A good picture
framer always strives to send out finished framing jobs as close to perfection
as is humanly possible. The frame must
be flawless, the glass must be sparkling, and the matting must be free of any
stray specks or cat hairs (heh heh heh).
With a shop cat in residence, my frames always leave in pristine
condition, even if I have to take them apart several times and redo them. My shop may be an unholy mess but my frame
jobs are always impeccable in the end.
Several years ago
I framed a show for one of my very favorite photographers. It hung at the Burchfield-Penney so the
smooth black frames with their brilliant white matting arrived at the gallery
in mint condition. Some of the pieces
were sold but most of the frames were stored until she brought them back to me
to be re-used for her upcoming exhibition at Nichols School.
At first
glance, it appeared as though we had fifteen good used frames and needed only
five new ones for the new show. Upon closer
examination, however, most of the original frames had suffered due to moving,
jostling, and storage. There were many
scratches and dents which could not be repaired.
I messaged her:
Good news versus bad news. Of
the 15 frames you brought in, I can really only reuse 3 - the rest are
scratched and gouged all to pieces - and as picky as you are about your
printing, so am I picky about your frames. The good news is all 15
mats/glass/backings are OK.
She pondered this over the weekend and phoned me the following
Tuesday. We decided that if it were
possible, I would make the frames even more scratched and dented—all of
them. All twenty of them.
Backstory: the photographer
is Missy Kennedy Cleary, known far and wide for her amazing photographs of
children, women, families, horses and dogs.
Dogs are her special passion—she is surely a dog whisperer; and she has
long been associated with the Erie County SPCA.
Every animal she has photographed for them finds forever homes as soon
as the portraits go up on their website.
In the shelter world, animals who have been longtime residents of
the system (through the fault of their own horrid or unknowable backstories)
become harder and harder to place the longer they are in residence. They lose hope, hang back, hiding from
potential adopters—they have given up on ever finding their own humans to love.
Some shelters call these dejected
creatures the “scratch and dents”—they are perfectly good on the inside but
maybe not be “show ring” perfect on the outside. They need a little work and a lot of patience
and love. And that’s when Missy steps in
and brings out the best in them. Missy sees
beneath the sadness and fear and soon enough hopeful eyes and uppy ears and even
the hesitant wag of the tail appear and, as if by magic, their lingering
suspicions are completely erased. Her
unconditional love and photographic expertise bring out the best in any creature she has
ever photographed (well, except for my parents—but that is another story for
another day).
For this show Missy collected all of her favorites and had way too
much fun playing with them in Photoshop—going into full Lichtenstein/Warhol
mode with a riot of color and texture—or echoing vintage etchings with just a
hint of line and shape and tone.
It took me a while to find the perfect tool for the "scratch and
dental" procedure. I consulted my framer
friends from around the world, and one homemade tool worked especially well on
my sample of moulding. After all these
years of producing perfection, I must admit I had fun beating up these
frames. And they turned out great.
 |
| Mama Lucy, Shop Cat, tried to help with the scratching part. |
 |
| Framing wire strung with every bolt in my collection did the trick. |
I adore all of these photographs, but here are some of my very
favorites. I wonder if one day my kitties would allow me to adopt a dog.
 |
| All ready for the show! |
Missy and her daughter picked up all twenty of the frames and loaded
them into the back of her SUV. The next
day she was to deliver them to the school for the show. Unfortunately, the next morning is when I received this
message from her:
Had
a complete catastrophe
6
came flying out of the car and broke
I want to jump
off a cliff
 |
| Oh noes! |
Luckily for all, back when I was still seeking absolute
perfection, I had ordered extra of these smooth black frames and as it turns out,
I had exactly six, all ready to be beaten up and fitted. Only one mat was lost, two pieces of glass
were shattered, and none of the prints were damaged at all. Whew! MarGyver triumphs again!
