Giovane Cedar Art
  • Home
    • River Gallery Spring Show
    • Cattails & Dragonflies Gallery
    • Jansen Art Center Winter Show 2023
    • Artwood Gallery
    • Matzke Gallery
    • Background Info
    • Purchasing and Shipping Info
    • Commissions
  • PAINTINGS 1
    • Waterfall
    • The Frog Poet
    • Ginkgos & Waxwings
    • Eagle's Pride
    • Spring in Bloom
    • Flower Moon in May
    • Northwest Rain Kosode
    • Snow on the Beach
    • It Only Takes One
    • Scattered Fans
    • White Circle of Silence
    • In the Spirit of Serizawa & Kubota
  • Paintings 2
    • Autumn Introspection
    • Bats' Lunar Playground
    • Foxgloves Reaching for the Sky
    • Plum Tree on a Snowy Night
    • Autumn Moon by the Sea
    • Chickadee in the Snow
    • Down by the Stream on a Lazy Summer's Day
    • Towhee & Currant in Spring
    • Sparrow's Spring
    • Autumn Grasses (Oribe Tribute)
    • A Tribute to Itchiku Kubota: Ozette Sunset
    • Cathedral of the Trees
    • Baillie Scott Trinity
    • Raven's Forest
    • Eagle Embraces Her
  • Paintings 3
    • The Guardian
    • Crows at Sunset
    • Cormorants
    • Skagit Scene
    • Dream Birds
    • Curious Crow
    • Hydrangea's Final Bloom
    • Pine Island
    • The Four Guardians
    • Circle About the Moon
    • Eelgrass Nursery Rhyme
    • Cedar Green Man
    • Serizawa's Kimono
    • Cats United
  • Paintings 4
    • Dance to the Moon
    • As Autumn Approaches
    • Echizen Crows
    • The Spirit of Fallen Camellias
    • Temple Hawk
    • Goldfinch Dream
    • Autumn Carpet
    • An Eala Bahn (The White Swan)
    • Horse Ema
    • Lucia's Maple
    • Eagles Spring Dance
    • Watts Chapel Tribute Memorial
    • Voysey's tree
  • Blog Page
  • Other Work
    • Paintings 5 >
      • Cedar Waxwing
      • Spotted Towhee
      • Stellar's Jay
      • Evening Grossbeak
      • Red Breasted Nuthatch
      • Black-Capped Chickadee
      • Cardinal
      • Camellias in Bloom Woodblock Print
      • Hot Otter Love
      • č’u•? is Seal
      • Loons & Horses
      • Hawk on a Pine 1
      • Elk Along the South Fork
      • Spirits of Ozette
      • Lingcod Guardian
      • Plum Blossoms in Spring
      • Journey Home From Ozette Island
      • Tsooes Sunset
    • Boxes >
      • Rose Tree Box
      • Celtic Bread Box
      • Creature of the Box
      • Kells Cats Chest
      • Miyamoto's Rice Box
    • Trays >
      • Dragonfly Tray
      • Kaiseki Tray
    • Karakami Square Series >
      • Karakami Square #1: Cherry Tree
    • Screens >
      • Eagles 2-Panel Folding Screen
      • The Four Seasons Screen Series >
        • Winter Screen: Eagle & Pine
        • Fall Screen: Canada Geese & Maples
        • Spring Screen: Cherry Trees & Finches
        • Summer Screen: Swallows & Willow
      • Frog's House Screen
      • Waterfall Screen
    • Peacock Sconces
  • Resources List
  • Catalog
  • Sold Paintings
  • Gifted Art & Personal Collection
  • Night at Marymere Falls
  • Eagle on a Pine
  • Skagit Landscape of the Mind: Full Moon at Midnight
  • Eggplant Harvest
  • Tomatoes & Wisteria Entwined
  • Running the Waves
  • When the Salmon Run
  • Autumn Deer
  • Dunlin Flight
  • The Fox Spirit (kitsune)
  • Crow on a Snowy Branch
  • Skagit Landscape of the Mind V: Winter's Cool
  • Trees IV

