We helped a child smile

Last week, our North Andover store hosted a fundraiser for Operation Smile, a highly regarded charity that provides free surgeries for children suffering with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities. A donation of $24 earned you a free portrait by a professional photographer from Hana Portrait Design Studio. Jimmy, the store manager, let us know how it went – “The turnout wasn’t as big as we expected, but I believe we made enough for at least one surgery. I had my picture taken, which was fun. I haven’t had my picture taken in a studio setting since high school. For the most part there was a good feeling all day. We met some nice people and some cute kids. In the future I hope that we see more charitable events throughout the company. Not only is it for a good cause, but it’s a great way to meet the local community.”

Hair’s some art for you

What is it about these hair drawings by Hong Chun Zhang that makes one stop and stare? Is it the fact that we don’t often see larger-than-life hair? Is it Zhang’s hyper-realistic rendering that appears to depict almost every strand? Or maybe the format that lets the drawings roll down off the wall, onto the floor? Surely all of these traits combine to make something that you’ve never seen before.
Hong Chun Zhang was born and raised in China. When she was 15, she won the National Competition to attend the high school attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. She excelled at painting, but the content of her work was restricted. In 1996, she came to America for her graduate work and was able to explore new ideas. On her site, Zhang says this about her hair drawings –

Twin Spirits are large charcoal hair drawings, self-portraits of my twin sister and me. I use long hair to exaggerate our major characteristic and as a metaphor to reveal something that is beyond the hair. These drawings are presented as scroll paintings in order to accentuate the length of the piece and the flow of long hair. The larger than life-size scale creates a three-dimensional effect that extends the meaning beyond the surface. My most recent drawings and paintings on hair, however, is a new approach from personal to more universal. This time, long hair is meant to examine a woman’s complete life cycle.

Phil Hansen teaches you how to think… with Coke

What do you get when you cross Beakman, Martha Stewart, and street artist Banksy? It’d probably be Phil Hansen, a multimedia artist whose website is called Phil in the Whaaat? His mission is to inspire viewers to find creativity in everyday behavior and express it with commonplace materials. Hansen believes that nurturing one’s creative potential won’t simply produce art, but more importantly, help you find new ways of looking at the world and
changing the way you think.

The PITW goal is a new mindset: a different kind of awareness for rethinking categories, gettingout of ruts, and challenging accepted norms. I call it “everyday” creativity because PITW isabout inspiring just that: creativity that stays with you all the time, that takes you from theordinary to the unknown by fusing together different processes to create unexpected outcomes.

This sounds like a good idea to us. Besides, it looks like a lot of fun. This video of How-to-Paint-with-Coke is a great example.

What new color is this?

Pop quiz: “Blossom” is A) an awesome 80s TV show, B) one of our new suede mats, or C) the condition of flowering? If you said it’s one of our new suede mats, you’re a total framing nerd and we love you! We’ve switched out some of the choices in our mat and frame programs to include some interesting new options that would please even the pickiest art critic. In addition to the Blossom suede mat, we’ve added some silk mats: Navy, Spartan, White, Ancient Stone, Forest Floor, and Majestic Brown. (“Spartan” and “Ancient Stone” sound awesome, but frankly, we think they just phoned in “White.”)
We’ve added over two dozen new frames with even more on the way. They offer a variety of new textures, colors, and shapes. We now have a simple maple frame that ought to go over big with Ikea lovers and baseball fans. We’ve already had a lot of success with some of the subtler tones that the metallic finishes offer, including one we’ve been calling “penny copper” that looks good on practically everything!
Come in to any of our locations and check ’em out yourself. Like all of our custom framing, we guarantee the lowest price on these new materials, as well as an unconditional lifetime guarantee on your finished frame design.

Spring cleaning like a boss

Who enjoys spring cleaning? And not just your run-of-the-mill, clean-out-the-garage spring cleaning, but some extreme spring cleaning! Say, like renovating almost an entire frame store. Go on, raise your hand. Ok, you in the back? Yeah, you with your arm sticking up – you’re nuts!
But nature abhors a vacuum (not that kind of vacuum) and sometimes change is necessary. When your carpet is falling apart and kinda stinky, change is necessary and it looks terrific. So we gave our Arlington location a well-deserved face lift. Jane, the store manager, told us about installing the new carpet – “It entailed dismantling, ya know, everything, and then putting it back together again. Took an hour or so disassembling some stuff the night before, all day the next day, and a good chunk of the day after that putting everything back where it belonged and just getting our bearings again.”

Who feels like pulling up some carpet?

C'mon, guys! This'll be as easy as one...

... two ...

... wait for it ...

... three! Well, we're nearly there.

