Tips for choosing the best Frame for wall art - Part 1

In these articles, I'll explore what frames are for; what the choices are; how to make good choices around framing art.

[Credit and disclosure: photos in this post are either from Nations Photo Lab, who do a lot of my printing, or are from my own shops.]

Why do you need a frame for wall art?

"A frame is a way of constructing a little world around something."

- Brian Eno, "A Year With Swollen Appendices"

Put a piece of art onto your wall, and you've brought in a piece of another world into yours.

A picture acts like a little window (with a frame): it is an opening into that other place, and we need boundaries around windows and doors to distinguish the "inside" from the "outside".

And the picture may need a boundary, just to tidy up its unfinished edges, and to make it clear where it ends (if it's a "field" painting or a pattern). Long, wide art can readily be perceived as a landscape, even if abstract.

But what kind of frame is best to "introduce" the art to your world?

Is That All a Frame Does?

Like your window and door frames, you need to make some choices about your art frames:

• Does the frame help the picture (by showing you where it is; by guarding its space)

You notice the framed pieces first

• - or does it take over and distract? Is it giving the art enough room (or is it cramping its style)?

A light picture, but dark frame shouting

• Does the frame's texture, colour, tone and width suit the walls (and the picture)?

Natural brown frame matches art, earthy decor

• Does the frame style contradict the art, other decorations, and the room, or enhance them (e.g. by creating a pleasing pattern)?

Bold square of squares, neutral frames, large room

Loose, black casual cat with loose, black casual art

• Is it worth the expense? - Good quality frames can cost a bit. And you might prefer a casual approach to art. (One of my customers used a design as one of a string of pictures, hung up like flags, over her new-born's crib.)

Can You Frame Art Without a Frame?

"No frame! Freedom!" (says the picture). "The paper is my boundary!" "No framing costs!" (says you). You could just blu-tak, staple, pin, tack, glue or paste, paper-printed art onto the wall. But beyond these cheap-looking methods, you can also consider:-

Use a Single Hard Backing Sheet

This is quite inexpensive, and allows you to fix the picture to the wall without it distorting or necessarily needing the support of hangers.