“Art walls” have been on my mind for weeks.
Sort of a clunky term, but it’s descriptive. “Salon grouping” is more elegant, and I seem to remember the phrases, “masterpiece hanging” and “gallery hanging” from graduate school…but I could be making those up.
When I found myself suggesting that a Gentle Reader create an art wall in her apartment, I thought it was time to elaborate. Because, look. It’s hard to find big, grownup, affordable pieces of art that you love. And there are a lot of blank walls out there.
Hanging a group of smaller pictures can be a more realistic solution. (Not to mention more flexible and fun.)
ECLECTIC GROUPING
You must have something that’s meaningful to you. A postcard? Wine labels you collected on your honeymoon? Ticket stubs? A silly sketch? The list you used to carry around in your Filofax enumerating the qualities your perfect mate would have and then when you met him you gave him the list with a checkmark next to each thing?
Maybe you don’t have that last one.
But the point is this: if you want an eclectic grouping, start with something you love. Then mix it in with art you buy online, other personal things, and even an object or two.
If the thing you love is tiny, put it against a mat in a larger frame. Framing larger is safer. Effective art walls mix sizes and scale, but for the novice, it’s safest to say that no piece should be smaller than 8 x 10″ (although you could throw in single 5 x 7″. )
ART GROUPING
If, after all the time we’ve spent together, you tell me you don’t know where to buy art, I will weep.
Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can appear interesting and tasteful without changing out of your pjs.
You’ve heard me expound the virtues of Etsy
and 20×200.
Add to that list the New York Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution for prints of all sizes.
SIMILAR THINGS GROUPING
Maps. New Yorker cartoons (consider xeroxing them larger than the originals). English bird or botanical prints. Black and white engravings.
Even pieces of wallpaper. I’ve mentioned this post before, but Gait Interiors blog has a lovely tutorial on using wallpaper as art.
Start gathering, Gentle Readers! Next time, I’ll tell you how to frame it.
Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is a recovering art historian. She is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. specializing in paint colors, space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.