Frame of Reference, Inc.

Tabby Ivy in the Whitefish Art Walk

2012-01-31T08:39:00.001-07:00

Wow - that's a terrible picture! What's it even doing in our blog? Well, that's a shot of the display window at the Bozeman Watch Company's Whitefish showroom, located at the corner of Central and 2nd Avenues, smack in the heart of downtown Whitefish. And, if you strain your eyes and look closely, you can just make out two paintings on easels in that window. Go ahead, work at it a bit - we'll wait...

Here's the story: for 25 years now, Whitefish has done an Art Walk in conjunction with the Winter Carnival, stemming from the days when the town didn't have many art galleries and there were few venues to see the creative talents of local artists. Artists are allotted space in the display windows of businesses downtown, and the result is three blocks of self-guided art tour, visible in all hours of the day and night. The Whitefish Winter Carnival was just ranked by National Geographic Traveler magazine as one of the top ten winter carnivals in the world, and it's a really big deal, lasting two weeks and packing the town. Needless to say, the exposure for artists, particularly those not represented in Whitefish galleries, is really quite exceptional.

As you may know from previous blog posts, we have somewhat of a strategic alliance with the Bozeman Watch Company; Derek is a bit of a watch geek, and at the behest of our friend John Lang, we started with a small display case of the limited edition timepieces here in Bigfork back in June of 2011. In October, Derek started actually working for BWC, spending a few hours each week in their Whitefish showroom, helping with sales, but also handling systems integration, advertising and some graphic design tasks. When BWC was approached to host an artist this year, it only seemed natural that we ask to be allowed to choose one from Frame of Reference!

So, we chose Tabby Ivy, one of our (rapidly) emerging artists, whose work we've shown for about two years now. Tabby is a Bigfork resident who was a serious black-and-white photographer prior to picking up a paintbrush - her ability to see in monochrome allows her to create stunning ethereal landscapes in a very limited color palette. Tabby's paintings have sold exceptionally well this past year, so she was the natural choice for the Art Walk; our goal is to gain her some additional exposure in the hopes of earning her some additional gallery representation out of the area. Tabby created four new pieces specifically for this event, and since you can't see them in that rotten photo above, I'm putting them below. And, I'll get a photo of the windows at night posted here in the next several days, because the one above doesn't do the pieces justice.

"Touching the Clouds"

"In A Quiet Moment"

"Napa Afternoon"

"Interlude"

It's a Brand New Day

2012-01-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

It's also a brand new year, and things have been crazy around here. The pre-Christmas rush was insane -- we were finishing up last minute pieces right up until we closed on Christmas Eve. The week after Christmas was a fairly relaxing week, with Derek on vacation and Christine and Roxie working part-time. Then January hit.

Whoa.

We are up to our eyeballs in work. Apparently everyone is redecorating their homes this year, and they are all getting an early start. Here is a sneak peek at one project that came in today.

This is going to be wicked cool. Everything we have ever framed for Shelley has been wicked cool, and we hope to take some pictures in her house this spring for a future blog post. In the meantime, back to work. There is a lot to do!

Trophy Home

2011-12-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

A big trend here in Montana is to decorate your home with trophies - not attractive younger spouses, but dead animals that have been preserved by a taxidermist and mounted on a wall. There was actually a picture framer/taxidermist in Montana at one point - I envision the customer consultation going something like this: "Wow, that's a really lovely painting! Here, let me move this carcass off the design table." But hey, I digress...

Not every frame has to be for a picture, and not every trophy is a real animal. Case in point - what better way to dress up a big stone fireplace than with a cardboard rhinoceros in a blingy silver frame? This little project we did in early November was put together for someone with her tongue thoroughly in cheek! Word has it that the purple scarf has given way to a red one and some lights are adorning the frame for the holidays.

All kidding aside, empty frames are a great design element! From flea market finds to the pink glitter moulding you've always wanted to use, why not just pick a frame and hang it up sans artwork? Food for thought...

Holiday Art Walk

2011-11-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

We re-hung the gallery for the holiday art walk and somehow managed to squeeze about 118 pieces in the gallery. This is probably a record. In fact, we ran out of hooks for our hanging system. Most of the Christmas decorations still need to go up, but here is a photo montage of how we look today.

It's all fun and games....

2011-10-07T15:09:00.001-06:00

Time flies, eh? Lots of crazy things have been happening here at Frame of Reference since our last blog post, and I promise we will document every last one of them (maybe) here in the coming days. First, a quick one. Here is a fun framing package we put together for a client's mom. The client asked for something "wild and crazy" and this is what she is getting:

This is wicked in real life, and uses one of my favorite mouldings. We blew through about eight or nine matboards getting the cut right, and broke three blades on our mat cutter, but the end result was totally worth it!

Reception and Festival Recap

2011-08-11T09:37:00.000-06:00

Wow - what a crazy week last week turned out to be. The Artists' Reception for Tabby, Jeanette and Lisa was insane - the gallery was packed from just before 5p until almost 9p, nearly an hour after we normally shut things down. We sold three paintings the night of the event, something that's always a pleasant surprise - people usually look during the opening, then purchase later. Friday night saw the three of us (Roxie, too) exhausted and ready for a break, but no such luck, as Christine had a booth in the Festival of the Arts this year. Back at 6a to finish framing her last few pieces, then out on the street at 7:30 to help with setup. Christine had a good show - she sold a handful of paintings and took a couple of commissions, and she had a great time. The gallery was quite busy, and the new layout on the street was fantastic. I'll write a more extensive post with more photos in a couple of days, but now I have to return to framing; we're behind on the work, and frantically trying to catch up.

Last Fridays and Next Friday

2011-07-30T14:20:00.000-06:00

Our monthly Last Fridays gallery night was last night - turnout was great, and we were mobbed almost the entire time! We were so busy that we didn't even get the food out until nearly 5:15, something that would normally cause me apoplexy. But hey, the Prosecco was out, and flowing, and the food made it eventually. We did a modern Greek theme for the food: bacon (yes, bacon) baklava, roasted tomato/onion/feta salad and cannellini bean/tuna/lemon/oregano salad, both in Phyllo cups. The food was fine, and Roxie got to have a nice play date with Marnie and Ted, but the best part was that Christine took commissions for four new paintings! Exciting stuff. Christine will be exhibiting next Saturday and Sunday at the Bigfork Festival of the Arts, our annual street art extravaganza - stop by and visit with her, and buy paintings!

Also next week is our Artists' Reception for the August show, entitled "Three is a Magic Number." We're featuring the three newest artists in our gallery - Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both of whom are new at Frame of Reference this season. The reception is from 5-8p on Friday, August 5th - here's the postcard we sent with all of the information. Please join us!

Guest Blogger: Lisa on Art Intervention

2011-07-22T14:54:00.003-06:00

Lisa is one of those summer residents we look forward to seeing every June. She's witty and fun, and her philosophical, political and religious views are right in line with ours, meaning that conversations never have to veer away from potentially dangerous topics. Christine and I spent an evening at Lisa's home a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to help her "like" her living room more. It bears mention that I would trade Lisa's house for mine, unedited, in a moment, were the opportunity to arise, and Christine has actually threatened to become a squatter in the winter months when Lisa and family return to the Bay Area. Suffice it to say that there's nothing wrong with the place, short of a sense on Lisa's part that not everything was...right. We moved a few things, made some suggestions for a bathroom design about which Lisa was at her wits end, offered some suggestions for lighting. The result was delight on her part, and an invitation from us to write about it! Here it is: Lisa's guest spot on our blog...

* * *

When I arrived at my Ferndale cabin in early June, I was met with many things to excite my cheer. The copious rains had brought delicious fruit: my perennial beds sang with the promise of glorious summer blossoms and the spruce trees all wore new fringe, as bright and tender as a freshly picked pea pod. The lake was glittering, full and brimming with summertime dreams. To be sure, as with every year, there were abundant tasks: gutters to be cleaned, decks to be sanded, flies to be swept away. These annual duties consume one's emotional time every bit as much as the long days ensure one's physical exhaustion. But after the cleaning is finished, phone calls are made, maintenance visits scheduled, consultations through, I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I wandered the rooms of my cabin and stared with melancholy at my tired walls. Every nook and corner, lovingly organized the year before, now looked uninspired, dumpy . . . perhaps even a little cluttered.

