As many in this business know, a number of custom framers are artists themselves. This is the case with Tami Phillippi, owner of Frame Minnesota in Eagan, MN, who was featured in the Tru Vue® ad campaign celebrating custom framers and their dedication to their craft. For her, custom framing is more than just a business. As a lifelong photographer, Tami has a personal interest in the display, preservation, and protection of art through framing. Her experience selecting her own framing packages was one of the reasons she left the technology industry to become a professional framer several years ago.

 

 

The moment

 

The custom framers from our ad campaign were invited to contribute a piece to the Tru Vue booth at the West Coast Art and Frame Expo earlier this year. Tami featured one of her photographs that she had taken in September of 2017 while she was hiking on Oberg Mountain in northern Minnesota, the perfect place and time to capture the beauty of fall colors.

 

 

The design

 

Tami’s design approach for this piece, titled Foggy Mountain, was to extend the colors of the image without overpowering or distracting the eye from the photograph. Stacked frames create the depth desired to add hand-painted leaves to the interior and also carry the color throughout the framing package. The outer frame is the Larson Juhl Brittany shadowbox in sage green. It’s rustic finish contrasts with the Larson Juhl Barrington cherry used for the filet and inner frame, which emphasizes the warm fall colors of the leaves. The wood also complements the aspen, maple, and pine trees that are the photo’s subject.

 

 

The textured mat continues the visual interest, and the leaves in the bottom right corner add another pop of color while echoing the imagery of the various trees. A hint of deep green outlines the perimeter of the photograph. Tami chose Museum Glass® for the glazing because its clarity maximized the textural detail and vibrant colors found in the piece.

 

 

The beauty is in the details

 

When it come to creating designs that subtly enhance — and not overpower — the art, the details are key. For Tami, it was important to make the most of every aspect of the piece, from editing the photograph to get the right balance and intensity of color, to hand-painting silk leaves to add texture and visual interest.

 

 

“I spent a lot of time obsessing over photo editing, and my staffer and I went through several sets of leaves before we finished them to our liking,” said Tami. “Museum Glass® is ideal to showcase the kind of detail that went into this piece.”