A Frame-Maker’s Journal
Updates and reflections on our work and mission to revive the art and craft of framing pictures. Here I'll show you new jobs we're especially proud of and keep you up on what's going on at the Gallery, as well as discuss topics germane to our work, including handcraft and work generally, the place of art, and ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement (especially its greatest leaders, John Ruskin and William Morris).
I hope you’ll subscribe (see the form in the left column) or at least check back often. And I welcome your comments!
—Tim Holton
David Lance Goines, Chez Panisse and a Fifty Year Legacy Suitable for Framing
Fifty years ago this month, Berkeley graphic designer and printer David Lance Goines made this poster for a friend who was celebrating the first anniversary of her restaurant on Shattuck Avenue. Since then, Alice Waters and the “delicious revolution” she lau... continue reading.
“A Tabernacle for the Sun”: Framing Thomas Kegler
This is an oil painting by an extraordinary artist out of East Aurora, New York. Thomas Kegler (b. 1970) has very deliberately embraced the nineteenth century Hudson River School tradition, and it shows. We placed the 15″ x 30″ “Morning Has Broken, Psa... continue reading.
Framing a Famous Utagawa Hiroshige Print
In 1857, the same year that Utagawa Kunisada made the print in my last post, another Utagawa, Utagawa Hiroshige, produced his “Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake.” As part of the artist’s series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo,̶... continue reading.
Framing a Kunisada Illustration for The Tale of Genji
This is an 1857 woodblock print by Ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kunisada (1823-1900) titled “Illusion.” It is described as one of the “Game Cards for the Chapters of Lady Murasaki’s Tale of Genji”—the eleventh century novel depicting the lives ... continue reading.
The Mighty Earth: Framing Kim Lordier’s “Misty Morn” for Our New Exhibit
The mighty Earth is making her power felt this summer, once again reminding us—or, rather, commanding us—to pay attention to her and to her great creation on which we depend and of which we are a part. Can we picture a civilization that heeds the Earth’s pleas... continue reading.
Painted Chamfers: Framing a Calligraphed Poem
This lovely poem by Dawn Gross was expertly calligraphed by Ben Yates. We used a 1-5/8″ wide walnut frame on the 15″ x 11″ paper. By chamfering the outside edge I gave the corners an abstract leaf form. I painted the chamfer with green milk paint, whic... continue reading.
Framing the Great Wall of China
Just framed this Chinese painting of the Great Wall of China. The painting is 17″ x 20″. The 1-1/2″ wide frame is walnut with dilute black stain. We used a silk covered mat with grey paper filets inside the sight edge. You probably recognize the spiral... continue reading.
Framing Marion Kavanagh Wachtel
Here’s a beauty from one of the state’s greats. In early California’s popular eucalyptus painting genre, this 24″ x 18″ watercolor by Marion Kavanagh Wachtel (1876 – 1954) is hard to beat. “Sunset,” is not dated, but is believ... continue reading.
“With Four Sticks of Wood”: A Simple Home for Bernard Maybeck
A couple of months ago, we were asked to frame a portrait of the architect Bernard Maybeck (1862-1957) to hang in the larger frame of Maybeck’s 1902 Faculty Club at UC Berkeley. No portrait cries out for the architecture of a frame like a portrait of an architect. You... continue reading.