ILD specializes in the professional installation of lighting for paintings. We have working relationships with the leading art lighting manufacturers of the world, and we possess all of the working knowledge and experience required to install the best equipment in any commercial or residential gallery that requires custom picture lighting solutions.
Invariably, when we first call on a new client, we find that they are already using some sort of lights for paintings. In many instances these lights are what we call over-the-picture lights. They attach to the top of the frame and shine down onto the canvas or print below.
While there is nothing wrong with over-the-picture lights for paintings, we strongly encourage our new clients to use them only for less expensive artwork lighting. This is because infrared heat builds up in these lamps that can damage the fine oils and delicate canvases of more sophisticated works. The distribution of light is also a problem, because these lights create brighter spots near the top of the picture and darker areas near the bottom.
More sophisticated lights for paintings are required for high-end lighting applications, and professional lighting design is necessary to make the equipment support the art without distracting the attention of the viewer.
When lighting any painting, it is absolutely essential to match the amount of light to the size and shape of the picture. If we have too little light, we will have dark areas on the edges of the work. If we have too much light, illumination will spill onto the wall and form hot spots. Creating the necessary precision lighting effect that matches light to art is quite the challenge for the do-it-yourselfer. Proper art lighting requires mounting each fixture from an optimum vantage point. It also requires choosing a halogen bulb that has an appropriately-designed reflector that will create a beam spread equivalent to the dimensions of the picture.
There is a special science to balancing these two requirements that calls for a strong technical knowledge of all the many different art lighting fixtures and corresponding reflectors that are made. It is never workable for the collector to try to learn all this. Instead, it is more practical and cost effective to let a professional fine art lighting company choose and mount the right type of fixtures for the paintings on display.
Specific types of lights for paintings include track lights, surface mounted lights, recessed lights (that go in the ceiling), and framing projectors. Track lights, as their name indicates, suspend from tracks that run along the ceiling. They are often used in galleries that hang professional photography and have some limited use in temporary art lighting design installations. However, the larger ones are very difficult to conceal. Smaller track lights can be used in home environments because they are more low-profile in design.
Surface mounted lights for paintings install on the ceiling or on the wall and shine at precise angles toward different paintings or groups of paintings. Because surface mounted wall art lights are typically bulky and visible, it is crucial that you let a lighting designer select the right fixtures for you in order to better match your interior decorating and home interior architecture.
Recessed art lights for paintings are a much easier to conceal. They hide in recesses that are cut into the ceiling. They will only be noticed by someone who is looking for them. They, too, need to be positioned by a lighting designer who is able to determine just where fixtures need to be placed and angled for optimal lighting.
Framing projectors are high-end lighting tools for paintings that mount on the ceiling and shine down on artwork below. Many different types of framing projectors exist in the world of modern art lighting. Some are designed to be installed directly into the ceiling itself. Others are made for retrofit mounting in an environment where ceilings cannot be cut.
Whomever the artist and wherever the artwork is located, you can trust the lighting professionals at Illuminations Lighting Design to design and implement a fine art lighting theme that will showcase your collection in the best possible light on a budget you can afford. Let a trained fine art and sculpture lighting company help you with your art collection.
Contact us toll free at 800-863-1184 or locally at 713-863-1133 to request a design proposal.Since 1980, ILD has grown to include a team of over 50 talented and dedicated employees. Specialty divisions have been created to focus on such disciplines as lighting design, electrical contracting, landscape lighting and home automation. Having specialists in each of these disciplines, while remaining true to the mission of offering home owners the "complete picture" of lighting design, is key to continued success at Illuminations Lighting.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Labels: Art Lighting Consultants, Artwork Lighting Experts, Houston Art Lighting, Houston Fine Art Lighting Experts, Lighting For Paintings
The intent of lighting sculpture is to make form emerge from darkness and shadow as a multi-dimensional experience. It takes more than luminance to create this effect. Darkness is equally important to light because shadow is necessary to create the impression of a virtual reality much like the actual reality we live in. Shadows are also necessary to accentuate the three dimensional nature of the forms and curves that constitute the piece. This makes lighting a sculpture very different than lighting a painting, because a painting is two-dimensional image, whereas a carving or statue always differentiates itself from the background as an emerging, three-dimensional form.
The degree of success you will have in lighting sculpture depends on the amount of ambient light you shine upon the piece. Direct light has only a limited ability to bring out the differentiating features of three-dimensional art. Recessed art lighting is much more effective because it has creates more of a field of light than a bright beam of light. In most art lighting applications regardless of type or genre, a bright ray or beam of light is something we want to avoid because it can create white spots and reflective glare.
