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Love Cures update
Post #1206 • July 9, 2008, 11:49 AM • 11 Comments
We have some important updates on the Love Cures auction for research on neuroblastoma. Deadlines to receive images and actual work have been established (Oct. 1 and Dec. 1 respectively), and at the link you can see the list of important locally and internationally known artists who have agreed to participate. The Margulies Family Collection will also donate works for the auction. I would encourage you to do so as well. Art Center/South Florida will show a preview of the works in their exhibition space for three or four weeks prior, and a gala event is in the works. Please have a look and pass the information along so we can get even more artists involved.
2.
July 9, 2008, 6:10 PM
Thank you so much, Milé.
I'm sending a framed watercolor. An unframed one will be too hard to display and won't look professional. Glass or plexi is your choice as corresponds to your packing skills and tolerance for risk. Thanks again!
3.
July 9, 2008, 8:24 PM
I figured as much, and I prefer my works on paper to be framed anyway, so I'll be using plexiglass to avoid breakage during shipping.
Thanks!
m.
4.
July 10, 2008, 6:32 AM
Plexiglas is also, I've read somewhere, naturally UV-blocking. Although glass is too, I think Plexiglas is more opaque to UV. So in addition to being safer for mailing -- and I've had to unwrap shattered glass from shipped artwork -- it's safer for the artwork too, in the long run. No to mention safer in a house where things sometimes fall off the walls.
I remember I had this airbrush painting I did, 30 by 40 inches. I had it framed by a mall frame shop, with glass, and gave it to the arranger of our music group, who was leaving. He had posed for the painting, so I felt it only fair. One day I wanted to photograph it so I borrowed it back and took it out of the frame. I leaned the glass up against the curtains in front of a window. I saw that my bedroom dresser was in front, with one of the drawers open. I immediately saw that if the glass fell, it'd hit the drawer and break. "Well, it won't fall," I thought, clearly showing the difference between intelligence and wisdom. (Intelligence is seeing that something might happen; wisdom is actually doing something about it.) Of course, a breeze blew the curtains, which pushed over the glass, which caught the edge of the drawer and shattered into a zillion razor-sharp pieces all over my underwear and the floor.
I reframed the painting in Plexiglas. Much better.
5.
July 10, 2008, 7:33 AM
Breaking glass sucks.
And it's heavy.
And it'll cut you.
I used to have a frame shop cut my glass, mat, and hardware for me and I assembled the frames myself. One time, around 1992, I was Windexing the glass and holding it vertically by the sides and, like your story, Chris, about knowledge and wisdom, I knew holding the glass like this was a bad idea but kept on cleaning anyway and, yup, it slid a little bit and cut my fingers a little bit.
I still wince at the memory.
6.
July 10, 2008, 8:02 AM
The tradeoff is that plexi scratches much more easily than glass. Despite an unpleasant memory of giving myself a dozen micro-cuts by handling fresh-cut glass, it's more likely to hold up over time if the work is going to go into more than one show.
I know a trick: if you ship art framed under glass, put strips of packing tape down the front of the work, with some excess length folded onto itself so the receiver can grab and pull to remove. It requires a bit of cleaning, but if the glass breaks the tape will catch it.
7.
July 10, 2008, 8:30 AM
thanks Franklin for posting .
8.
July 10, 2008, 10:21 AM
Painter's masking tape (in Canada it's available in green or blue) won't leave any residue and provides the same protection. Basically you want to cover the whole sheet as best as possible. One trick is to put one piece of tape along one frame edge first (always leaving yourself friendly little tabs to pull at later) and lay all the other pieces of tape perpendicular and on top of that first piece. When it's time to unwrap, the first piece acts as a 'pull tab' and all the other pieces will easily come with it, esp. if you overlap your tape strips. Also, plexi is not a natural UV inhibitor, but there are specific plexi types with UV filter characteristics. It is generally more expensive, and will alter colour a bit with a very mild yellow cast, but this is better than your art evaporating. Beyond that there are also non-glare and UV filtered glass options, even a very, very expensive laminated all-in-one type of safety glass used by museums with big fat budgets.
9.
July 10, 2008, 10:56 AM
Ooh, that's an even better idea with the tape.
10.
July 10, 2008, 2:23 PM
You can't beat packing tape for price or stickiness, but I've found the cleanup after isn't worth it, esp. if it is left on for an extended time. That said, all tapes will make a mess if left indefinitely. In the end, you are just trying to prevent bigger pieces of broken glass from puncturing or nastily abrading the surface. In other words, damage control. Oh, and for those who care, I also forgot to mention the option of removable sheet films that have been developed for this purpose exactly. Again, a big budget museum luxury.
11.
July 10, 2008, 6:43 PM
I've found that regular old 3M masking tape -- the beige kind -- will dry up and fall off entirely on its own leaving no residue at all. Maybe a stain if it was on paper, but that's most likely acid transfer. Duct tape, on the other hand, melts into this nasty, stringy mess, after leaching oil all over the place.
Not that anyone suggested using duct tape.
1.
Milé Murtanovski
July 9, 2008, 6:06 PM
Franklin,
I initially came here several months ago for the web comic which I enjoy immensely and I stayed for the great discussions (and debates).
Your web comic and blog are an inspiration to me. So much so that I've gone and donated a painting to Love Cures.
I've sent Carolina a jpeg http://www.kebapi.com/nyny2.htm, but do you think there will be a problem with an unframed watercolour? I'm assuming you'll also be donating a watercolour --are you framing it? Should I frame mine? Plexi? Glass? Soup or sammitch? I'll be shipping it from Toronto, by the way.
thanks,
Milé