Curate Your Own Home Gallery
Remember that your gallery is not just for a specific objet d’art, but may also include your own family portraits and kids drawings! Consider your space and the story you want you wall to tell. An artist friend of mine once explained to me that you need to live in space to understand the type of art the walls need.
In a room that speaks of family and stories of adventure you could collect around certain themes like sport and travel, with serene landscapes to evoke the mood desired. In a quieter room you may consider a more minimalist view and control the colour schemes more towards the neutral grey range.
Here are my top 10 tips for becoming your own home gallery curator!
1. Work with a budget. Decide to spend something on making your space talk. Buying generic art at a store is uninspiring and does not set your home apart from any other. Be yourself and work towards creating a look that is memorable.
2. Build towards a theme for a room, or combine themes into a flow of images.
3. Contrast ideas. Don’t be scared to used contrasting themes that seem to clash if you want to make a statement.
4. Consider complimentary colours – if you have a colourful painting, you may need a more understated neutral grey wall - like a grey blue to compliment vibrant orange and yellows. A chromatic grey is made of two opposite colours on the colour wheel. Red and green, purple and yellow, orange and blue and variants of those would help you to select colours for a wall.
5. Consider your furniture when purchasing a painting, does the frame work with the style of your furniture? Does the style of the painting have a modern feel? Then the frame should fit the image and compliment the furniture style. The line drawings of Andre Pelser work well in black and white too and work well with leather furniture and neutral walls. The painterly works need to be placed in the space to see how the colours work or clash with what it there. I liked the dark blue grey Musee D'Orsay used for the Impressionists that exhibited vibrant light in all its colourful glory.
6. Frames can just as interesting and can enhance the painting. Artist Irma Stern went ot Zanzibar and bought ornate doors that she converted to frames for her Mulsim Man painting that sold for millions. The frame makes the painting authentic because it echoes the slave trading past in a stone town where doors tell stories of fortunes made and lost. Some canvasses are stretched across a wooden frame and do not need the frame – the painting should have been painted around the edges to create a 3D feel. I like a combination of framed and unframed works. If a frame is needed, there are different finishes that can be considered from vintage wood, to modern metallic finishes that will fit into your upmarket apartment.
7. Line and Design is important – let your eye move through your space and catch the lines that stand out – a corner of a table, a window, the lines from the adjacent hallway, the ceiling and other pieces of furniture. Hanging your painting at about eye-level is a rule of thumb. However, you can adjust the height to fit in the corner couch where the lighting is better. Some walls deserve to have a focal point in the centre. Others can be divided into three, or four squares. Place the framed paintings on the floor in front of the wall and arrange them in different ways until you are happy. Don’t commit until you can see the line and design you want on the wall!
8. Focal Walls and Focal Points. It is a great joy to have a focal wall in a space with a colour that stands out form the drab neutrals that all homes always have on the walls. The focal point could be in the middle – measure the entire length and divide by two and make a vertical pencil mark down the wall with a level so it is straight – you can rub out the pencil easily afterwards. Then take your frame and move it up and down along that mark with a water level on top of the frame – this helps to give you an idea of how it will look. Then you need to check if you have a strong to hang it or a brass hinge, or hook. I stretch the string and make a mark with pencil behind the painting where the string is stretched at the desired height.
9. Invest in good lighting. If you already have well lit walls great. Otherwise you may need to get a light for your painting. I have LED down lights on a bulkhead all around my lounge that work well. But a few spots directed to your important works direct the eye to the highlights of the work.
10. Tell a story! There’s nothing like a good story. When your friends look at your gallery, take the time to tell them the story of the image that captures their attention. Leave some of the other stories for another time. People will keep coming back for more. Then rearrange your gallery and store some pieces out of the sunlight away from the damp, wrapped in protective materials. When they re-emerge it is like a rebirth of sorts and old treasures become new again. Your art is an investment on various levels. Keeping the certificate from the original artist will increase its value. Keep a journal of your artworks or a spreadsheet if you are so inclined. Put your paintings in your will and testament and explain their provenance – where and when you bought it and the price, as well as any interesting owners before you. That builds the story along with the artist and the reasons for purchase. In our art auctions for missions, there is a cause behind what we do and every art patron has a share in nations reached with the Good news of Jesus Christ.