I don't have a "decorated" home; I have an acquired home. Some of the furniture simply came with the house, left behind by the original owners. Keen to transfer more than the property's deed, they purposely let a few things remain -- part of the cabin's legacy: a pine dining table, witness to 30 years of marriage; six mismatched oak chairs, sentinels to a life in progress; a red plaid sofa with bun feet legs, waiting to absorb the winter weary after a long day in the snow.

Other things made their way to Montana from long stored boxes and crates, items too beloved to discard, yet betrayed by a growing family and relegated to deep closets and garage shelves. The old bed, hauled up from a youthful foray in New Orleans, mirrors picked up at a second hand shop during a sweep through Chicago's funky design district, the renovated doll house from my daughter's 5th birthday, made over from the days when my husband was a new professor and penny pinching was the necessary order of things. As the years progressed, we added what we needed, procuring pieces from local merchants -- barnwood side tables and lamps from Montana Expressions, dishes and crystal wine goblets from The Barn.

And Art. We definitely added art. A faithful attendee of Frame of Reference's gallery shows, a glass of wine and a few tidbits to nibble is quite possibly the most direct route to my aesthetic sensibility; I have never left their shows without a gem.

So my summer cabin is a patchwork. Does it all fit together? To my heart, absolutely. To my eyes . . . well, not so much.

And this year, as I walked about my little log home and surveyed the eclectica, the visual scrapbook that has become my second life, I felt daunted. "Is this the best I can do?" I don't expect my home to look like a Pottery Barn catalog with rows of monochromatic photos set over seagrass baskets full of plump purple pillows, coffee table vases full of tumbling and twisted branches that would prevent the casual conversations the room implies . . . move the bowl of baubles six inches to the left and crack . . . the picture shatters.

No, my home is not portrait of a life no one leads . . . . and I wouldn't want that. Seductive as it appears in print, such a home would be a facade, a staged walk-through, where the personal significance of any individual piece could be traced no further than the price tag on its underbelly. My home's decor needs a beating heart, which comes from the memory of each item and the knowledge of why it is there. Still, there is a restlessness in wanting, and I couldn't reconcile my desire for cohesion with my bohemian zeal. While I want to believe I am above cliches, sometimes shopping really does make me feel better. Holding as an article of faith that something new would provide the requisite salve, I headed out to Frame of Reference for some decidedly upscale retail therapy.

It doesn't take long to find something fascinating at Frame of Reference. In about five minutes I fixated on a Carol Wade painting I had admired for several months. My mind spinning with possible locations, I validated myself: "This will make all the difference. Surely, my little art shack will be complete if I take this home." My heart swelled with the certainty and rightness of my decision.

Only one small difficulty: where was it going to go? Already, other "certain" acquisitions were leaning against window frames and tucked into corners, little piles of preciousness sat in cabinets just waiting for wall space, circling in my mind like a car at the mall on the last saturday before christmas, touring up and down parking lot rows looking for a "spot." God, I thought: am I becoming a hoarder? Hmm. An art hoarder has a bit of chic to it, but it's a pathology nonetheless.

I think Derek and Christine sensed the trouble and discreetly worried that I might be getting out of control. "We'll bring it over," they declared, "and help you find the right place to hang it."

Thus, Art Intervention was born.

They arrived at the cabin and set to work. The new piece needed its own wall, and after clearing away a few things sentimental they found the vista for its proper appreciation. A part of the therapeutic method, Derek was necessarily stealthy. He would tell me to leave the room, then rearrange things before I could edit him, thereby forcing an unhindered perspective. A design duo, they were able to bring new breath to things I would have ritually shelved. It's not that my pieces were unappealing -- not at all; it's that my eyes could no longer see the palate with freshness. So habituated to a particular item's location, I lost the ability to imagine its happiness (and mine) elsewhere. As Art Interventionists, Derek and Christine were able to simply rearrange pieces to produce a more harmonious effect. With a tilt and a tap of the hammer, a square mirror became a diamond. A vintage tray on the mantle found its brethren in the kitchen. In the end, nothing was eliminated. Hurrah, I am not a hoarder! I have only been eager to create a home that tells a story through meaningful artifacts that whisper who we are. In my passion to build a psychic respite where one's possessions reveal the story of love, connection and shared history, I unwittingly lost the ability to "see" a creative result. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but an harmonious aesthetic, where balance, shape, form and color assemble to create spaces that please -- that effort is actually pretty objective. It's often hard to grasp this when you are in the midst of your own play, as it were, when every thing you see and touch is imbued with more than its contours. Some people are able to do this with ease, but for most of us, and certainly for me, a little help was a welcome thing. Derek and Christine were able to return each wall to a place of balance, and I no longer felt that something needed to be added to make it "right."

Life out of Balance can find many expressions. For me, the simple effort of trying to appreciate my home nearly led me to the belief that I needed to start from scratch and race to the nearest Crate and Barrel. Shudder! I couldn't see the beauty and value of my own life unfolding, visually represented by the imperfect significant, the Wabi-Sabi at work in my own life. I needed fresh eyes to point out what I couldn't see. So, while each thing I own or hang on a string may not be utterly valuable or exquisite, it's a reflection of my life, that which I find dear, the objects that tell my story.

Cost of a painting: $2700
Art Intervention: Priceless

Summertime, and the livin' is...BUSY!

2011-07-20T09:15:00.001-06:00

It's officially nuts here at Frame of Reference. Every year in about mid July, we start a difficult trend - we take in more work every day than we can produce. We're overwhelmed with walk-in traffic, which is lovely - I'm not complaining! But, we find ourselves coming in early and staying late in an attempt to get some of the work done while the doors are locked. It's a great problem to have, I assure you, and the only downside to the whole deal is that it's tough to get out and enjoy the incredible weather we're having right now. Ah, well - we've got lovely things in the gallery, so we aren't lacking for scenery or visual stimulation!

On that note, here's a new giclee from Sarah Rogers that arrived on Monday. It's entitled "Best Puppy," and it's a portrait of Sarah's dog, Buddha, a St. Bernard-Rottweiler cross. He's a big boy! There are only four of these, done on canvas and gallery wrapped so that they don't need frames - I don't imagine they will last long. In the box with "Best Puppy" we received a giclee of a sheep entitled "100% Wool," and an original, also of a sheep, called "Dry Clean Only." Sarah has apparently been on a sheep bender - we received an original two weeks ago, aptly named "Hand Wash, Line Dry"; it was here in the gallery for literally 2 1/2 hours before it found a new home. Seriously. We unpacked the box at 2:30p, and Christine sold the painting at 5p. Pretty cool! I will post photos of the sheep as soon as they're photographed.

Upcoming events at Frame of Reference: next week is our monthly "Last Fridays" reception. I know there's a post here on the blog about Last Fridays, so I won't go into too much detail. We don't have a theme yet, and we're not doing a specific opening because of the event the following week. But, I'm sure we'll come up with something fun, so please join us! Friday, July 29, 5-8p.

The following week is our big artists' reception of the year - Friday, August 5, 5-8p - the evening before Bigfork's iconic Festival of the Arts. Our show is "Three is a Magic Number" - we're featuring our three newest artists in the gallery: Tabby Ivy, who joined us last year, and Jeanette Rehahn and Lisa Schaus, both new to us in 2011. I will be posting the postcard here on the blog next week; if you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please drop us a line and we'll make sure you get a postcard via Snail Mail!

Finally, as previously mentioned, Christine is exhibiting her work in the Festival of the Arts on August 6-7; please stop and see her, and buy lots of paintings so that Roxie can continue to eat her expensive dog food!

They're finally here!

2011-07-12T08:52:00.001-06:00

I'm delighted to report that we've got a new addition to the gallery, something Christine and I have been working on since early May. We have shown jewelry for years, including our current display of Lola's Bolas - "Bling on a String", and now we have added some truly amazing timepieces from the Bozeman Watch Company.