The other big change was a brand new wall for their frame corner samples. It features a photo mural that will soon be in all of our stores. Jane said, “I think the new murals on the wall will help answer the common question ‘Do you do the work here?’ and set customers’ minds at ease that what they bring in isn’t going anywhere, and the person they originally worked with will be right there when the work is done. I’m also really excited about having two sets of moulding samples. It’s great for busy days when multiple customers might want to look at the same frame, but also when it comes to visualizing the finished piece, it helps to put two samples in opposite corners.”

Ya gotta love that new corner samples wall!

The Arlington location is one of our oldest stores, originally opened in a space just up the street on Mass Ave in August of 2000. Five years later, it moved about a block to its present location at the intersection with Park Avenue. Pretty soon, the outside will get a face lift, too. We’ll have pics for ya of the new awnings and a spiffy new paint job before long. Stay tuned!

a BIG Picture thank you to Christine for the photos

It’s going to be a hot one

The forecast is for some record heat in today’s Boston Marathon, so to all the runners out there, please be safe. If you’re not like us and you actually run in a marathon, then you’ve got some runner’s memorabilia. It’s one of the more common, non 2D items that we custom frame. It’s nice to remember that level of accomplishment with something other than a jar of sweat and bleeding nipples. It’s fun for us too when we have something to frame that’s more of a challenge than a flat image. The design requires different considerations, like which method to use so that the glass doesn’t sit on the medal or other objects. And the actual construction and attachment takes more time to get it just right. There are a lot of different design options we can use to make any of those items look terrific!We’ll see you after the big race when you bring us your bib number, shirt, and finish line photo. Until then, we’re gonna stick to our own special workout regiment. Time for another 50 reps of Chariots of Fire…

How to rescue a child’s smile

In one week, Big Picture Framing will be participating in Operation Smile with Hana Portrait Design Studio. Here’s how it works: come in to our North Andover store on April 21 between 10 am and 3 pm and a professional photographer from Hana Portrait Design Studio will give you the gift of a desk portrait in exchange for a $24 donation to Operation Smile. They’re a highly regarded charity that provides free surgeries for children suffering with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. As an added value, Big Picture will match your $24 if you custom frame your portrait. This is a great opportunity to help a child and receive a professional portrait while getting some custom framing done. Sessions will fill up quickly, so don’t get left out – schedule your session today at 978.686.3543. You can find out more here.

In the meantime, here’s some background info about Operation Smile from their website.

Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity with a presence in more than 60 countries that provides free life-changing surgery for children and young adults who are suffering from facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

Every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft. One in 10 of those children will die before their first birthday. Those who survive often cannot eat or speak properly. Too often, they are shunned, hidden away and not able to attend school. In developing countries, many parents cannot afford the surgery their children desperately need.

Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker. Since its founding, Operation Smile has provided more than 2 million comprehensive healthcare evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with facial deformities.

Operation Smile is committed to building sustainability in its developing partner countries. The organization trains local doctors so they are empowered to treat their own communities year-round. Nearly 60% of Operation Smile’s surgeries are performed by in-country, local volunteer medical teams.

Operation Smile also operates 13 Comprehensive Care Centers worldwide. These medical facilities offer year-round patient care including surgery and the myriad of specialties related to cleft care such as ENT and dental treatment, speech pathology and nutrition counseling.

Cleft conditions and other facial deformities know no geographic boundaries. For families in the United States whose children are born with clefts, Operation Smile provides detailed information and guidance through the U.S. Care Network referral service.

More than 5,000 medical professionals from over 80 countries around the world volunteer with Operation Smile. Through Operation Smile’s Global Standards of Care, the organization ensures every patient cared for benefits from the same sophisticated equipment, procedures and highly-trained medical teams, no matter where they receive treatment.

In addition, more than 700 Operation Smile student clubs in over 40 countries, from grade schools to universities, use their compassion and selflessness to help change children’s lives through Operation Smile’s Student Programs.

Valerie Hegarty’s art is really catching fire

There was an art teacher who used to mock his first year students and say, “If you can’t make it good, make it big. If you can’t make it big, paint it red. And if that doesn’t work, set it on fire.” Well, Valerie Hegarty might take issue with that disparaging advice. She finds beauty in her art when it’s in a much different condition than what a lot of artists are accustomed to. Whether her paintings are melting, decaying, or riddled with holes, the effects are fascinating. And while her paintings are rewarding for the viewer, it must have been at least as enjoyable for Hegarty to make them – imagine how liberating for an artist to not be concerned with a pristine surface or crystal clear image. Clearly, a gallery full of these would create a unique impression, but if a private owner were to display a lone example of one her George Washingtons, visitors might suspect that there’d been a fire sale.