Enjoy curating your own gallery and host social events to showcase your art and promote a good cause!
andrepelser.com
aje.myportfolio.com
In a room that speaks of family and stories of adventure you could collect around certain themes like sport and travel, with serene landscapes to evoke the mood desired. In a quieter room you may consider a more minimalist view and control the colour schemes more towards the neutral grey range.
Here are my top 10 tips for becoming your own home gallery curator!
1. Work with a budget. Decide to spend something on making your space talk. Buying generic art at a store is uninspiring and does not set your home apart from any other. Be yourself and work towards creating a look that is memorable.
2. Build towards a theme for a room, or combine themes into a flow of images.
3. Contrast ideas. Don’t be scared to used contrasting themes that seem to clash if you want to make a statement.
4. Consider complimentary colours – if you have a colourful painting, you may need a more understated neutral grey wall - like a grey blue to compliment vibrant orange and yellows. A chromatic grey is made of two opposite colours on the colour wheel. Red and green, purple and yellow, orange and blue and variants of those would help you to select colours for a wall.
5. Consider your furniture when purchasing a painting, does the frame work with the style of your furniture? Does the style of the painting have a modern feel? Then the frame should fit the image and compliment the furniture style. The line drawings of Andre Pelser work well in black and white too and work well with leather furniture and neutral walls. The painterly works need to be placed in the space to see how the colours work or clash with what it there. I liked the dark blue grey Musee D'Orsay used for the Impressionists that exhibited vibrant light in all its colourful glory.
6. Frames can just as interesting and can enhance the painting. Artist Irma Stern went ot Zanzibar and bought ornate doors that she converted to frames for her Mulsim Man painting that sold for millions. The frame makes the painting authentic because it echoes the slave trading past in a stone town where doors tell stories of fortunes made and lost. Some canvasses are stretched across a wooden frame and do not need the frame – the painting should have been painted around the edges to create a 3D feel. I like a combination of framed and unframed works. If a frame is needed, there are different finishes that can be considered from vintage wood, to modern metallic finishes that will fit into your upmarket apartment.
7. Line and Design is important – let your eye move through your space and catch the lines that stand out – a corner of a table, a window, the lines from the adjacent hallway, the ceiling and other pieces of furniture. Hanging your painting at about eye-level is a rule of thumb. However, you can adjust the height to fit in the corner couch where the lighting is better. Some walls deserve to have a focal point in the centre. Others can be divided into three, or four squares. Place the framed paintings on the floor in front of the wall and arrange them in different ways until you are happy. Don’t commit until you can see the line and design you want on the wall!
8. Focal Walls and Focal Points. It is a great joy to have a focal wall in a space with a colour that stands out form the drab neutrals that all homes always have on the walls. The focal point could be in the middle – measure the entire length and divide by two and make a vertical pencil mark down the wall with a level so it is straight – you can rub out the pencil easily afterwards. Then take your frame and move it up and down along that mark with a water level on top of the frame – this helps to give you an idea of how it will look. Then you need to check if you have a strong to hang it or a brass hinge, or hook. I stretch the string and make a mark with pencil behind the painting where the string is stretched at the desired height.
9. Invest in good lighting. If you already have well lit walls great. Otherwise you may need to get a light for your painting. I have LED down lights on a bulkhead all around my lounge that work well. But a few spots directed to your important works direct the eye to the highlights of the work.
10. Tell a story! There’s nothing like a good story. When your friends look at your gallery, take the time to tell them the story of the image that captures their attention. Leave some of the other stories for another time. People will keep coming back for more. Then rearrange your gallery and store some pieces out of the sunlight away from the damp, wrapped in protective materials. When they re-emerge it is like a rebirth of sorts and old treasures become new again. Your art is an investment on various levels. Keeping the certificate from the original artist will increase its value. Keep a journal of your artworks or a spreadsheet if you are so inclined. Put your paintings in your will and testament and explain their provenance – where and when you bought it and the price, as well as any interesting owners before you. That builds the story along with the artist and the reasons for purchase. In our art auctions for missions, there is a cause behind what we do and every art patron has a share in nations reached with the Good news of Jesus Christ.
Enjoy curating your own gallery and host social events to showcase your art and promote a good cause!
andrepelser.com
aje.myportfolio.com
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