Fine Art Lighting brings out the hidden value that lies dormant in so many older works of art, and it adds value to rare, expensive, and original pieces that deserve a spotlight of their own. The importance of choosing the right lighting for your fine art cannot be emphasized enough, and making the wrong choices could diminish the appearance of your most prized paintings or even worse inadvertently damage certain oils and canvases. For this reason, Illuminations Lighting and Design heads up a team of specialists whose training and experience guide commercial and individual clients into making the best investments possible in fine art lighting and design. Houston art galleries and Texas homeowners alike come to us when they need someone they can rely on to engineer the creative as well as the technical aspects of their new lighting layout.
When you call Illuminations Lighting and Design for fine art lights and design services, we immediately begin with a personal, in-house consultation focused on getting a feel for your aesthetic taste and determining key technical details such as fixture size, lamp wattage, and fine art lighting placement relative to your art design theme. We also take careful note of the genres, nature, and sizes of your individual works of art so we can develop an overall theme that highlights individual specifics within a unified field of illumination. If you decorate shelves, bookcases, and tables with sculpture, we can customize our patented framing projectors to light these objects along with your fine art. Our proprietary techniques enable us to illuminate paintings, sculptures, and other items without glare or spill light. Over the years, our experience serving collectors of Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Rockwell, Dali, and Rembrandt has honed our skills in lighting fine art to pinpoint technical accuracy and made us adept in an aesthetic realm that most technical companies fear to approach.
What we learn in our first consultation helps us to then form a detailed technical plan to make your fine art lighting dreams a reality. One of the many benefits you can count on when you choose ILD is the many distributor relationships we hold with the world’s top fine art light manufacturers. These relationships give you the added value of having your consulting team also serve as your vendor, thus eliminating the need for multiple sources and complicated purchasing procedures. Our knowledge of fine art lighting fixtures has developed through years of hands-on experience working with everything from low voltage accent lights for fine art to complex Wendel optical light projectors. Most importantly, as your vendor we will be qualified to install new components for you any time you add work to your collection that requires a lighting upgrade.
Give us a call today to get started on bringing the best look to your investments with fine art lighting materials and creative strategies. Watch your home add sophistication to comfort by choosing Texas’s best experts as your one-shop solution for new ideas and new realities in light. Give us a call at 800-863-1184.
Labels: Custom Art Lights, Fine art lighting, High-End Lighting, Interior Accent Lighting, Optical Wendel Projectors
Illuminations Lighting Deign, a Houston based lighting contractor is known around the Country as
"The Go To" company for fine art lighting consultation, design and installation.
Illuminations Lighting Design has consulted 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. Regardless of the artist, you can trust the professionals at Illuminations Lighting Design to showcase your fine art in the best possible light, on a budget you can afford.
Illumination's understands light and it's destructive characteristics including how to harness and control infrared and ultraviolet radiation to prevent deterioration and fading of priceless art. Our knowledge of art lighting fixtures is extensive with years of hands on experience in everything from installing low voltage accent lights to complex
Wendel optical projectors and
Phantom Contour Projectors.
Labels: Fine art lighting, Optical Wendel Projectors, Picture Lighting Solutions, Wendel Art Lights
Lighting fine art is not as easy as attaching a picture light on the frame or putting a light in the ceiling. It involves careful consideration of the type and style of art, temperature and humidity as well as how the light will affect the piece over the long run. All light bulbs emit ultraviolet and infrared radiation that can cause the temperatures on the surface of a painting to rise when the light is on and back to normal when the light is off. Over time, this can result in fading, cracking, and derogation of materials such as textiles. This is particularly true when using over the picture lights. So let's take a look at various light sources, light fixtures and learn how they might affect your art:
Infrared Heat & Ultraviolet Radiation
IR or infrared heat is an electromagnetic field capable of transferring energy from a source, such as a light fixture or fireplace, to a destination, such as the surfaces within a room like a painting. Radiation does not require an intervening medium; it can occur through a vacuum. It is responsible for the warming of the Earth by the sun. The sensitivity of paintings to ultraviolet and visible radiation varies, but illumination should not be excessive, nor should paintings be hung in direct, unfiltered sunlight. All light, particularly that in the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) regions of the spectrum, induces chemical changes which age materials by degrading them. The most pernicious photochemical damage is caused by UV rays. IR radiation will cause chemical changes, and it accelerates the destructive effect of both UV light and visible radiation. Although not as profound in its destructive capacity as IR or UV, visible light can cause fading or darkening of some pigments. Photochemical deterioration, which occurs in organic objects such as works on paper and textiles, is cumulative and cannot be reversed. Extremes of temperature and humidity are also bad for paintings and they should be stored at temperatures within the range of 68-72 degrees F. The overall wattage of a light source is the main determinate of how much infrared and ultraviolet radiation is emitted. Remember, using low wattage lamps, the better off you are in protecting your art.
