Hello all - I am a pastelist and will hopefully be venturing into the art fair world soon. I have several pieces (11x14 and 5x7) framed and ready to hang. I am starting out with a small budget, unfortunately. I have read some entries here suggesting that artists really need to have some unframed pieces in a rack for sale. I cannot afford to have prints made at this point, but the thought of people flipping through my pastels in sleeves in a rack makes me nervous! My fear is that I will have assorted bags of pastel powder at the end of the day. Are there any other pastel artists who have ideas on how to handle this? Skip the unframed pieces and only hang framed art? I have gotten a wealth of info from the wonderful people here at AFI, thanks so much.
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Oh sweetie, while I know this post is older than me. I too am a pastelist and NO I can't imagine having a ton of originals in a bin with people shifting them back and forth. The very thought makes me cringe!! My only suggestion would be to (since your displaying originals) To have them shrink rapped, it's the only viable solution. I had a much worse experience several years ago in Chicago at a annual art fair. My smallest pieces are 30 X 24 it's not called the windy city for nothing. So I found myself running back and forth down the street trying to catch my huge pieces of art (pastels) no less that the wind had decided to take away by flight. I laugh about it now in retrospect, but I certainly wasn't laughing then. Needless to say I never attempted to do another fair.
I used to show my dry pastel paintings in a browse bin...yes, spacers of foam board, you can use beveled strips of foam board behind the mats, attach with ATG(double sided tape), about 1/4" away from the window opening of the mat. They won't show if beveled. Most browsers are gentle, but you can try this season and see how it goes. I built my own browse box to fit 8" x 10" matted pieces. I used foam board, hot glue to connect the pieces, then covered it with fabric. Two hooks are fastened to the back, and it hangs it on my wall. You can also place on a table.
I used workable fixatif to spray the pastels...it helps, but not foolproof. I didn't like the clear sprays which change the colors. Eventually, I got tired of the dust. Framing pastels requires different techniques from other types of art...as you well know! Anyway, the spacers do help to the dust to fall into the gap between mat and art. I now exhibit my unframed oil pastel paintings behind mats with spacers and on anything 5" x 6" and larger, I also use styrene over the mat and under the clear bag(styrene is most likely the thin plexi mentioned by Sheila). I can't remember where I got my box of styrene(I bought 11" x 14", maybe from United Mfrs. Supply in Syosset, NY, maybe from Don Mar Frame and Moulding). Styrene helps prevent those fingernail dents unwittingly caused by browsers. Good luck!
I do pastels and have some unframed minis in a basket. I mat them with a spacer and for anything larger than a 4" x 6" piece, I tape a thin piece of cheap plexiglas, which I cut to size on a table saw, in front of the mat. So there is basically the mounting board, spacer, mat and plexi, all bound together on the edges with white artist's tape for a clean look. The whole thing is bagged in a crystal clear self-sealing bag from Clearbags.com. I don't have a lot of the minis, and I keep them in their basket on my desk, so people are usually right in front of me when they are looking. I've had no trouble with this system. One caveat though - I got the thin plexi out of cheap frames I used to buy from Dick Blick. I'm not sure where to get it otherwise, but I doubt it would be difficult.
Upnorthgirl2 > Sheila EvansApril 12, 2011 at 11:50pm
Thanks for the help, Sheila. Do you cut your own spacers from foamcore? I have used the clear plastic spacers in framed work and like them, although a little expensive. One more question - do you find that your small pieces sell better than the larger ones? By the way, I have a large sheet of plexi, which my husband is going to cut up for me (he's also going to build my first set of display boards : ) Nancy
Replies
Oh sweetie, while I know this post is older than me. I too am a pastelist and NO I can't imagine having a ton of originals in a bin with people shifting them back and forth. The very thought makes me cringe!! My only suggestion would be to (since your displaying originals) To have them shrink rapped, it's the only viable solution. I had a much worse experience several years ago in Chicago at a annual art fair. My smallest pieces are 30 X 24 it's not called the windy city for nothing. So I found myself running back and forth down the street trying to catch my huge pieces of art (pastels) no less that the wind had decided to take away by flight. I laugh about it now in retrospect, but I certainly wasn't laughing then. Needless to say I never attempted to do another fair.
Hi,
I used to show my dry pastel paintings in a browse bin...yes, spacers of foam board, you can use beveled strips of foam board behind the mats, attach with ATG(double sided tape), about 1/4" away from the window opening of the mat. They won't show if beveled. Most browsers are gentle, but you can try this season and see how it goes. I built my own browse box to fit 8" x 10" matted pieces. I used foam board, hot glue to connect the pieces, then covered it with fabric. Two hooks are fastened to the back, and it hangs it on my wall. You can also place on a table.
I used workable fixatif to spray the pastels...it helps, but not foolproof. I didn't like the clear sprays which change the colors. Eventually, I got tired of the dust. Framing pastels requires different techniques from other types of art...as you well know! Anyway, the spacers do help to the dust to fall into the gap between mat and art. I now exhibit my unframed oil pastel paintings behind mats with spacers and on anything 5" x 6" and larger, I also use styrene over the mat and under the clear bag(styrene is most likely the thin plexi mentioned by Sheila). I can't remember where I got my box of styrene(I bought 11" x 14", maybe from United Mfrs. Supply in Syosset, NY, maybe from Don Mar Frame and Moulding). Styrene helps prevent those fingernail dents unwittingly caused by browsers. Good luck!