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
Fine paintings are used as ornate decorations in custom homes and in offices. This is not surprising when you stop to realize has been with in one form or fashion for at least 40,000 years. Light in a paintings itself contributes to the tone of the work by creating a sense of depth through the interplay of light and shadows. Lighting for paintings should not cast shadows, however, but rather must discover and magnify the luminosity of the scene and animate the action between objects and characters. This method of lighting paintings is as old as Lascaux, where firelight was used to make the seemingly crude stick figures of hunters and animals suddenly spring to life with the illusion of three dimensional substance and physical movement.
To create this sense of vivid life and realism, lighting for paintings must be sourced from special types of fixtures and controlled in such a manner that enhances the work without damaging the piece or limiting the aesthetic.
Only filtered light can be used for safely lighting paintings.
Oils and canvases will degrade if exposed to UV light. Infrared light is not as damaging as ultraviolet light, but it nevertheless produces large quantities of heat that will dry out paint and crack the canvas. Because sunlight consists of both UV and IR radiation, it must never be used to light paintings, because it will quickly destroy them in a short period of time. Sunlight is much too bright to light a painting because it overpowers the combination of shadows and light in the painting and flattens the perspective of the image.
It is therefore necessary to use a filtered artificial light source that removes UV and IR rays from the light beam.
Use a light source with a high color rendering index (CRI).
Even though artificial light is much safer than sunlight to use as lighting for paintings, sunlight’s ability to render color is unmatched because sunlight is a perfect blend of all natural colors of the spectrum. Nevertheless, it is simply out of the question as a source of art lighting for paintings, so you have to use a close approximation to sunlight to bring out the color in your artwork.
To date, the best light of this type is a halogen bulb. These bulbs emit an intense, white light that renders color at levels near that of sunlight. Halogen bulbs are found in recessed ceiling fixtures that shine light down on artwork. They are also used in art lighting projectors, which also install in the ceiling.
When utilized for artwork lighting, recessed lights must be filtered. All art lighting projectors, because they are intended only for art lighting, are manufactured with filters in them.
Lighting for paintings must be adjustable and dimmable.
Paintings must be illuminated from the correct angle of incidence to avoid spill light shining past the boundaries of the frame and to avoid glare than can reflect off the canvas back into the eye. Picture lights are hard to adjust like this and are generally not recommended for this reason. Also, they can burn very hot at times and are extremely difficult to filter, making them unsafe as well.
Recessed lights and projectors are much better sources of illumination because they allow the decorator to change the direction of the light at will. Some recessed fixtures can be adjusted in this manner more easily than others, so it is important to make certain before ordering them if the models being ordered were made specifically for wall art lighting and fine art paintings.
Projectors offer an even greater range of adjustment because they hang suspended from the ceiling and can be positioned anywhere along a three-dimensional access. Some projectors are easier to adjust than others. It is best to talk to an art lighting specialist who can recommend the very best model suited to a particular home, office, or museum application.
Call a professional firm to have your art lights installed.
Lighting simple prints or photographs is something anyone can do with retail picture lights. Lighting a painting is something completely different. It takes commercial grade recessed lighting fixtures and bulbs that can only be obtained by a design firm from the manufacture. It also takes knowledge of art and design to truly create a masterpiece of lighting.
Illuminations Lighting Design has mastered these mini-disciplines and has been lighting art in Houston, Beaumont, Austin, and San Antonio areas for many, many years. Our staff holds licenses in electrical service work and understands the complexity of fine art lighting, home automation and interior design.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.
Call toll free 800-863-1184 for a complimentary lighting consultation.Labels: Beaumont Fine Art Lighting, Contour Projector, Fine Art Lighting Equipment, Lighting For Paintings, Painting Lights, Picture Lighting Solutions
Phantom Lighting is the brainchild of Illuminations Lighting Design, a Houston based lighting design build firm over 20 years ago. The company holds several patents for Phantom Lighting fixtures and is continuously working to add new products as needs develop and technologies evolve. The Phantom Lighting concept was simple at first and quickly grew into one of the most effective accent lighting fixture selections on the market today for fine art illumination and display lighting. The Phantom Lighting System is comprised of two main product categories: Phantom Contour Projector and Phantom Lighting Strips.
Phantom Lighting Strips
Phantom low voltage lighting strips were introduced in the early 80's to illuminate bookcases, breakfronts, armoires, shelves and display cases. The early lighting strips were hand fabricated on site by skilled craftsmen and perfectly fitted inside furniture, antiques and shelving for display applications. Today, we follow that same model and carefully fabricate each order to insure that the light was built for the cabinet and not just modified to fit. The adjustable shelf concept, our legendary patented process allows for completely adjustable shelves, without the need for tools or unsightly exposed wiring. Phantom lighting strips are simple by design, but highly flexible due to various trim configurations which allow for hiding the lamps and providing glare free continuous illuminations. Models are available for horizontal mounting, vertical mounting, indirect mounting and radius applications. With a variety of incandescent and xenon lamps in both 12 and 24 volts, Phantom Lighting Systems is a leader in linear display and strip lighting. See our article in Aprill issue of LD+A Magazine.
Phantom Contour Projectors
Phantom Contour Projectors, another product from the designers at Illuminations, are high performance lighting instruments created specifically for illuminating fine art. They utilize precision lenses, halogen lamps and a patented masking technique to contour focused light onto the art or sculpture with spectacular results. In fact, you can illuminate one or more paintings individually from one source regardless of the shape of the art. For years the Wendel projector was the standard for fine art lighting, but not anymore. Developments in lamp technology, optics and energy savings requirements have been incorporated into the Phantom Contour Projector. This equates to a smaller, more efficient, cooling running, cost effective optical framing projector. The Phantom Contour Projector has now become the projector of choice by lighting and design professionals. Architects, engineers, lighting designers and discriminating clients all agree that the Phantom Contour Projector looks better, is easier to install and requires no formal training to acheive world class results.
Imagine a space where fine art appears to come alive, where paintings appear to leap off the walls, where pictures appear to be illuminated from within. Imagine a museum where sculptures seem to float, magically suspended and enlivened by some unseen source of light. Imagine canvases and statues transformed by lighting that breathes life into each image. Now imagine actually creating such a space in your home, office, gallery or museum. That's what Phantom Lighting is all about!
To learn more about Phantom Lighting contact us to request a catalog or call toll free at 800-863-1184. You can also visit us online at one of the following web address: www.phantomlighting.com
Come see what Phantom Lighting is all about at Light Fair 2006. Light Fair International is the world's largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference. The trade show and conference is being held May 30th through June 1st at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Phantom Lighting booth will be located in the center of the hall as Booth 2742. Click here to see a floor plan of the convention center illustrating our location.
Labels: Contour Projector, Fine Art Lighting Consultants, Fine Art Lighting Equipment, Interior Accent Lighting, Picture Lighting Solutions, Wendel Projector