We recently installed a really fun art gallery wall in a customer's home theater room, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing it. The homeowner really enjoys fishing, and he had a whole collection of aqueous art for us to arrange. We began by laying it out on the floor and getting his approval, and then we cut paper templates so he could preview the layout before we actually installed the art. This turned out to be a tall layout, and I was really happy that we were able to use so much of the wall space. It's nice when you can do that in a room with such high ceilings. Notice the fish sculptures. From some angles, they almost look like the taxidermy trophies you sometimes see in a fisherman's home. But what if you're just fishing for sport, and prefer to catch and release? Well, these sculptures are the perfect alternative... they're actually ceramic with a raku glaze that's iridescent like fish scales. Raku can be a tricky process with unpredictable outcomes, and it can be hard to make large sculptures like this because there's so much risk of cracking... so I had to admire the skill of the potter. I wish I'd gotten his or her name. Notice how the fish are turned up slightly, as if they're coming up to take the bait. That was a little tweak we made at the suggestion of our client, and that's exactly why we prefer to start the layout with paper templates. By the way, you'll have to use a little imagination to fill in the bottom of this arrangement. The custom wooden racks will hold the homeowner's collection of fishing poles. In fact, they had a very outdoorsy theme in their home. Our other big project involved installing a large metal tree over their fireplace, and I really liked the way the texture of the tree contrasted with the grain of the wood on the chimneypiece. It was pretty high up though, and our client was happy not to have to wrangle it up there himself. Big pieces like this really are a two-person job, and you also need a very strong scaffold board in order to do it safely. It can also be surprisingly tricky to hang a large piece over a bed without moving the heavy furniture. Fortunately, we have a few tricks up our sleeve for projects like this. And it made all the difference in the room to have a focal point over the headboard. Speaking of color, I discovered a new artist during this project: the talented colorist Hessam Abrishami. I think I've actually seen his work before, but I never knew the name of the painter, so it was nice to see this picture in person and get to know his style better. I personally find it difficult to incorporate the full rainbow of colors into a painting without going over the top, but Abrishami skillfully offsets his riotous hues with enough neutrals to keep a pleasing balance. If you've got large pieces like these which you'd like to display, but you're not sure how to do it safely, please give us a call. We've got the right ladders and scaffolds to reach all of those awkward spots.
And there's nothing that makes a new house feel like "home" like finally having that special piece of art on the wall. This job is a great example of something we do a lot of - hanging pictures which appear to be at "eye level" but are actually way up high in a stairwell. Our client had a kitchen counter with a staircase hidden behind it, and a great big empty wall over the stairs. Naturally he wanted to fill the empty space with a few big pieces of art, but how do you get such a big piece so high up on the wall without risking life and limb? Well, you call us, and we bring our special adjustable stairwell ladder along with our extendable scaffold board. It still feels a little risky when you look down from the walk board, so we're very careful, and we work in a team for safety. As a matter of fact, the ladders themselves can be fairly dangerous if you don't know how to use them... they can break your fingers if you don't know how to close them the right way. That's why this particular job is best left to the pros. We actually ended up hanging three pieces over the staircase. The last one was a Peter Max piece which added a little punch of pink. The big pieces were painted by noted folk artist William Tolliver. His biography from invaluable.com is interesting: Notable African-American artist William Tolliver was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1951. Though he lacked formal education and grew up impoverished, he went on to teach himself art through books he found in the library and those brought to him by his mother. His mother, who loved to draw, encouraged his painting after she noticed his talent. Using inexpensive oil pastels and watercolor sets, painter William Tolliver recreated his everyday environment growing up in Mississippi. Notice that both images include a pot-bellied wood stove. It reminds me of the way the local Appalachian convenience stores in the mountains near Asheville will still sometimes have a woodstove for the old men to hang out around in winter time, and pick out a tune and retell old jokes. While we were there, our client also had us install this picture in the main bedroom. If you peer through the swoops of color, you might recognize a piece of the downtown Asheville skyline. Big prints like this can be tough to hang by yourself, especially when you're maneuvering around a bed like this. That's another great reason it's helpful to have us around.
If you've got a piece of art that you really love, but you're concerned about safely hanging it, it's probably time to call in the pros. We're in the busy season as everyone buys homes and moves in, but I've popped in to show you this beautiful gallery wall which we recently re-hung after the homeowner had her den painted. (I can't take credit for the layout - we didn't even move the hangers - but she wanted someone to safely handle the larger pieces for her.) I only got one good photo, but look at this blue! It's even better in person - it looks like cloisonne enamel. And before you ask, the brand was Benjamin Moore, but sadly I don't know the name of the color. The homeowner painted all of these pieces herself, so she certainly has an eye for color. It's not often that we see homes with so many saturated tones like this. It takes more skill to pull off, but it's definitely worth it in the end.
I think another reason this brilliant blue works so well is that it's used in a fairly dark room with a very low ceiling. When you have a shadowy room like this, sometimes the best choice is to embrace it and go with a dark, bold tone. If you're having your home repainted and you need someone to safely take down and rehang your collection, please get in touch. We'll be happy to help. |
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9:00 am to 5:00 pm, M-F 828-649-5242 Owner: Arthur Teel 113 Rector Branch Road Marshall, NC 28753 |