The Bozeman Watch Company is the brainchild of Christopher Wardle of Bozeman, a self-described "watch geek" and an entrepreneur of the highest order. The United States dominated the watchmaking world from approximately 1850 to 1950, but starting in the early 1970s with the invention of the quartz movement, the mechanical watch industry was almost completely sunk in the US and in Europe, with only the Swiss companies hanging on in any number. American greats like Hamilton and Bulova still exist, but only as names owned by large corporate conglomerates like the Swatch Group, makers of the plastic fashion watches that took the world by storm in the early '80s. Swatch actually controls a giant...um..."swatch" of the watchmaking industry, and it owns famed companies like Omega, Tissot and Longines, among others. Swatch also owns ETA, the manufacturer of the movements (the guts) used in almost all of the mechanical watches on the market today.

Chris created the Bozeman Watch Company as the antithesis of all of this - Bozeman Watch timepieces are created from the ground up, with each component - from the case to the crystal to the movement - designed specifically for these watches, rather than assembled piecemeal from a catalog of available parts. The watches are made in very limited editions of 10 to 150 individually numbered pieces per design, and many of the editions sell out during their preproduction phase. Every model is certified as a Chronometer by the COSC, meaning that the watches are built to the highest standards of accuracy and precision in the industry. The artistry and attention to detail are simply amazing, and we are fortunate enough to be able to showcase the pieces here in the gallery!

For more information on these stunning watches, please stop in or contact us. We would be delighted to assist you in selecting an heirloom timepiece to be treasured for generations.

A Wee Rant About Good and Bad Framing

2011-06-28T08:36:00.000-06:00

When we started this blog last year, the intent was to highlight cool projects and show new pieces from our artists. I never really envisioned this as a vehicle for teaching object lessons, and I promised myself that I wouldn't rant about bad framing...and, I've resisted the temptation for over a year now. But now, two projects taken in for framing in June have driven me to write a small rant, with an explanation to follow.

The Rant: one of my catch phrases when talking about framing is, "Any idiot can put a frame on a picture, and many do." The implication here is that it doesn't take really any training or knowledge to smack stuff together and call it framing. In fact, more than half of the "professional" framers working today have never had any formal training, never attended a trade show or educational seminars, never learned anything from anyone other than the person who originally taught them to frame, be that a parent, a former boss, a book or simply hands-on experience. Framing isn't rocket science, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and as in many fields, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Our understanding of how artwork reacts with the environment and with items included in the framing package has grown exponentially in the 19+ years I've been framing, and failure to keep abreast of this expanded knowledge base is doing a disservice to one's customer base. For many things - pieces used as decorative art, like posters, etc. - it technically doesn't matter that the framing package is literally destroying the artwork over time, but for original art and things of sentimental value, you really should do some research and make certain that your framer actually has some formal training. I could go on here for days, but I'll spare you. I will show examples of good and poor use of adhesives in subsequent blog posts, but with the 4th of July weekend coming up, I've got to get back to framing! I'll leave you with a quick photo of Roxie basking in the sun.

Cheers, and Happy Independence Day!

Take a Chill Pill!

2011-06-10T16:36:00.000-06:00

Here's the completed shadowbox for which I posted a teaser photo yesterday. This was a fun one! Here's the story: the box was built for a group of emergency medicine physicians in Newark, New Jersey, as an end-of-year gift for their boss, the Emergency Medicine Program Director. The Director, who shall remain nameless, is reputed to be just a bit...umm...intense at times. One of the docs jokes occasionally about taking a chill pill, and so we created this for them.

The box is obviously modeled after those hallway fire extinguishers in boxes marked, "In Case of Fire, Break Glass." (In doing some research for the project, I did run across a photo of a chainsaw in a box - the lettering said, "In Case of Zombie Attack, Break Glass".) This one contains a giant prescription bottle of "chill pills" and the directions for use state to take "1 tab every hour as needed for stress caused by residents," and to refill "Often - very, very often." The capsules are actually pill containers - they're roughly the size of a really big grape, and each one is labelled "Chill." There's an attached hammer in a cute floral pattern (the Director is a woman) and the glass is pre-broken with the capsules spilling out of the bottle - as if we'd captured the moment of ultimate need. It's tough to see in the first photo, so here's a detail shot with the light reflecting on the cracks...

All in all, a fun tongue-in-cheek tribute to stress relief!

Teaser

2011-06-09T18:16:00.000-06:00

What the H... is that? Well, at this point it's merely a teaser photo. We're building a shadowbox as a gift for someone with a bit of a reputation for being high stress. What you see is the backing, with a little opalescent moulding shelf, upon which currently sits a giant Chill Pill. The finished shadowbox will be quite funny and should be completed some time tomorrow, but until then I thought I'd upload a photo because I didn't update the blog last week. Stay tuned to see the finished product...

New from Tabby Ivy!

2011-05-20T13:23:00.002-06:00

You know, I used to be a really good photographer. Apparently it is a skill I am losing in my old age. But rather than wait for some good photos, because patience is not one of my strong suits, here are a couple terrible pictures of the new pieces we have from local artist Tabby Ivy. The first is a beautiful little 4x6 panel floated on a silk mat and framed with one of my new favorite mouldings. It is called "Central Park Promenade" and is priced at $225. What a wickedly good deal!

The next piece is so fresh some of the paint is still wet! So far it is unframed but we will rectify that situation next week. The panel is 10x8 and is titled "Almost to Valier." (That would be Valier, Montana, population 498, located 71 miles northwest of Great Falls.) Anyway, here it is:

Tabby was one of five artists who participated in a quick-finish event last night at the Bigfork Museum's annual fundraising auction. She also has a piece in the Hockaday Museum's 10th annual Benefit Auction of Miniatures; the "seal the bid" party is tonight!

Three Quickies in the Gallery

2011-05-13T19:04:00.000-06:00

About a week ago I promised you a picture of the new paintings we received from Sarah Rogers. Finally, here they are. Ruby and Rufous. They are 8x8 watercolor panels and $600 each.

Pretty sweet, eh? We wanted to hang these in the window but suddenly the days have gotten sunny, and although our front window is double paned and Low-E, the paintings are watercolors so ixnay on the window idea. We also got a very sweet little painting from Tabby Ivy this week; Derek just built the frame for it today and we can't wait to put it out in the gallery.

For the first time in over 13 years we have grouped a bunch of small paintings together on the wall. Normally we have "blocks" of pieces by the same artist, but we wanted to showcase these little jewels together. As the sign says, "Good things come in small packages."

Last but not least for today, we got some wickedly cool photo frames from our friends at Bella Moulding in Chicago! The front and back are made of clear acrylic and they are held together with four small magnets. They hold a 4x6 photo and are so hip they will fit in any decor.

We have a lot going on in the framing department this week as well, including seven or eight prints for the designer down the street, Indonesian stick puppets, a print from Ethiopia, a map of Jamaica and the largest Rothko print I have ever seen. There is a fairy, some tipis, two mirrors and a chalk pastel portrait. We hope to post pictures of some of the more interesting framing projects soon.

Bling on a String!

2011-05-09T11:59:00.007-06:00

Lola's Bolas are the latest addition to the collection of cool things here at Frame of Reference - the photo above is a shot of our newly filled display case. The traditional "bolo tie" is considered de rigeur Western Formal Wear (along with a good pair of jeans and your best boots) for many events here in Montana; our friend Tara has brought a modern and fashionable twist to the table, with styles for both men and women. Many of the women's bolas have matching earrings and bracelets, and several of the men's styles can be paired with a matching women's necklace for a coordinated look, whether you're out on the town or just lounging around the campfire. The bolas are suprisingly affordable, with prices ranging from $45 to $75; bracelets and earrings range from $15 to $35. Stop in and try on a little Bling on a String for your very own!

Our Swanky New Look!

2011-05-03T18:40:00.002-06:00

That old template was a little boring, wasn't it? With the busy summer months right around the corner, Christine and I have been consumed by our usual desire to improve ourselves and our business. We have the technology. We can be better...faster...stronger... (Ach, if only we had six million dollars!)