Types of Light Sources
Incandescent Lights
Standard incandescent light bulbs create a warm color that brings out the yellows and reds in art while flattering the blues and greens. They do generate some heat, however, and must be placed far enough away that the heat doesn't affect the artwork.
Halogen Lights
Halogens cast the purest white light, making them ideal for illuminating most art. They do generate a lot of heat, however, and must be placed far enough away that the heat doesn't affect the artwork. The halogen light source produces a pure white color of light which enhances all colors acrosss the spectrum.
Fluorescent Lights
Fluorescent lighting distorts the color of artwork, and the high level of ultraviolet rays emitted by fluorescent lights damage works of art by causing accelerated fading. Fluorescent light sources are not recommended for lighting artwork.
Fixture Styles
Picture lights
Surface mounted picture lights hang directly over a painting or are attached to the frame. These lights, due to their close proximity to the art, are the most likely to affect the art. Works of art on paper, which include prints, drawings in all media, pastels, photographs and works on related materials, are among the most vulnerable to excessive light and fluctuations of temperatures and humidity. They should not be exposed to direct light, unfiltered fluorescent lamps, or the heat of incandescent bulbs. The ultraviolet rays from fluorescent tubes will cause structural damage and oxidative reactions. Limiting light exposure protects paper and pigments from chemical and physical deterioration.
Adjustable Accent Lights
Recessed adjustable accent lights are available in primarily incandescent and halogen sources. In today's lighting fixtures, the MR16 halogen accent light is the preferred fixture for lighting art over traditional incandescent sources. The small size, high output and dichroic characteristics of the light bulb emit a cool beam of light that is art friendly. In case you are wondering, dichroic is a lighting term for a type of reflector that allows the infrared heat and ultraviolet radiation to exit the back of the lamp. Used in conjunction with a UV filter, the MR16 light adjustable accent produces hardly any damaging light and can be used on even the most sensitive and priceless works.
Framing Projectors
Recessed optical framing projectors are available in primarily incandescent and halogen sources. One again, the MR16 halogen accent light is the preferred light source for lighting art over traditional incandescent sources. The Phantom Contour Projector, for example, produces no harmful light rays or heat that will damage art. For this reason, many museums, private collectors and art galleries use projectors to enhance their art. Another advantage to using a Phantom optical framing projector is the unique ability to shape the light to the exact contour of the object without unsightly shadows created on the wall by the frame. The result is a magical "lighted from within look" that can only be appreciated when seen in person or by photography.
Position and Intensity of the Light
Reduce Glare
Place the light at a 30-degree angle to the work of art to minimize glare. Add 5 degrees to the angle for a larger frame, to avoid casting a shadow. Subtract 5 degrees from the position to accent the texture of a painting. You can offset the light in the ceiling to counteract glare from the normal viewing angle.
Avoid Heat Damage
Place lights far enough away from a painting to avoid possible heat damage. Heat can crack oil paintings. Take special care when using hot halogen lights. To test the heat from your lights, put your hand between the art and the light source. If you can feel heat from the light, it could potentially damage an oil painting.
Intensity
A general rule of thumb for accenting a piece of art is to light it three times brighter than the rest of the room. So if you have other lighting in the room it is best to install dimmer controls.
Summary
The professional lighting consultants at Illuminations Lighting Design are well versed in all forms of art, accent and display lighting for museums, private collectors and commercial applications. Illuminations' understands how color, texture, form and shadow can be molded creatively to produce the effect required. This can only be accomplished with the correct equipment and a complete knowledge of lamp types and lamp performance.
Illuminations is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting installation, service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters and lighting control systems. For more information, please call 800-863-1184.
Labels: Architectural Lighting Houston Texas, Cove Lighting Specialists, Fine art lighting, Lighting Sculptures, Optical Wendel Projectors, Phantom Contour Projectors, Picture Lighting Solutions
