Foray into frames (Part 1)

Kitchen used as a temporary wood shop for first test.

New challenges force us to use new tools and learn new techniques. In college I worked in a woodshop/ metal shop as one of my many work-study jobs. Several days a week, I would monitor the shop, assist students on their own projects, and build projects for the school facilities (like desks, shelves, storage cubbies). When all the tasks were complete and the students had left, I would linger on my own projects, puzzling over a new problem for fun, building lamps and frames exploring connections and assemblies, exploring ways to celebrate materials. Launching into post-college life, I realized what a luxury a shop is at one's fingertips. Freshly separated, I quickly lost confidence, humbled at how much more challenging this type of thinking and implementation is without 1) space and 2) proper tools.

When I started painting in 2008, I painted on Stonehenge paper coated in Gesso. I taped the paper to my old drafting table (a hollow core door), placed vertically in my bedroom. Pleasantly surprised at the results, I decided to give the painting away to a friend as a birthday gift. It was 24"x 30" and very expensive to frame. After this experience, I realized that it was probably cheaper to go ahead and purchase a gallery edge canvas than to deal with the cost of framing larger works of art. I gave away my hollow core door to another student, and instead propped a canvas atop the radiator cover in my bedroom, which had just enough space for paintbrushes and a pallet. Quickly, I realized that canvas is a delight to paint upon. It is an entirely different haptic experience with the subtle give of the canvas against the brush. Canvas and no frames for the win! Or least until now.

Last month, witnessing a gallery installation for a friend, I realized that my forthcoming display of 5 qty compositions each made up of 32 individual canvases, could be quite the headache to transport and set up within a gallery environment. Coming to terms with my motto- "frame free art", I took a deep breath and decided to start experimenting with framing- knowing the final answer isn't fully known, the tools and skills may be new, and I may fail many, many times along the way. My sketchbook pages became consumed with five different approaches to framing. And I've been slowly chipping away at these not necessarily in order:

a) Frame as Plane- with holes cut for canvas

b) Frame as Linear Weave- with wood elements building up spaces for canvases (think Trellis)

c) Frame as Layered-with a wood sleeve and movable spacers

d) Frame Angled and modular

e) Frame as Armature for Tension- suspended

Step A: Frame as A Plane had the best of intentions. It seemed the most straightforward, so a great place to start. Here, I envisioned a simple plane of material with square holes cut out for the canvases to slip into and rest via friction and or gravity. Shout out to Brian at Home Depot who listened to my ideas and helped connect me to the right tools and materials. And Colin at Home Depot, who suggested I rent a van rather than have the insulation delivered since it won't fit in my car. (Home Depot has a no cut policy for rigid insulation, unlike their offering to cut wood to smaller size). Within an hour, the reflective piece of insulation was resting in my porch, and the Home Depot van was safely parked it its original spot. A few days later, when I went to work with the material, I realized that I didn't have room to work around it, and I was concerned about damaging it since it seem prone to imprinting with weight. Procrastinating, I stored it temporarily in the basement stairwell as it couldn't turn the corner into the basement or most of the rooms upstairs. Later when my pipes froze at -14F, I leaned it against the outside wall of the bathroom and waited for the pipes to thaw out. Eventually I would cut a corner out to shape it to fit then end of the porch, if only for storage. The new tool I mastered for cutting- the foam cutter knife- not bad at all. But will need to test out painting the side of the foam to see if it will be suitable for a surround for canvases. Google searches suggest that an acrylic primer should work well on this material. Step A's exploration is on hold for now until temps warm up outside to fall within acceptable painting temp ranges.