Seriously, though - lots of changes for Frame of Reference in 2011. We've just taken on a new artist about whom we're very excited, and we'll post a little about her as soon as new paintings arrive. We've added a new jewelry line, created by a good friend right here in Bigfork. More on her later, too! We are also working on offering a couple of product lines here that are very artistic, but aren't "art" in the traditional gallery sense - they're not paintings, or sculpture. Can't say more about that until the deals are done, so to speak, but, once again, watch this space for more information. Suffice it to say, Frame of Reference continues to grow and mature, and this year, we'll be better than ever!

About the new look for this blog: we'd appreciate your feedback. Is the new font easy enough to read? Do the links work? Do the colors make you ill? At the behest of a client who couldn't find our phone number, we've added contact information just below our profile - thanks for the suggestion, Frank! Finally, I'm working on a background picture that's a little less generic, and a little more "us" but honestly, the templates are not as user friendly as I'd like and I ran out of patience today. Thanks for your patience. Cheers!

Spring? Really?

2011-04-27T17:16:00.005-06:00

Have you noticed that almost ONE THIRD of this year is gone already? What the heck happened? Time really does go by faster when you get older. Not that I'm getting old or anything, I'm just repeating what I've heard....

Spring has sprung here in the Flathead Valley. No, really, it has. It did snow a little yesterday, and it is a bit chilly and rainy today, but Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. Mother Nature has been messing with us this year and we can't quite figure out what's coming. Except possibly a lot of flooding. That should be fun.

Time to rehang the gallery again tomorrow, because this week is Last Friday. I think we are going with an Easter-ish food theme that may include marinated asparagus and lamb meatballs. We have until tomorrow evening to decide on a menu, so why rush.

We got two fantastic new paintings from Sarah Rogers today, just in time for a new window display. We will post a picture soon. And we have some other interesting things coming in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for updates - we promise to be better about posting.

In the meantime, this is where Christine has been for the past week, while Derek and Roxie toiled away in a nice spring blizzard:

Goofy says hi.

Stuff Happens

2011-02-07T11:04:00.008-07:00

Avulsion - ah-vul'-shun - noun: The forcible tearing away of a body part, either by trauma or surgery. Why is that defined here? Stay tuned...

There are many joys to owning a small business - among them are no time clock to punch, no lousy coworkers to tolerate, the freedom to take a nap on the work table when the mood strikes you, and many other things. (See below.) There are also many pitfalls, particularly in our new and downsized economy. There are no regular paychecks unless you have enough sales to meet payroll, and there's nobody else with whom to share the unpleasant tasks like cleaning the bathroom, shovelling snow or calling past due accounts. And, when things go wrong or stuff breaks, there's nobody else to deal with it. You gotta do it yourself.

The compressor died on Wednesday morning; after five years of faithful service, it sheared its piston and went from being simply loud to sounding as if it were going to explode. Since it powers most of the tools in the workshop, production came to a grinding halt. On the bright side, we bought a lovely new compressor a few years back, but it was never installed because it's much larger than the space we had allotted, and it's REALLY FREAKIN' HEAVY! Heavy enough so as to be difficult for two people to carry up the stairs, so it has been sitting in the storage unit, waiting to be appreciated. We bit the bullet and installed it Thursday morning, and work continues. On an exceptionally positive note, the new model is what's known as a "silent compressor" - designed for use in dentists' offices where a device that's louder than a snowblower will scare the patients away. This baby is about as loud as a refrigerator running. Fantastic!

Last bit of the "stuff happens" post - when you work with tools every day, eventually you have an accident. Christine and I are used to minor cuts and dings, since we work with glass and razor blades all of the time. However, occasionally something happens every once in a great while that sends you to the Emergency Department - it's the Law of Averages, I suppose. Yesterday my left thumb had an altercation with the table saw - a freak injury that was a result not of my own carelessness or stupidity, but because of a large flaw in the wood that I was cutting, forcing it to kick away from its intended path through the saw. My left hand was supporting the wood on the outflow side of the blade, and the kickback drew my hand back into the saw. I was incredibly lucky for two reasons: first, the blade was only about 5/16" deep because I was just enlarging a rabbet in some moulding, and second, because I was on the far side of the blade, its motion kicked my hand away from the saw, rather than into it. So I was dealt a glancing blow, rather than one that could have potentially amputated the digit. A visit to the ER and the eminently skilled Dr. Kyle Weber got me cleaned up and bandaged - the wound is an avulsion, as described at the beginning of this post. Nothing to sew. Scary, and it will leave a nasty scar, but I'll retain full function with my thumb and it will heal completely so long as I keep it clean. On the bright side, I should be good now for another ten years, since that's about how long it's been since I visited the ER with an injury. Yeah, I know it doesn't really work that way, but I can delude myself...

Out of respect for those with weak stomachs, I'm including a picture of the sexy new compressor, rather than one of my thumb.

Paint on Purpose

2011-01-18T08:22:00.005-07:00

Okay, so in the last post I mentioned that Christine has been painting in earnest, and that I recently sold four of her landscapes in the gallery. Christine is kicking around three distinct styles currently - the aforementioned trees and words (as shown in the previous post) and abstractions like the one above. We discovered that paintings like this one are somewhat difficult to frame; too much going on around them diminishes the strength of the central figure, but putting them in a little nothing frame makes them seem...confined, I suppose. As a result of this, Christine has been experimenting with mounting her paper paintings on prepared gallery-wrapped canvases - it's a great technique that allows a painting to be displayed without a frame. Watch for more pictures as she completes a few more pieces.

The painting sales have given Christine a healthy boost of self-confidence, and she's making plans to begin entering art festivals, her first likely being the Festival of the Arts here in Bigfork. This event always falls on the first full weekend of August, and brings roughly 10,000 people to Bigfork to walk the streets and shop the festival. Start painting now, Christine - you need a lot of stuff to fill that booth!

Final thought for the day: Christine has started her own blog to catalog her paintings and the process - find it at http://www.paintonpurpose.blogspot.com/.

New Year, New Artist

2011-01-03T10:48:00.007-07:00

Happy New Year! I apologize for allowing the FOR blog to fall by the wayside over the past few months, and fully intend to keep up in 2011. It's not a New Year's resolution, because I don't really believe in those, but I am resolved...

The title of this post is a little deceiving, because our new artist isn't exactly new. The painting above was done by Christine Vandeberg, one half of the Frame of Reference team (or, one third if you count Roxie - and who wouldn't?) Christine has been painting for several years now, and since I sold one of her paintings to a couple in New Zealand a few years ago, she is technically "internationally collected." Most of her paintings in the past have featured words, either inspirational or simply meaningful. Here's an example:

There are several word paintings here in the gallery, and Christine will continue this series. One thought of special note - she takes commissions. The word of your choice can be done in the color palette of your choice - please call or come in and talk to her about it!

So, back to the New Artist part. As you can see, the painting at the top of this page is a radical departure. Christine has started painting on paper, creating her own iridescent papers and then painting abstract landscapes with a palette knife. This painting was a Christmas gift to me - thanks, Christine! The first of this series of trees was painted in early December; Christine brought it in to work one day to show me what she was doing. I told her how much I loved the painting, and encouraged her to do more of them so we could frame them for display in the gallery. Reluctantly, she did so; we framed three paintings and put them in the front window as a winter display. It was quite rewarding to Christine to see the number of people who stopped to look at the paintings, and several people came in to inquire. Sadly, we had to turn them away, as I sold all three, plus a fourth painting (purchased sight unseen) 24 hours after putting them on display! Christine is working fervently to replace them, and she ordered more paint and larger paper to see if the paintings can grow a bit. Stay tuned for details!

September - Changes in the Weather, and in the Artwork!

2010-09-15T08:55:00.002-06:00

Wow - where did the summer go? While today is a perfect September day, last week was cold, gray and wet, making us yearn for just a little more sunshine. It seems like summer only lasted six weeks this year, with June having been so rainy, and the leaves already turning...

While I'm not ready to acknowledge that summer is officially over just yet, I will state unequivocally that it was a great one! Artwork sales were definitely better this season than the previous two years; I'm not sure if people are finally acknowledging the end of the Great Recession or if it's just pent up consumerism,but either way, we were quite pleased with the change in traffic here in Bigfork. Framing was rockin' too, with an abundance of multiple-piece orders and a return to the Augusts of years past, where intake of work exceeded production on many days. This is the excuse I'll use for neglecting the blog for five weeks now!

