Q: My husband and I are working with an artist to get an amazing 9-print (poster 11x17) series. I am super excited to get it, and looking forward framing, matting and hanging. The problem is- how do I hang a 9-print series?
The room has 4 equal walls, abut 16x22 ft.. Each 16 ft wall has something on it- one has the closet, and the other has the window. This room is in our finished basement, with a drywalled finished ceiling and not a drop ceiling. The room is an exercise room, holding our weight cage, treadmill, and other various workout equipment. We felt that even though the room is for exercising, we felt it shouldn't be drab- and instead reflect our personality.
Any suggestions? I'm clueless and I want to hang these in a great series, instead of looking silly on our walls...
Sent by Leslie
Editor: The photo shown up here is not Leslie's art - just an example of another series of nine. Leave your suggestions for Leslie in the comments - thanks!
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Wouldn't the artist be the person to ask?
If you personally know that artist. If not, the arrangement you show above is one way to do it. Or you could hang 5 horizontally, then 4 above sort of like this.
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
Or down a long hallway. You have lots of possibilities....
Ask the artist, for sure........but I'm not sure what you're asking here. Are you thinking there's something complicated about hanging pictures on the wall? It's your house. Hang them however you think looks good.
They don't need to be hung all together, since they're together in one room. If one wall is longer, hang more pieces there. If one wall doesn't have much space left, hang just one or two together. A series designated that the pieces work well together as a whole, or individually, or in broken groups. If you can't take the plunge right away, after they're framed clear the floors against the wall and practice arranging them by leaning them against the wall in potential spots, and the solution will come.
I saw on a decor show once, they cut out pieces of paper in the size of the frames and then taped it the wall. They could then play around with the arrangement before hanging.
I love the 9 together on one wall, or hanging all in one row at eye-height circling around the room.
You can ask the artist's opinion to get ideas. But at the end of the day it's your room and you bought these pieces, you hang it the way it pleases you.
what about a trio of trios:
_
_ _
( by three, on one or one on three walls)
cascades:
_
_
_
huh.. leading spaces get deleted
so:
......_
....._ _
for a trio. the periods are not really there, honest.
Leslie - I think you need to consider the subject matter of the art as well as the size of the prints and the furniture placement in the room ... Is the 11x17 the finished/framed size or will you mat the pieces larger? Is the subject matter detailed or more simplistic? Are the prints colored/colorful or black/white? For simplistic or black/white prints, I generally like a grid hanging pattern while for something more detailed that I want to let my eye really absorb ... I prefer more of a gallery hang ... good luck!
Fasten them to the ceiling so you can look up at them while exercising - perhaps in a diamond inside the square ceiling area. You could paint an outline or a filled-in shape around them for more punch.
A lot depends on the framing. If the prints are 11x17 before framing, and you mat them, we are talking about at least 19x26" or so per unit. That's pretty big to stack. We have some drawings about that size by the children's illustrator/author Tasha Tudor at our library, and we hang them in a row,with equal spacing between them. If your long wall is unbroken, you could do that.
I have a framed set spaced regularly in a single row circling the room just under the ceiling, and love it.
Honestly the easiest way for you to see what works is to use paper cutouts of the same size and tack them to the wall until you are happy. On those cutouts make sure that you have representations of where the nail for hanging needs to be. Once you get them in an arrangement you like nail through the cutout and hang.