Focused lighting is much better for sculptures and lighting pictures because it enhances the subject that creates a luminosity that brings texture, form, and color to the forefront of the viewer’s perception. This requires sophisticated equipment and typically a number of different fixture types. Just how many fixtures, and what type of fixtures we use, depends on the size and shape of the sculpture. There are many dynamics here to consider beyond width, length, and height. We tend to visualize a statue of a human form when we think of sculpture, but in reality there is far greater diversity in this genre than we are typically conscious and aware.
For example, many celebratory pieces depict historical leaders on horseback. What we have in these depictions is really not one form, but two. We have to treat both man and horse as the separate entities they are, but we also have to emphasize the symbiotic oneness of horse and rider in the way we light the sculpture. It is not possible to do this with only a single recessed light fixture or even type of fixture. Such a piece will have to be illuminated from a variety of angles and with at least three distinct layers of light and corresponding shadows to highlight such features as muscle tone, facial expression, hair, weaponry, uniform, and regalia. This is a tall order for any designer to fill, and it requires the very best in equipment and years of training and expertise in art lighting design to accomplish.
Specification grade equipment is an absolute necessity for lighting sculpture. It simply will not be possible to achieve the same level of subtlety or complexity as we can with commercial grade equipment. Specification grade lamps, lenses, optical reflectors, and lighting control systems are much more advanced than those of retail grade equipment. It is essential that we rely upon such advanced technology and use its full potential in the creation of complex lighting arrays and layered lighting effects essential to the proper presentation of statuary and other fine art. Photometric designs and three-dimensional modeling is a key element to our design process that allows us to configure these systems in advance and select the most appropriate and robust fixtures for the task at hand.
As a lighting design services firm we have unlimited access to lighting manufacturers. Illuminations Lighting knows how to plan lighting and installs only the best equipment for lighting sculptures. We can also act as a consulting firm assisting local electricians who require aesthetic expertise in the many nuances of art and gallery lighting, and we function strictly in a design, planning role as a source of multiple configuration plans that give collectors and curators the freedom of choice between two or more viable options.
Since 1980, Illuminations Lighting Deign has grown to include a team of over 50 talented and dedicated employees. Specialty divisions have been created to focus on such disciplines as lighting design, electrical contracting, landscape lighting and home automation. Having specialists in each of these disciplines, while remaining true to the mission of offering home owners the "complete picture" of lighting design, is key to continued success at Illuminations Lighting. We invite you to contact us toll free at 800-863-1184 or locally at 713-863-1133.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Labels: Artwork Lighting Experts, Corporate Art Consultants, Fine Art Lighting Consultants, Lighting Designers, Lighting Sculptures, Sculpture Lighting
To get superior results when lighting your art collection, we recommend you obtain your art lighting fixtures and art lighting design services from ILD. The type of equipment we provide is high-end, sensitive, and requires considerable technical and design expertise to select, install, and maintain the appropriate high quality art lighting fixtures.
Our first priority is to make sure that your artwork lighting fixtures are performing at optimal levels. We have seen, in many cases that the integrity of some lamps will gradually deteriorate and depreciate. On MR16 lamps, for instance, this degradation causes color to shift either to the red or green end of the spectrum. People typically do not notice this shift, because the change is so subtle and gradual that their eyes adjusted to the change daily without ever consciously being aware of the deterioration. It is for this reason that we recommend you have a trained professional periodically examine your artwork lighting and test your equipment for this deterioration and upgrade to a better, more efficient replacement when necessary.
Many times as well, we run across clients who have installed high voltage art lighting fixtures. This is often done by people who purchase retail-grade equipment themselves and hire an electrician to install it. The problem with high voltage equipment is that it does not have the same lamp selection as line voltage fixtures use for fine art lighting applications. Low voltage lights generally have better beam control, far less UV radiation, and consume much less power than high voltage equivalents.
If you upgrade now, you will start saving you money on electrical costs in two respects. Cooling costs will be lower if the room temperature remains at a lower constant. Power bills will also decrease because there is less electricity consumed by the lamps themselves.
Low voltage recessed art lighting equipment has become so effective that manufacturers now make a plethora of art lighting fixtures in low voltage models. Everything from optical framing projectors, eyeball fixtures, recessed art lights, pinhole lights, and even track lights can now be obtained in low voltage models. We advise that if you are using any high voltage lights that you upgrade now to more current, more energy efficient low-voltage fixtures. You will both recover your investment through power cost savings, and you will be able to light your paintings for longer periods of time without fear of heat buildup. For those with track lights, you can even upgrade the fixtures without having to replace the track itself.
