Photographer Maire Scharpegge

The other half of “Echoes”, the show of contemporary art glass and abstract photography @ The Frame Maker through March 13, is photographer Maire Scharpegge.

Born in East Germany, Maire received her first camera from her father when she was 16 and promptly began to shoot everything of consequence around her, including the fall of the Berlin Wall a year later.

An avid swimmer, Maire’s current photography work revolves around the recurring yet infinitely diverse patterns of light on water. The unique development of a lifelong passion for nature photography into a dramatic body of abstract photography work progresses even further in the printing of these images directly to stainless steel.

abstract photography by Maire Scharpegge, glass by Lea de Wit

Made possible by the technologies of Moebius Color, Maire’s images take on additional depths as the reflections of the steel panels shimmer and change with the viewer’s observation point. This ephemeral quality brings them into a unique harmony with glass artist Lea de Wit’s vessels, which makes the current installation by these two contemporary California artists @The Frame Maker a must-see in San Diego through March 13, 2009.

art glass & photography installation by Maire Scharpegge & Lea de Wit

For more images and information about Maire’s abstract photography on stainless steel, visit her online at www.metalchemy.eu.

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California glass artist Lea de Wit

The first half of “Echoes” (in The Frame Maker showroom through March 13) is California glass artist Lea de Wit, whose full portfolio and info can be seen online at www.luckystripe.com.

Lea has studied under Italian glassblowing masters Elio Quarisa and Davide Salvadore, and renowned glass sculpture artist, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, among others at Scuola del Vetro, Abate Zanetti, in Murano, Italy; the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York; at Red Deer College in Canada; and at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.

Lea’s work for “Echoes” involves a series of vignettes responding to the work of photographer Maire Scharpegge, and a feature wall of her own, featuring 14 handblown art glass bowls, that is another kind of response to Maire’s images.

Lea de Wit feature wall of handblown glass bowls

Playing with reflections, cast shadows and projected colors, we set this installation against a white panel to showcase the purity of Lea’s colors, much in the way Maire sets off her printing inks against her stainless steel panels (more on Maire’s photographs in the next post.).

details of Lea de Wit's contemporary art glass installation at The Frame Maker

contemporary art glass plates by Lea de Wit

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Echoes: Glass & Photography @ The Frame Maker

We loved Lea de Wit‘s work the moment we first saw it, and wanted to do a show.

When we met Maire Scharpegge some months later, it was like she knew exactly what we were looking for to show with Lea.

When we introduced them at The Frame Maker, the synergy and between the two artists and their work was immediate, and “Echoes”, a show of contemporary blown glass by Lea and abstract photography by Maire.

postcard front and back for Echoes @ The Frame Maker

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Hospitality framing contract #1 complete; on with #2!

The Frame Maker is proud to say that 654 of 654 finished custom frames were shipped and installed in January for a southern California hospitality project without a single return.

Shortly after, we began shipping finished pieces for hospitality project #2– after Thursday’s pick up, we will have shipped 517 of 1170 total pieces for the new contract.

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Contract frames shipping in January: 472 pieces so far

Shipping of the first of our big contract picture frame orders from 2008 began right after the New Year, with weekly deliveries scheduled through March 1. We’re relieved, since there are so many pieces in these orders that the shop is overflowing– here’s a pic of our conference room packed with finished framed art:

finished picture frames awaiting delivery

There’s quite a variety of finished work, posters, fine art on paper, original paintings on panel and canvas as well as several giclee canvas series custom mounted to insure longevity in a public/hospitality environment.

custom mounted giclee canvases ready for shipping

The more unique pieces take up more space and require special handling, since the art itself is not protected in the same way that traditional frames with glass protect the artwork.

That said, all of these frames are custom and different (as opposed to standardized all-the-same-size jobs) and require thoughful organization at every step of the production process, including packing the van!

packing the van full of maple picture frames

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