Labor Day has come and gone, so it's time to put away the white bucks and seersucker suits...oh, wait, that's not right. What that means here in Bigfork is that walk-in traffic has slowed significantly, and you can find parking on Electric Avenue once again. It's now the perfect time to visit the shops and galleries in town! We'll be celebrating Last Fridays next week with a chili feed here at Frame of Reference, and we've got several new pieces of art on display, including some delightful giclees from Carol Hagan (I want the Baby Giraffe for myself!) and a spectacular new oil painting from Missoula artist Mark Gibson, seen at the top of this page. It's titled "Solitude" and makes me yearn for another evening on Flathead Lake before it gets too cold. Mark built the frame for this painting, too - stop in and see it!

Late Summer/Autumn hours are now in effect; we're here Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 5:30, Sunday from 11 to 4, and closed on Monday. Happy September!

Glacier Reflections: Reception for Nancy Cawdrey

2010-08-05T08:12:00.002-06:00

Friday evening is our premier event of the summer - our reception for Bigfork artist Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey. For several years now, we've thrown a big party to introduce new paintings from Nancy, always on the Friday before Festival of the Arts weekend. We've got five new paintings to add to our already wide selection of Nancy Cawdrey originals, and from 5 to 8 p.m. tomorrow we'll have bubbly and snacks to help entice you in and have a look. Josh Auerhammer of Culinary Design Studio is catering, so you know the food will be sublime! Please join us, and bring your family and friends!

And, do make a point to visit Bigfork this weekend for the Festival of the Arts. If you're unfamiliar with Festival, take a moment and check out the website - http://www.bigforkfestivalofthearts.com/ - for a little history. In a nutshell, Festival is a street fair celebrating the arts; over 150 vendors this year set up booths on the street to show their wares. You can find paintings and photography, sculpture and pottery, clothing, jewelry, handmade soaps and a host of other handmade items - there's something for everyone! The quality of work exhibited is quite high; in the early years, I thought of the Festival as "Arts and Craps" but no more. It may not all be your taste, but it's all good now. And, for me at least, the icing on the cake is the food - several vendors sell baked goods, and you can find barbecue, crepes, Chicago Hot Dogs, burgers, fry bread, Hale's noodles and even mini donuts! It's an eating extravaganza! Live music is offered at a couple of locations all weekend, rounding out the event. There is no parking downtown, but shuttle buses run regularly, and handicapped parking is available. Contact the Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce - 837-5888 - for additional information.

The Dog Days of Summer

2010-07-28T10:01:00.004-06:00

Just a quick entry this week, I'm afraid. Summer traffic has been quite good, and Montana is not on fire yet, though we all fear it's on the horizon... Still, we've been graced with lots of shoppers this season, and the prevailing mood in Bigfork is great - people are having fun, the weather is finally cooperating, and Flathead Lake is spectacular. All ingredients for a perfect summer in Bigfork!

Two upcoming events of note - first, this Friday, July 30th, is our Last Friday evening here in Bigfork. Shops, galleries and restaurants are offering snacks and specials from 5 to 8 p.m. to entice you to mark your calendar and spend the evening in Bigfork. Mark your calendar with our slogan - Last Fridays are Every Last Friday of Every Month!

Next, August 6th is our annual Artist's Reception for Nancy Cawdrey. This marks the kickoff to the Bigfork Festival of the Arts, a two day art fair in Bigfork that closes the streets and brings thousands of visitors to the Village. We have several new paintings for Nancy's show, and we invite you to join us from 5 to 8 p.m. to have a nosh and enjoy the new pieces. There are two fantastic Glacier Park paintings to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Glacier National Park. And, there's a painting of Roxie, done from this photo:

It is, of course, my favorite Nancy Cawdrey painting EVER! and, we got to use the pink glitter frame again - stop by to see it!

Jelly Belly Bus Comes to Bigfork!

2010-07-22T17:41:00.002-06:00

Today was a SWEET day in the Village - the Jelly Belly Bus came to town! The owners of Jelly Belly have a summer home in the Lakeside/Rollins area, and they worked with the owners of S.M. Bradford and Co. to have their tour bus spend the day on Electric Avenue.

Several area businesses participated, putting up signs and banners, and some (like Frame of Reference) had drawings and door prizes that were Jelly Belly themed. The Jelly Belly crew gave away free samples all day, and the highlight for most of the small children was the "Tasting Wheel" - you spun a wheel that told you what color bean to sample, and in that bin were two flavors that looked similar but didn't taste at all alike. For example, Blueberry was mixed up with Toothpaste, and you didn't know what you were getting until you tasted. We heard rumors of Skunk flavored beans, and Christine's personal favorite was Pencil Shavings - not that she was brave enough to taste it...

The Jelly Belly Beetle was here, too.

Our contest was to guess the number of Jelly Bellys used to make the mat for this spectacular photo of Roxie. Email a guess if you'd like - we'll entertain entries through tomorrow afternoon!

The afternoon was supposed to end with Jelly Belly Martinis for the adults, but the flavoring agents were mistakenly left off the bus, much to our dismay! Ah, well - we probably shouldn't have started thinking about Martinis at noon anyway...

Thanks, Jelly Belly, and thanks to Donna Shanahan Interiors and the Emmerts of S.M. Bradford for putting this fun day together!

Clint Walker Opening at Piney Creek Interiors

2010-07-15T16:20:00.011-06:00

We closed early this past Friday and headed up to Whitefish to attend a gallery opening for Clint Walker, Editor-in-Chief of Flathead Living Magazine and photographer extraordinaire. We've represented Clint here in the gallery for about a year now; his photographs are much admired and have sold quite well for us. This is a bit of a surprise, not because Clint isn't a talented photographer, but because selling photographs is actually a little difficult.

People tend to look at photos and say, "Hey, that's cool. I could do that." With the advent of better and better digital cameras, much of the technical skill required to take an attractive photograph is done for you now. But honestly, it's all about the composition, and that's where Clint really excels. His vision is unique, and people admire his work, rather than thinking they could duplicate it. Take Buffalo River, for example:

Anybody can get a snapshot of buffalo, particularly around Yellowstone National Park where they're about as common as mosquitoes. But maybe one in a thousand can capture the interplay of light, the scale and the compositional framing to make the buffalo truly appear like the magnificent creature that it is. Anybody can take a picture, but Clint's photographs are truly Fine Art.

Piney Creek Interiors in Whitefish just moved into a new 6000 square foot retail space downtown on Baker Avenue, right next to Coffee Traders. The location is a huge improvement, and Dena and her staff have filled the showroom with a great collection of furnishings and accessories, but the huge "bonus room" upstairs is the gem, so far as I'm concerned. It's a large open loft-like space with high ceilings and soaring windows, and frankly, it's a great place for a party! The space is currently filled with a unique collection of Clint's photos - he's done some really innovative printing with metalized papers and unusual mounting, and he let us go wild on the framing. We're particularly proud of the frame we came up for the photo o Clint and Alisha's daughter, Beau.

Recently featured on the cover of Flathead Living, Beau is shown holding her first fish ever, wearing a red and white checked gingham shirt and fishing gear that would make her daddy proud. We framed her with an Italian lacquer moulding that exactly matches her shirt, and surrounded it with a distressed white frame that exactly duplicated the boards of the dock. The end result is perfect, if I do say so myself. One woman told Clint towards the end of the evening that she'd pay ANYTHING to own the photograph. That's a pretty good sign....

Friday's opening was a great event - loads of people, mountains of sushi and accolades all around.

This coming Friday night - July 16th - marks the official Grand Opening of Piney Creek Interiors, so Clint will be there again, signing photos and working the room as only he can do. Though it's hard for me as a loyal Bigforker, I must admit that Whitefish will be the place to be tomorrow night!

Cool Project - Medicine Cabinet

2010-06-28T10:25:00.003-06:00

Another cool project recently left Frame of Reference - a custom built medicine cabinet. The problem started with a newly remodeled bathroom; new sink/countertop, new faucet, new light fixture, new tile backsplash, and a lousy $20 Home Depot medicine cabinet.

Black plastic frame, cheap stained plastic interior with cheesy shelves.

See? UGLY!