Because so many of the systems we service have been not really been strategically designed, but instead piece mealed over time, it is not unusual for us to encounter a mixture of specification grade and retail grade art lighting fixtures in a single room. As a professional lighting design firm that maintains a relationship with art lighting manufacturers, we are always happy to help our clients select and replace inferior grade products with high-end upgrades. This saves corporate art consultants and art curators a tremendous amount of money in cumulative replacement costs. Specification grade fixtures usually feature a longer lamp life and a more predictable performance curve. By upgrading the entire system now, you will only spend money in the form of a onetime purchase. Over time, you will get money back through the savings you accumulate by minimizing constant equipment replacements.
We always save our clients money by giving them as much direct control as possible over their picture lighting fixtures by installing lighting control systems. Lighting control can be placed completely in the hands of the end user and combined with other light sources in the building to create scenes and added convenience. ILD represents a number of home automation control manufacturers whose advanced, whole house lighting control technologies will allow you to set any light level you wish for both groups of lights and individual lights. This creates a multiplicity of luminance layers and effects.
Both specification grade art lighting fixtures and advanced technical services are much more affordable when managed under an interior lighting maintenance service agreement. Both curators and private art collectors can depend on receiving all of the above benefits more consistently and at better labor rates with a marginal investment in consistent, periodic visits by an Illuminations art lighting designer.
ILD is a premier fine art lighting company in Houston Texas. We have worked for and lighted some of the world’s most prestigious public and private art collections including works from renowned artists such as Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Rockwell, Salvador Dali and Rembrandt. By calling upon the most innovative artwork lighting techniques in the world, you can rest assured that your treasured pieces will shine as brightly as the artist’s true vision. Visit our testimonials page for customer feedback.
Simply stated, our staff is Illuminations Lighting Design's greatest asset. We are fortunate as an electrical contractor to have built such a highly skilled workforce of craftsmen and mechanics who enjoy what they do. Working with integrity and efficiency, they will treat your home with respect while ensuring the job gets done right. Their pride, persistence, quality and determination are the hallmark of Illuminations Lighting Design's tradition.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and lighting design in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.
You can reach us toll free at 800-863-1184 or locally at 713-863-1133. Labels: Art Lighting Consultants, Artwork Lighting Experts, Custom Art Lights, Fine Art Lighting Equipment, Houston Electrical Contractors, Phantom Contour Projectors
Lighting for paintings is best accomplished using commercial grade equipment engineered just for the purpose of illuminating galleries and private collections. Retail fixtures, even if labeled as art lighting fixtures, typically feature shorter lamp life, less adjustability, and less advanced optics. Specification grade fixtures have consistently been shown to offer much better results when lighting art, and they save the collector money with more energy efficiency and minimized replacements.
With few exceptions, recessed low voltage lighting fixtures are the best luminaires for lighting art. This is because they tend to produce considerably less heat than high voltage equivalents and consequently save money on cooling costs. They are also safer for the artwork itself, some of which can be damaged very easily if overheated.
In fact, much of this heat is invisible, falling in the infrared portion of the spectrum. Though unseen, it can still damage painting by dehydrating oils. Ultraviolet light does this on an even more severe level, and it can damage the canvas itself. To protect color and canvas integrity, recessed art lighting fixtures are engineered with technology that block these wavelengths and allows only visible light to reach the art.
Within these simple guidelines, then—low-voltage, specification grade quality, and filtered lamps—there remains a huge realm of choice available to the collector in terms of fixture intensity, type, positioning, and end user adjustability. So many options exist, in fact, that lighting art has now become a form of design unto itself. Lighting control technology adds even more value to this aesthetic by placing a great deal of adjustability control directly into the hands of the collector or curator. Dimmers, wall boxes, and hand-held remotes allow the private individual to fine tune modern art lighting levels both on a system wide and individual fixture level.
This allows you to set different levels lighting and to layer them one on top of the other. Such layering places a special emphasis on any collection, making it appear almost removed from time and space. To achieve this multidimensional effect, of course, we have to install more than just one type of art light to accomplish our goals. A myriad of architectural custom lighting luminaires dedicated exclusively to the task of lighting art and statuary exists that we can use to build a custom lighting array for any private or professional collection.
Framing projectors are the most unique and fascinating type of art lighting device invented to date in residential art design. The most notable brands will project an invisible beam of light onto a canvas or sculpture that will then suddenly transfigure the piece as if from within. While you cannot light an entire gallery with projectors they are nonetheless essential keys to creating the most splendid effects and showcasing the most important works.
