Framing Fiber Art

South Wind (c)Pat Dolan

We've had several discussions on our QuiltArt mailing list about framing fiberart. Personally, I think some pieces are at their best when framed - particularly smaller pieces that require space around them in order for them to be seen without being lost into the background of many other pieces of art.


Autumn (c)Pat Dolan

Double Squared (c)Pat Dolan

At the present time, our Fiber Revolution group is exhibiting in a small gallery at the Academy of Music in Spotswood, NJ. The curator, Kevan Rupp Lunney, purposefully designed the exhibition to fit the space. She selected several large pieces to be the primary gallery pieces. And she also requested all members to submit to her small 4" x 6" fiber art works. Her idea was to frame each of these small pieces in 8 x 10" black Dakota Shadow Box frames making them a cohesive, compelling complement to the larger pieces. The concept works extremely well! The opening, while not large, was very successful from the perspective of sales. One of the major pieces, by Carol Schepps, was sold that evening, as were 13 small works at $100.00/each. After paying the gallery commission and the cost of the frame, the sale of the small works still averages out to a decent price for the artist. Sometime in the coming week or so, our computer guru Gloria Hansen, will put up photos of this show on our FR website. Meanwhile, here are some of the pieces I framed up today to replace those that were sold last weekend.

What we've done to highlight these small pieces is to mount them on 1/4" foam core and then mount the art/foam core to a piece of sturdy archival watercolor paper, which serves as the mat below the art. Then the wooden spacer is inserted, and finally the backing affixed. These pieces are behind glass, so the cleaned glass is the first thing put back into the frame (after dismantling it).

The Dakota Frame:



Please note that the light maple frame in the lower right corner is a different brand of shadow box frame. I purchased it at A.C. Moore this week to try it out since the others were coming mail order from Get Smart Products/Archival USA. This frame is not designed nearly as well - the spacers in it are cardboard whereas the Dakota frames have solid wood spacers. For that reason, I ended up using a mat board placed just beneath the surface (the way it is sold) so that the cardboard spacer does not show.


Flights of Fancy (c)Pat Dolan

Here is a different style of frame, a metal one purchased from A.C. Moore - these are purchased in sets of 2 lengths and 2 widths which then must be assembled.

Homesteads - framed 11"w x 17"h (c)Pat Dolan

For this piece, I used black archival foam core for my backing, then archival photo mount spray glue to adhere the printed fabric background/mat, to which was sewn the quilted work.

All this and more is in preparation for my upcoming one woman show at the Monmouth County Library, Manalapan, NJ in March.