And the Best Wife Award goes to…

So who’s that guy on the right and what’s he got to do with somebody’s wife being awesome? Any comic book aficionado will tell you that’s Alex Ross, probably the most successful and widely recognized comic book artist working today. He’s worked for all the major publishers, depicting practically every hero and villain in his signature style. Ross does not illustrate comic books in the traditional fashion – he paints them realistically, often using life models who dress in superhero costumes so that he can capture every wrinkle, muscle, and arched
eyebrow. Due to his popularity and the time it takes for him to complete a piece, he primarily does cover art these days. Original drawings and paintings by Ross are highly sought after and treated as serious items of artistic merit and value. And they’re cool. Our Milford store manager and self-professed nerd, Jake Johnston, takes it from there. “One of our customers brought in a couple of comic books to be framed as a gift for her husband. I recognized them right away and told her how I was a fan. She said that I ought to really appreciate the other item she wanted framed with them: an original sketch that Alex Ross had done as a rough draft for the books’ covers. It was in pencil on a thin sheet of paper, smaller than a sheet of copy paper. But it looked exactly like the finished covers – just as detailed and just as impressive. She laughed when she saw the look in my eyes. I’d seen pieces like this for sale at conventions and knew its significance. Investing in a piece like this was noteworthy enough, never mind even finding one that shows all of Batman’s major villains and allies. If you were an Alex Ross fan or a Batman fan and you were going to own just one piece of art, this would be it. She also had a small, chrome bat logo – like a belt buckle – that she wanted to include. I told her that we’d definitely come up with the best design for such a special piece. I asked her more about it and she said that it was a gift that had been in the works for a while. She was giving it to her husband, a huge comic book fan, for his 50th birthday. I looked at her and said that she’d done good and wouldn’t have to get him anything else for a loooong time.” The customer kept the drawing with her while we prepared the rest of the design and made the frame. When everything else was ready, she brought it back and Jake mounted the drawing and fit the frame in front of her. “She was truly thrilled with how it came out and I know she appreciated that it was done by people who loved the art just as much as her husband would.”
The sketch is archivally mounted; everything touching it is acid-free and we used photo corners to attach it. This way, everything is reversible – if the owner ever wanted to remove it, the sketch would be completely as it was, untouched.
We used conservation glass to filter out any light that might harm the images. The blue mat on top is a suede fabric mat and the black detail around the edges is a suede bevel accent – it adds an impressive sense of depth and keeps the glass up off of the chrome bat insignia.

Operation Smile is coming to Big Picture!

We’re excited to announce that Big Picture Framing will be participating in Operation Smile with Hana Portrait Design Studio. Here’s how it works: come in to our North Andover store on April 21 between 10 am and 3 pm and a professional photographer from Hana Portrait Design Studio will give you the gift of a desk portrait in exchange for a $24 donation to Operation Smile. They’re a highly regarded charity that provides free surgeries for children suffering with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. As an added value, Big Picture will match your $24 if you custom frame your portrait. This is a great opportunity to help a child and receive a professional portrait while getting some custom framing done. Sessions will fill up quickly, so don’t get left out – schedule your session today at 978.686.3543. You can find out more here.

In the meantime, here’s some background info about Operation Smile from their website.

Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity with a presence in more than 60 countries that provides free life-changing surgery for children and young adults who are suffering from facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

Every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft. One in 10 of those children will die before their first birthday. Those who survive often cannot eat or speak properly. Too often, they are shunned, hidden away and not able to attend school. In developing countries, many parents cannot afford the surgery their children desperately need.

Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker. Since its founding, Operation Smile has provided more than 2 million comprehensive healthcare evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with facial deformities.

Operation Smile is committed to building sustainability in its developing partner countries. The organization trains local doctors so they are empowered to treat their own communities year-round. Nearly 60% of Operation Smile’s surgeries are performed by in-country, local volunteer medical teams.

Operation Smile also operates 13 Comprehensive Care Centers worldwide. These medical facilities offer year-round patient care including surgery and the myriad of specialties related to cleft care such as ENT and dental treatment, speech pathology and nutrition counseling.

Cleft conditions and other facial deformities know no geographic boundaries. For families in the United States whose children are born with clefts, Operation Smile provides detailed information and guidance through the U.S. Care Network referral service.

More than 5,000 medical professionals from over 80 countries around the world volunteer with Operation Smile. Through Operation Smile’s Global Standards of Care, the organization ensures every patient cared for benefits from the same sophisticated equipment, procedures and highly-trained medical teams, no matter where they receive treatment.

In addition, more than 700 Operation Smile student clubs in over 40 countries, from grade schools to universities, use their compassion and selflessness to help change children’s lives through Operation Smile’s Student Programs.