Other art and house lighting fixtures like recessed low voltage halogens, slotted apertures, pinhole lights, and eyeball lights are all basically circles in the ceiling that create variable effects based on aperture shape and size, angle of incidence, and mounted positioning. Art collections look best when illuminated by an customized array of several different fixture types installed specifically for a particular collection or type of collection.
To achieve this blend of feeling and hard science, we recommend you call us and let us help you create such a system for lighting your art and show you how to plan lighting. Both as a design-build company can both plan and install the equipment, and as a art lighting consultant with a preferred electrical installation vendor, we have delivered consistent value to art collectors and galleries throughout the nation since 1980.
ILD is a premier fine art lighting company in Texas. We have worked for and lighted some of the world’s most prestigious public and private art collections including works from renowned artists such as Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Rockwell, Salvador Dali and Rembrandt. By calling upon the most innovative artwork lighting techniques in the world, you can rest assured that your treasured pieces will shine as brightly as the artist’s true vision. Visit our testimonials page for customer feedback.
Simply stated, our staff is Illuminations Lighting Design's greatest asset. We are fortunate as an electrical contractor to have built such a highly skilled workforce of craftsmen and mechanics who enjoy what they do. Working with integrity and efficiency, they will treat your home with respect while ensuring the job gets done right. Their pride, persistence, quality and determination are the hallmark of Illuminations Lighting Design's tradition.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and lighting design in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Labels: Architectural Lighting Houston, Art Lighting Consultants, Artwork Lighting Experts, Fine Art Lighting Consultants, Projector Art Lighting Equipment, Texas Art Lighting Specialist
What do corporate art consultants do?
Corporate art consultants choose and hang art that is appropriate for a specific office environment. They use a number of selection criteria are used to choose the hospitality lighting design for these environments. Art may be chosen to reflect the lifestyle or hobbies of an executive on staff. Other organizations may prefer images and themes that relate somehow to their mission statement. Still others may desire to establish a more formal atmosphere with classical images and symbols. It is the job of the corporate art consultant to help companies make these determinations and then select the appropriate types and genres of artwork that fulfill the wishes of the client and offer the best fit for the corporate culture of a particular organization.
Do corporate art consultants also do art lighting?
Most develop a conceptual design for lighting, then partner with a fine art lighting company like ours that will actually install the lights for them. After they have selected, framed, and hung artwork, consultants call on us to help illuminate these works in a way that blends into the general, lighting scheme of the office and yet distinguishes the art as “special space” within office space. When three dimensional abstract pieces, modern art or sculptures are installed, our work is even more important to that of the corporate art consultant, because many of these works require several layers of light, and often a blend of light and shadow, for effective display.
What types of lights are used for corporate art lighting?
Fluorescent lights are the corporate art consultant’s worst nemesis. In spite of their energy efficiency and superb color rendering as a general lighting source, fluorescents ability to bring out the diversity and intensity of the full color palette found in most works paintings. Halogen light sources are much better for this. Colors appear true and fixtures offer a smaller format with high performance results. We often install recessed halogens, picture lights or lighting projectors with halogen bulbs in the ceiling that will direct light down onto a canvas, photograph, or sculpture. We add our expertise to that of the consultant, recommending the best wattages, lamp types, and accent lighting equipment to appropriately accommodate their work.
Does ILD hang art?
We do not hang art or install statuary, but we do offer advisory services to corporate clients who are working with an art consultant firm, or who have worked with one in the past. Many times, companies hire us to rewire and replace existing art lighting fixtures and improve the illumination for their overall collection. This is almost always needed when companies have undergone a major remodel, or who have had existing lamps replaced by maintenance crews. Many crews can locate replacement parts relatively easily, but they lack the training in art lighting design that a corporate art lighting consulting firm has. The result of several well-intended overhauls of the lighting system is a hodgepodge of general office lighting mixed in with high-end, decorative art lighting—not a good combination.
Working with an ILD corporate art consultant can resolve these issues expeditiously and cost effectively. Something as simple as a simple trim change, or perhaps a few new fixtures, will transform existing art into a conversation piece. Works that have existed for years appear alive and now hang prominently like a shining star.
Where are your main offices?
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting, consulting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Visit our lighting blog or call us today at 713-863-1133 to request a consultation online using our contact us form.
Labels: Art Lighting Consultants, Artwork Lighting Experts, Corporate Art Consultants, Fine Art Lighting Experts, Houston Texas Art Lighting
