Actually, owner Steve Atlas moved the business up State Street north of Laurel, technically into Mission Hills. Buying up a converted warehouse building and converting it into another beautiful showroom has proven a pretty smart move since then for The Frame Maker despite the perceptual disconnect with its previous neighborhood.

Now that Little Italy has become one of the most dynamic neighborhoods for art in San Diego county year round, and especially ArtWalk weekend, it seemed only logical to try and bring The Frame Maker showroom “back” to Little Italy.

Since The Frame Maker is staffed by professional artists and people who care deeply about the art & design community in San Diego, the booth was also conceived to let those people and personalities percolate through to the surface. After all, ArtWalk is all about art & artists, and we feel that our staff of artists and their combined knowledge and experience is one of the business’ current core strengths.

Again it seemed only logical to time the next show of staff work with ArtWalk, so not only does the custom framing part of our booth feature the staff, the gallery part of the booth features their work.

Our booth has only become a reality with the assistance of two new friends and partners, both small businesses with deep roots in San Diego that we are ecstatic to support and be supported by as we work together to strengthen our local economy.

The Frame Maker was introduced to Moebius Color by photographer Maire Scharpegge, who has been featured at The Frame Maker (along with glass artist Lea de Wit) in the show “Echoes”. Moebius’ arsenal of innovative technologies for digital printing suggested a host of possibilities to The Frame Maker staff, and the first collaborative results will be on full display in both parts of The Frame Maker booth (details in next posts).

Robert Noble of Noble Environmental Technologies and his visionary staff brought a new product they have developed to our attention this spring, and much like with Moebius, lightning struck. After some discussion Robert and Manufacturing Director Tim Newburn agreed to lend us a batch of their new “green” construction panels to experiement with, both for art-making and booth-building.

Check out this incredible 100%-post-consumer-waste building product online at www.ecorglobal.com and check back here for more posts on The Frame Maker booth.

Surrounded by the art of host Maher Morcos, SDFAS hosted an exotically blended show of sculpture and exquisite diamonds from sponsor Hearts on Fire and San Diego jeweller Charles Koll.

To find out more about our friends at the San Diego Fine Art Society and their work to inspire artists, collectors, and the entire art community of San Diego, please visit them online at www.sdfas.org.

This Saturday August 23, SDFAS invites everyone to attend its “Hearts on Fire Gala”, a benefit for the new Arts and Healing Fund for the Family Health Centers of San Diego.

Held at the home of artist Maher Morcos in La Jolla, CA and sponsored by Hearts on Fire Diamonds, the Gala offers to “entice your senses with an evening of gourmet tastes, spectacular views, exotic live fire performances and a live and silent auction for fine art, gems and more!”

Proceeds of the event will seed the new Arts and Healing Fund to purchase and install artwork in community health clinics through out San Diego. Family Health Centers of San Diego are one of the largest community health care organizations in the country. They provide health care for over 112,000 individuals annually who would otherwise go without needed care due to economics or insurance or the lack thereof. FHCSD is currently comprised of 11 primary care clinics, 3 dental clinics, 3 mental health centers, an HIV site, and 3 mobile medical units that provide healthcare services at nearly 100 different community sites, including elementary schools and community centers.

Many studies demonstrate that the presence of art reduces stress, helps boost the body’s natural immune system, and decreases the demand for pain medicatio. Many of us @ The Frame Maker have our own personal interests in improving the quality and success of the healthcare experience for anyone and everyone and have donated work to healthcare facilities in the past. The Frame Maker is proud to support SDFAS in developing the implementation procedures for art presentation and installation under the Aarts and Healing Fund guidelines, and we urge you to check out the SDFAS webpage for this event at http://www.sdfas.org/join-us.

You can read more about the San Diego Fine Art Society’s work with the Family Health Centers of San Diego at http://sdfas.org/blog.

The workshop is titled “Workshop for Artists: How to Market and Sell Art With or Without a Gallery” and is being led by Art Rep and Author Margaret Danielak. Margaret is the owner of DanielakArt – Art Sales & Consulting and the author of Selling Art in Alternative Venues.

Here is the SDFAS flier:

For more information and to register, please contact the San Diego Fine Art Society at (858) 205-4354 or via email at info@sdfas.org.