The real problem is that the homeowner just couldn't find anything to make her happy. The bathroom is cool and geometric, and premade cabinets just weren't working for her. So, we built one from scratch! A pale, ice blue lacquer outer frame with a cream lacquer fillet were used to construct the door.

The case was custom built from poplar, lacquered white inside with adjustable glass shelves. We backed the case with mirror and faced it with a lacquered frame that mimics the bamboo shelves hanging to the right of the medicine cabinet.

The end result? Harmony in the bathroom, and a truly custom look that delights the homeowner every morning! Problem solved!

New Art, Busy Summer

2010-06-25T08:40:00.003-06:00

Okay, we're a little behind. I've actually put "BLOG" in big orange letters on the scheduling calendar every Wednesday, with the intent being to help me remember to blog regularly. I was out of town last week, and Christine had planned to write the post, but she was absolutely SWAMPED! It's been quite busy these past few weeks, with both gallery browsers (and buyers!) and framing clients, and there was simply too much work for one person last week.

When I returned to work this past Sunday, we agreed to take on a series of very time sensitive jobs with much less than our usual turnaround time, so the blog got postponed again! Today is a fill-in, with two posts of substance to follow this weekend. As a teaser, I'll share that one post is about a custom medicine cabinet which I built and installed last week - it was a fun project that has helped to transform a small bathroom remodel.

For the other post, you get a visual teaser. The painting below - "The Journey Begins" - is an original oil painting by Lakeside painter Tabby Ivy, our newest artist! We've been framing Tabby's work for several years; most of what she painted was for friends or museum fundraisers. Up to this point, she has not been represented by a gallery. We broached the subject earlier this Spring and Tabby jumped at the chance. We've just received five new paintings which will be framed and ready for display by next week. At that point, I'll do a full post about Tabby and her artwork, but until then, feast your eyes on this...

Cool Project!

2010-06-09T09:41:00.006-06:00

We frame all sorts of things here, from the usual posters, prints and paintings to objects like WWII medal collections, a Blackfeet medicine bag, antique firearms and a wristwatch, just to name a few. This project came through last week, and both Christine and I are pretty pleased with how it turned out.

It's a two-dollar bill, circa 1928, and on the back is handwritten, "Northfield - 1943 - the beginning". The owner sent it for framing; it was the first money earned by his grandparents' chicken farm in Northfield, Vermont. Our instructions were to present the back of the bill, but beyond that the design was left up to us.

The problem, for Christine, was that the back of the bill is...boring. Other than the inscription, all of the ink is muddy, and not particularly interesting. The front has some printing in a great vermilion color, and it seemed prudent to show that side, too, so she designed a two-sided presentation. It wasn't particularly difficult, but it is complex in that we chose to have both sides look like the "front" rather than having the frame face one side and attempt to finish the back side of the frame somewhat attractively. The bill was encapsulated in mylar - basically sandwiched between two layers of clear film with no adhesive - so the edges could be shown. We cut a triple mat for each side using loden green linen, a bit of red to match the seal on the face of the bill and a nice mossy green for punch. The frame is a rustic cedar veneer in an interesting brownish-gray tone. When we had the depth of the finished matting and glazing determined, we built two identical frames, ran them through the table saw so that each was exactly half of the required depth, then joined them back to back using a biscuit joiner. Table saws and biscuit joiners aren't generally used for most framing projects, but I'm sort of a tool geek, so of course I own them!

Did you notice Roxie in the background of this photo? She's getting so big...

The completed piece was designed to sit on a tabletop without any support - it's just wide enough. However, we've got these great new easels that just so happen to be the perfect size and color, so Christine put one into the package before sending it back East. It allows for a little more polished presentation.

Christine got an email the other day - the owner was overwhelmed, and the completed frame greatly exceeded his expectations. It now holds a prominent place in his dining room with his other most treasured things. Mission accomplished!

New in the Gallery: Tara Moore

2010-06-02T12:11:00.011-06:00

We're delighted to be representing Arlee artist Tara Moore in the gallery this Summer. We remember Tara's work from when we first opened here in Bigfork; her paintings were very well executed and very, very realistic. As you can see, Tara's style has become much more Impressionistic over the last ten years or so - now her paintings are fantastically loose and full of motion! The best part is that Tara is clearly, in the nomenclature of another artist we know, a "Horsey Girl." Tara lives with and loves horses, and you can see it in her ability to capture them perfectly - it's much more difficult than you might think.

Tara Moore was honored with the Ralph "Tuffy" Berg Award in 2007 at the C.M. Russell Auction and Exhibition in Great Falls, and she's been juried into the Auction every year since then. In 2006 she was one of six Impressionists in the "Paint Outside the Lines" show at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, and the same year she was the featured artist for the Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Whitefish. She's been a featured artist for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has been included in countless juried shows and has had her paintings featured on numerous magazine and book covers. She's also published her own childrens' books! (We're looking into this further - they would be fun to have here!)

Tara is definitely the most "Western" of the painters we're currently representing, but even so her bright colors and wild motion make her work fit in perfectly here at Frame of Reference. We plan to feature her in our June Artist's Reception - stay tuned for more information! The four paintings shown here are currently available; please contact us if you'd like more information.

Vaya con huevos, Joaquin...

2010-05-26T09:55:00.005-06:00

This week at Frame of Reference has been slightly less colorful than usual. On Monday morning, Derek carefully wrapped Joaquin, our iconic reclaimed steel sculpture, for the journey to his new home in Calgary. Standing just over four feet tall, Joaquin was created by Billings sculptor Bill Drum and his son, Chris, from pieces of oil drums, a Nissan pickup hood, a Whirlpool washing machine and various other unidentifiable steel bits. He came to live at Frame of Reference last summer and spent most of his time in the front window of the gallery, basking in the late afternoon sun and causing whiplash as many a passerby turned for another look.

The gallery seems a little empty without Joaquin. Yes, I know that the whole point of owning a gallery is to sell art, but we do get a little bit attached to certain pieces. We'll miss him, but we know that Jim and JoAnne, Joaquin's new owners, will take excellent care of him! We hope another Bill Drum piece - perhaps a distant cousin to Joaquin - will enjoy the window seat in the near future. We can hardly wait...

Last Fridays!

2010-05-19T12:10:00.003-06:00

For as long as I can remember, Bigfork has had an Art Walk tradition, or maybe that should be Tradition with a capital "T". We have two Art Walks each year, one in May on the Saturday before Mother's Day, and one in November on Decorating Day (the Saturday before Thanksgiving.) They're great events, and folks come from throughout Western Montana to stroll the streets, visit the galleries and meet their friends for a night on the town. The Holiday Art Walk in November is particularly successful because the Elves have spent the day hanging lights and garlands, so the evening celebration is a nice way to wrap up, culminating with the tree lighting ceremony in front of Bjorge's Gallery.

Even so, a few of us have kicked around the idea of doing monthly art walks all year long. Let's be honest here - a few of us have kicked the idea around for literally YEARS! It seems so silly that Bigfork - long known as an Art Destination - doesn't celebrate the Arts on a monthly basis, like Missoula does with First Fridays. I was managing a gallery in Missoula in the early '90s when First Fridays really took off, and it quickly became known as THE event of the month. First Fridays is a huge success in Missoula, and nearly the whole town turns out to spend the evening downtown.

John and Molly Morton from Sacred Dancing Gallery, Christine and I, Deliah, Signe and Jill from Persimmon Gallery decided last week that we need to take the bull by the proverbial horns and just start something in Bigfork. We originally envisioned a block party, but the ultimate goal is to get everyone in the Village to participate. We've decided on celebrating the Last Friday of every month, from 5 to 8 p.m. We're inviting everyone, and in addition to having the retail shop and galleries involved, we hope to get some of the restaurants to do drink or dining specials to dovetail with the event. Next week is the first Last Friday, so please join us! At this time, the participants we know are in for sure are Bjorge's Gallery, Sacred Dancing, Frame of Reference, Donna Shanahan Interiors and Persimmon Gallery. I'm going around town tomorrow with an informational flier and we're sending email blasts out this weekend, so I hope the list will grow significantly even for this first event. We'll keep you posted!

Spring Art Walk Recap

2010-05-12T09:07:00.004-06:00

Spring Art Walk was this past Saturday; the weather held, the food rocked, and the traffic was great! Now that the event has come and gone, I can explain the Bacon and Eggs food theme. It all began with Christine's desire to make Bacon Bourbon Brownies; last year's Holiday Art Walk featured Chocolate Covered Bacon, and it was such a hit that Christine has been compiling bacon/chocolate recipes ever since! Anchored by that one item, we started casting about for additional bacon and egg recipes. For savory items, we served Bacon and Green Onion Corn Muffins, Spanish Deviled Eggs (with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar) and Gazpacho "Shooters" spiked with bacon-flavored vodka. (The bacon vodka is pretty lousy on its own, but tastes quite good in things like gazpacho, or maybe Bloody Marys.) Sweet items included the aforementioned brownies, Gold Cake (an Italian celebration cake made with twelve (!) egg yolks - see the recipe at http://www.nonnas-kitchen.blogspot.com/) and cinnamon meringue cookies. Everything was excellent, if I do say so myself...

Our philosophy for Art Walk is really pretty simple: in short, it's not about selling art. Instead, we look at Art Walk as one of the first big social events of the Spring, and we use it as an excuse to throw a good party! Yes, of course, we do rehang the gallery and we always showcase new paintings during the event, but our intent behind this is to have folks come out and enjoy Bigfork and all that it has to offer - sales are secondary to us. Incidentally, sales were excellent this time around, but that's merely a bonus to our way of thinking. With that in mind, we learned a few things this year. First of all, the organizers of this year's event decided that the hours should be from 1 to 7 p.m., rather than the usual 4 to 7, their reasoning being that people often came early because they didn't know the time. While others may have thought this to be a successful tactic, feedback from our guests showed that it actually diluted the event drastically. The almost universal feedback was that people would much prefer the Art Walk to be from 5 to 7 or 8 p.m., because it's a social event and a shorter window of time would mean seeing more of your friends from throughout the Valley. So next time, we'll push for shorter hours and more advertising.

The other thing we realized is that a small group of us believe having only two Art Walks each year is about ten Art Walks too few! To that end, a handful of us are going to start doing monthly events - sort of a Block Party theme. We're working to agree on a time and day each month, send out blast emails, and try and get something established in peoples' minds, like the very successful First Fridays in Missoula. My goal is for all of Bigfork to begin to participate, so that (for example) the third Thursday of every month becomes known as a rockin' evening in town, and folks plan that week around it. You know, come down and walk the town, have a few cocktails, meet friends for dinner in one of the many exceptional restaurants here, talk it up and invite more folks the next month. And hey, maybe buy a painting or a sculpture, too! We've decided that we're starting in June; I'll share details as soon as we pick a day.

Last thought - this was Roxie the Shop Dog's first Art Walk. Honestly, we were a little worried about her; wide open door, lots of people, lots of food, and generally a fair number of small children, of whom Roxie is still a little unsure. (A trainer tells us that kids are at eye level to dogs, which they find threatening; regular training is needed to overcome this.) It all adds up to sensory overload for a 5 month old puppy! Much to our delight, Roxie was fantastic - she charmed folks left and right, tried just twice to snack on somebody's treats, and only made a break for the door a couple of times. By about 5 p.m., she was pretty worn out (so were we, Roxie!) and fell asleep on the love seat in the gallery. All in all, a successful evening!

Spring Art Walk 2010: Bacon and Eggs?

2010-05-05T09:01:00.010-06:00

Please join us this Saturday, May 8th, for the Spring Art Walk in Bigfork. The Taste of Bigfork in late April and the Spring Art Walk in May traditionally mark the beginning of the "season" here in Bigfork - this is the time of year when the golf course at Eagle Bend is lush and green, the flowers are in bloom in front of the Playhouse and the folks who summer in Bigfork start to arrive in greater numbers. The "second homers" here now are probably a little dismayed, as are most of us who live here, because Spring seems to be completely unwilling to make an appearance. Yesterday found temperatures in the mid 30s, and snow fell pretty much all day, though it never accumulated here in town. It's May - what's up? We're all a little stir crazy here in Bigfork - not enough sun and not enough time on the lake or in the yard. However, this weekend is supposed to be warm and dry, so you should plan on spending part of the afternoon on Electric Avenue, strolling through the shops and galleries, sampling goodies and chatting with your friends and neighbors.

For several years now we've hired a caterer to prepare the food for our Summer artist's receptions (thanks, Josh!) but we always prepare food ourselves for Art Walk. We generally try and work around some sort of theme; this year's is Bacon and Eggs! No, we won't be serving breakfast, but every single item, both savory and sweet, is going to feature either bacon or eggs or both. I'm not going to spoil the surprise by revealing any dishes just yet, so you'll have to stop in to find out exactly what we've got up our sleeves. We'll be open until 7 on Saturday, so make a point to visit us.

Of course, the point of Art Walk isn't to showcase the food, so we're rehanging the gallery and will feature several new paintings and prints for your viewing (and shopping) pleasure. It's still pretty drab outside, so come in for a bit of color! We look forward to seeing you!

Vibrant Artwork to Combat the Winter Blues

2010-04-30T08:26:00.011-06:00

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey is by far our most popular artist. Known for her vibrant colors, Nancy paints with French dye on silk, a modern interpretation of a painting medium that originated in China literally thousands of years ago. The technique is most similar to watercolor; vibrant dyes are painted directly onto stretched silk with a variety of brushes. Nancy further enhances her artwork through a variety of other mediums, and she's a talented oil painter, creating traditional landscapes and portraits that surprise many of her fans.

Nancy's father was a career military officer and diplomat, so she spent her childhood moving around the world and absorbing a vast diversity of cultures. She's been painting for nearly four decades now and has lived in Montana for more than 20 years after living and studying in Britain, France, Italy and Egypt. Nancy is represented in major galleries throughout the United States, and her presence at the CM Russell Art Auction has helped to transform the Western art market over the past several years. At one time, vibrant paintings like Nancy's were uncommon in an industry that clung to tradition. Now, literally dozens of artists work in the colors and styles that Nancy helped make so popular. Her paintings are widely collected, and pieces at auction regularly bring record prices. Nancy doesn't constrain herself to painting one thing, like landscapes or wildlife; instead, her subject matter is all over the map! I strongly feel that her best paintings are the florals for which she originally became so well known, but her most collected pieces now include tipis, bears and moose, running horses and perhaps most surprisingly, comical French chefs!

We've represented Nancy here at Frame of Reference for almost seven years now. Her husband and business manager, Steve, originally approached us about showing her paintings, but the conversation quickly morphed into a discussion about framing. The end result is that we now frame every painting that Nancy produces. It's great fun for us for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, we get first pick of any available paintings to show here in Bigfork, so our inventory is always fresh. Next, we get to suggest subject matter, from herons to penguins to the tropical fish that Nancy started experimenting with this past summer. Finally, we will frequently collaborate with Nancy to create adventurous frames for special pieces. The fish shown here- "Little Picasso" - is a prime example; it features three stacked frames and an inner detail of multicolored anodized aluminum. The end result is both exciting and perfectly balanced with the artwork. Sadly, this painting is sold (I wanted it for myself!)

After a brilliant dollop of sunshine and warmth in mid March, the weather here in Bigfork has been dismal lately. Gray skies, rain, fog and wet heavy snow have persisted for weeks now, draining my will to live and severely limiting my time outside on a bicycle or working in the yard. It snowed 8" just five miles north of here yesterday - right on my favorite cycling route! With so little color outside, it's the perfect time for bright, energetic artwork like Nancy's! Stop by and visit us for a dose of color that will zap you like a good shot of espresso - we carry Nancy's original paintings, giclees, lithographs, posters and even greeting cards, so there's something to enjoy for every budget!

Shop Dog Blog!

2010-04-21T10:36:00.007-06:00

We have a new employee here at Frame of Reference - her name is Roxie, and photos are attached for your viewing pleasure. We plan to have her answer the phones when we can find a headset that stays on her head, but until then, her only task here is to be adorable and greet our friends and customers. (Walmart's got nuthin' on us!) She loves people, and we encourage you to stop by and say hello!

Roxie is part Boxer and part Something Else; she was born some time around Thanksgiving and was abandoned by her previous owner in Kalispell's Woodland Park at the tender age of ten weeks, so we don't know her actual lineage. Puppies are not kept at the Flathead County Animal Shelter because of the Parvo Virus, so she was cared for by a foster family here in Bigfork. Christine met Roxie at Crossfit (http://www.crossfitflathead.com/) when her foster mom (Martina) brought her to a potential adoptive parent. A couple of weeks later, Christine mentioned to Martina's mother that Martina had brought the cutest puppy in the world to Crossfit, only to discover that she still hadn't been adopted. The next day, Roxie came to Frame of Reference for a visit, and three days after that Christine formalized the adoption. That was eight weeks ago, and now we're wondering how we survived without a Shop Dog for the last 12 years! Roxie has a huge fan club, and a handful of people each day stop in just to get their "Roxie fix". Christine would like Roxie to be a therapy dog when she's older, but we're realizing that she already fills that role for a whole pile of folks here in town!

We're very respectful of our customers, so rest assured that if you're not a dog person Roxie will stay in the workroom.

In addition to looking for that headset, we're slowly grooming Roxie to take over the blog (typing is hard in the absence of opposable thumbs) so drop her a line sometime!

Sarah Rogers

2010-04-14T08:27:00.006-06:00

Sarah is one of two new artists in the gallery this year; the other - Tara Moore - will be featured in a later post. Like the vast majority of art shown here at Frame of Reference, Sarah's work is bright and colorful. She works in watercolor, a medium I generally think of as pretty quiet and soft, and the results are anything but. Bears, bison, wolves and horses feature prominently in Sarah's work, and her art is available in a variety of forms and price ranges - everything from greeting cards to original paintings. One of Sarah's paintings was featured on the cover of the April 2009 issue of Southwest Art magazine, quite a coup for her. She describes her images as "tropical western wildlife" - you can certainly see why! The pictures below are just a small representation of the pieces we're showing - please drop us a line if you'd like to see more!

Nonna's Kitchen blog

2010-04-11T12:32:00.002-06:00

A few months ago, I started writing a series of articles in the Lakeshore Country Journal, a biweekly free newspaper published here in Bigfork. Entitled Nonna's Kitchen - Italian Comfort Food, the articles contain recipes and stories about my family's Italian heritage. Several people have inquired about accessing back issues, but the LCJ doesn't have an online presence, so I'd originally intended to post articles here, on the Frame of Reference blog. I've decided that may get a bit confusing, so I've created a blog specifically for the articles. The address is www.nonnas-kitchen.blogspot.com - the hyphen is important, as nonnaskitchen.blogspot.com was already taken. I hope you enjoy the recipes! Mangia, mangia, fatte grande!

Reviving the Blog

2010-04-08T09:12:00.006-06:00

Okay, new year, new committment to having an online presence. Yes, we could wax poetic about the best intentions of mice and men, but the truth of the matter is that it takes a lot of time to keep going on something like this, and clearly, Christine and I both suck at it. It's not that we lack the ability - I think both of us are pretty tech-savvy for 40-somethings. The primary obstacle to our electronic presence is simple lack of time; the reality of picture framing is that we must build everything we sell, so there's always work to do, even during the painfully slow winter months. Add in building maintenance, paperwork, cleaning and working with clients and we find that we could always use a few more hours in each day. I suppose nearly everyone feels this way, so it's a pretty lame excuse...

We've essentially abandoned the traditional webpage concept, largely because of a sour aftertaste that lingers after an unsatisfactory experience with the designer we hired. The plan was for this blog to supplant the website and serve as a forum for us to talk about new artists, great framing design and all of the intangibles that make Frame of Reference unique. So, starting now, we're going to follow through, even if it means less sleep. Here's a little teaser - a new giclee from Wyoming artist Sarah Rogers, who is new to us this season. We've admired her work for years, and are delighted to represent her work here in Bigfork. I'll post a bio and more images here shortly, but until then, feast your eyes on Calfleen!

Where did all the hours go?

2009-05-08T12:25:00.004-06:00

Yup, you caught us. We've already missed posts in the first full week of our blog. We've got a pretty good excuse, however. We're swamped! (Yay!) This year marks the 50th anniversary of performances at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, with the first show opening on the 15th -- one week from today. In conjunction with this landmark date, the BCPA Foundation is just now completing a $1.1 million renovation of the theater itself, with a new sound system, new HVAC and a stunning lobby expansion. The photo here is a shot of the exterior. Earlier this week the cleaning crew finally finished up, and a couple of board members realized that many of the displays that used to hang on the walls looked a little...um...tired in comparison to the rest of the space. So, they contacted us for designs to display 50 years of programs, head shots of the performers and directors, and a few other select pieces -- all to be completed by next Thursday! As a result, everything else came to a full stop while we created a design concept that works with the unusual hanging system and the decor -- we'll post photos after everything is installed.

Art Walk is tomorrow -- we'll post photos of the newly rehung gallery and the big party next week.

Spring Art Walk

2009-05-05T17:01:00.003-06:00

Tuesdays are our Mondays. And since it was a madhouse here today, we didn't get a chance to write something witty for the blog. So just a quick reminder - join us this Saturday, May 9th, from 3:00 - 7:00 for the art walk! We will have good food, good friends and great art. Derek came up with a clever idea for a dessert item (mojito cupcakes, anyone?) and this week we will be tearing everything apart and putting it all back together for a fresh look in the gallery. We have several brand new pieces from Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey, and the UPS man brought a big box of new Carol Hagan giclees today. Our door prize will be a really cool sneak preview from our brand new artist, but I'm not telling who it is! Hope to see you all on Saturday. (And no, you don't have to wear brown and white polka dots....)

Where to Start?

2009-05-02T09:18:00.017-06:00

Since our intent for this little corner of Cyberspace is to supplant our website -- at least for the time being -- there are all sorts of things we want to post here, like RIGHT NOW! Information about the artists we represent, paintings currently available in the gallery, a description and photographs of the amazing shadowbox Christine designed last month, cool new photoframes we just unpacked -- there's so much that we could both sit at a computer all day, uploading and posting until the sun goes down. But, there's always work to be done, so we have to proceed in a logical and methodical manner.

So, for today, a list of the artists whose pieces we're currently showing. It's not a big list; our philosophy is to have a large body of work from a few people, rather than one or two paintings each from a bunch of folks. We're currently showing paintings and photographs from twelve artists, all from Montana, and we're hoping to add some very unique sculpture for the upcoming summer season. Our artists are:

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey

Brady Fisher

Mark Gibson

Carol Hagan

Scott Hale

Billy Knoll

Bruce Park

Genise Park

Brian Schweyen

Christine Vandeberg

Carole Wade

Clint Walker

As time allows, we will post a brief bio and some photos of current works from each artist, and we'll edit this post so that each name becomes a hotlink to that artist's "page." If you see something you like, we encourage you to contact us -- new pieces arrive often, so we should always have something else to show you. Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday to us!

2009-05-01T09:06:00.005-06:00

It's been eleven years since Frame of Reference first opened its door for business here in beautiful Bigfork, and as a gift we've decided to finally have a presence on the Web. Yeah, you're right -- we should have had a website years ago, but for whatever reason, we've never really made it a priority of the business. We've got a pretty unique vibe here, as any of you who've visited will know, and we still haven't come up with a site that accurately reflects who we are and what we do. Thus, the blog -- a way of communicating with the world and giving you a little taste of what Frame of Reference is all about. This is a work in progress -- it's likely to change significantly in style and format as time passes and we become more comfortable with the medium, so please bear with us as we learn. Thanks!

So here's the plan: we're committed to posting every day, even if it's just a few words and a photo or two. We want to feature new pieces in the gallery, cool framing projects we've completed, amazing new corner samples, or maybe just a shot of the brilliant sunset that day. Our ultimate desire is to provide a window into our world, one that's more immediate and interactive than a simple website -- this will be different every day, instead of only changing when we get around to contacting our web designer with updates. Look for a slide show in the next couple of weeks, and please feel free to comment on anything you see here. Welcome -- we hope you enjoy your visit!