2.0 Frame Construction

12/9/2014

0 Comments

 
     I have developed a strong interest in arts and crafts period furniture since moving to La Conner back in 2003.  At that time we purchased a house in the historic district which was built in 1900 and had been renovated before we bought it.  The age and style of our “new” home led us to look for period-appropriate furnishings, which in turn, gave us the opportunity to purchase several pieces of furniture.  Two inspirational pieces in particular were a British arts and crafts armoire and a Jugendstil sideboard from Germany.  This beautiful art furniture eventually directed me into doing more in-depth research about the arts and crafts movement, especially in Britain.  Eventually this led me into making my own frames to go with my paintings:  I was inspired to make an attempt to become a craftsman.  The frames cannot be compared to the works of a true craftsman, but I strive to design and create the best frame I possibly can to complement each painting.

     In keeping with the tenets of arts and crafts movement, I build my frames using pegged, mortise and tenon joinery.  This gives the frames added strength and stability, as well as an interesting appearance.  As I do not have power in my shop, my tool use is limited to an electric drill, electric orbital sander, hand saws and chisels.  The wood I normally use for my frames is milled red oak.  I mainly use 1x2 red oak boards but on occasion use 1x3 and 1x4 oak lumber.  The designs for my frames are loosely based on commercial arts and crafts style frames as well as on Japanese-style structures.  On occasion I have even designed the frame first before determining the painted design to be enclosed within.  

     The frame itself is an integral component of the painting and it is to be considered part of the composition.   In traditional Northern Northwest Coast Indian art composition, the black pigment commonly forms the primary formline outlining the composition.  My blackened frames, using the Japanese shou-sugi-ban technique, constitutes the same for my paintings.  They act to enclose the painting, forming a physical boundary around it.  This concept is excellently articulated by Bill McLennan and Karen Duffek in their discussions about Kwakwaka'wakw carver and artist Doug Cranmer. (1)

     (1) “In nineteenth-century paintings on boxes and chests, the physical nature of the object acted as a boundary to the composition, controlling the extent of the painted field.  Cranmer has redefined the idea of visual containment through the repeated use of framing devices.  Each composition is enclosed within a broad band of color painted around its edge.  Forms may emerge from this border or taper off into it; elements are deflected from its surface or completed by its angular line.  Both the color band and the surrounding wood frame are integral components of the finished work.”

             Bill McLennan and Karen Duffek, The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First 

             Nations, ©2000, (pages 261-264).


These are the steps I typically use to construct my frames.

2.1 Design the frame to scale on graph paper
Picture
2.2 Cut the wood
Picture
2.3 Draw and cut the tenons
Picture
Picture
Picture
2.4 Draw, drill, and chisel the mortises
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
2.5 Sand, file, and plane the individual pieces
Picture
2.6 Pre-burn all joints using a propane torch
Picture
2.7 Glue the joints with Gorilla glue and clamp the frame (including the art piece)
Picture
2.8 Drill and peg the joints and glue with wood glue
Picture
2.9 Cut the pegs flush with the surface and sand the frame again

2.10 Burn the frame using a propane torch
Picture
2.11 Burnish the frame with steel wool and wax with Howard Feed-n-Wax
Picture
Picture
Picture
2.12 Attach the painting and the hangers to the back of the frame
Picture
And the framing process is finished.  This typically takes two to three days to complete.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Gary Giovane

    Gary Giovane has been studying art since the ‘70s. A graduate of Penn State University (B.S.) & Memphis State (M.A.T.), Gary has been an archeologist, a cook, and a high school science & math teacher.  Gary worked on the Fishtown, Ozette, & Indian Island archeological projects before teaching for 23 years in Neah Bay and for 7 years in La Conner.  He currently lives and works in La Conner, along with his wife, Leigh.

    Archives

    February 2018
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly