristin M Roach; En. 01 (multi-panel painting of a single endangered plant specimen collection slide from the Morton Arboretum archive); charcoal, birch panel, ink, gesso, beeswax; 2020; Little Woods Herbal, Ames, Iowa.
On Floating Shelves: Ceramics by Caroline Freese (https://www.carolinefreesedesigns.com/) and Breanna Engelhardt.
To hang the paintings, Kristin used Velcro strips and a staple gun used to attach one side to the tile and the other side to the wall. Due the the texture of the wall, 3M tabs/velcro adhesive didn’t work. Stronger adhesive wasn’t an option because she didn’t want it to damage the wall.
Also: the floating shelves are rough-cut walnut anchored into studs with countersunk screws using a kregjig.
If I don’t Frame, what the heck do I do?
You are not destined for a life of rainbow thumbtacks. I’ve seen, in gallery and museum settings, beautiful work secured by small magnets, tiny binder clips, Command Strips, Velcro, or even small bits of sticky tack.
If you have lots of prints or photos and anticipate wanting to rotate pieces often, this may be an affordable and fun way to start out.
Or if you have several smaller works in similar sizes and want a gridded look (see below), this is definitely a more affordable option.
Kristin M Roach. Material Studies Installation at ZW Mercantile, Art Vacancy Downtown, Ames, Iowa. In 2020, Kristin wrote a successful Iowa Arts Council grant to support Art Vacancy Downtown, through which she curated twelve local artists in the front windows of downtown Ames’ businesses.
To hang this gridded installation, Kristin used 3M wall tabs.
Photo courtesy of Kristin M Roach.
How to use magnets to hang art:
*Note: I’d really only recommend this for works on paper or light-weight textiles.
*Note 2: Make sure that the magnets you purchase are strong enough for the work, because the weaker the magnet, the more you’ll need to make the work secure. I personally like the look of tiny silver disc magnets and prefer to have one in each corner.
Measure the space on your wall and measure the piece.
Lay the artwork on a flat surface and place a magnet in each corner to see how it may look. I’d recommend having a little space between the edge of the work and the magnet.
Measure the distance between magnets. This is the distance you’ll use for placing hardware.
As a precaution, use sticky tack to temporarily place the piece on the wall before you add permanent holes or hardware. Incidentally, you may decide that sticky tack is an optimal solution for you, if the pieces are small enough and they respond well.
Once you determine the right location on your wall, make some small pencil marks where each screw will be placed. Make sure the marks are horizontally and vertically level, otherwise your magnets will look janky
Put small screws or nails into your wall. These will serve as a magnetic surface for your magnets.
Place the work atop the hardware and secure with your tiny magnets. Voila!
Scene from an 2021 exhibition at the Octagon Center for the Arts. You can see the profile of the panels in this shot.
Left: Jennifer Drinkwater, Between the Ditches, acrylic on wood panel, 36” x 36”, 2021.
Right: Jennifer Drinkwater, A Beauty We Didn’t Expect, acrylic on wood panel, 36” x 48”, 2021.