To get the best results lighting your art collection, it is strongly recommended that you obtain both your art lighting fixtures and art lighting design services from ILD. The type of equipment we install is very advanced, sensitive and requires considerable technical and design skills to position, select the correct lamp and maintain.
At ILD the first order of business is to ensure that your artwork lighting fixtures are currently performing at expected levels of operation. We have seen, in many instances that the integrity of many lamps will deteriorate and depreciate over time. On MR16 lamps, for example, this deterioration causes a shift in color to either the red or green end of the spectrum. Most people do not notice this shift, because the change is very subtle and gradual over al long period of time. In almost every case, the client is quite surprised when we point this out, because his or her eyes adjusted to the change daily without ever consciously noticing the deterioration. Because of this, we recommend you have a trained professional periodically examine and test your equipment in order to spot this deterioration and arrange for an upgrade to a better, more efficient replacement.
It is often the case too that we encounter end-users who have installed art lighting fixtures that operate on standard high voltage power. This is normally done by people who have purchase retail-grade equipment themselves and hired an electrician to install it. The main issue with high voltage equipment is it does not have the same lamp selection as line voltage fixtures used for fine art lighting applications. Low voltage lights generate have better beam control, far less ultraviolet rays and consume considerably less power than high voltage equivalents. Upgrading now will start saving you money on electrical costs in two respects. Cooling bills will be lower because the room temperature remains at a lower constant. Power bills will also go down because there is less electricity consumed by the lamps themselves.
So effective has low voltage art lighting equipment become 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 lighting can now be purchased in low voltage models. We recommend that if you are using any high voltage fixtures that you consider upgrading to more current, more energy efficient low-voltage lights. Not only will you recover your investment through power cost savings, but you can light your paintings for longer periods of time without worrying about heat buildup. For those with track lighting, you can upgrade without having to replace the track itself.
Since so many of the systems we run across have been not really been strategically designed, but rather piecemealed together over time, it is not common 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 available to help our clients select and replace inferior grade products with high-end upgrades. This saves corporate art consultants and art curators a great deal of money in cumulative replacement costs. Specification grade fixtures usually feature a longer lamp life and a more predictable performance curve. Upgrading the entire system now may cost you money on the front end, but it will save you more money over time when you do not have to continuously replace this fixture or that fixture when it unexpectedly fails.
We also save our clients money by giving them more direct control over their picture lighting fixtures by installing lighting control systems. This lighting control can be placed completely in the hands of the end user and combined with other light sources in the house to create scenes and added convenience. ILD represents a number of lighting control manufacturers whose state-of-the-art, user-friendly whole house lighting controls allow you to set any lighting level you wish for both groups of lights and individual lights, thus creating a multiplicity of luminance layers and effects.
Both specification grade art lighting fixtures and advanced technical services can be made more affordable in the form of a interior lighting maintenance service agreement with ILD. Both curators and private art collectors can obtain all of the above benefits more consistently and at better labor rates with a marginal investment in consistent, periodic visits by an ILD art lighting designer.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a premier fine art lighting company in Houston Texas. We have 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. Employing the most innovative artwork and sculpture lighting techniques in the world, we can assure you that your treasured pieces will shine as brightly as the artist’s true vision. Visit our testimonials page for customer feedback.
Simply put, our staff is Illuminations Lighting Design’s greatest asset. We are fortunate as an electrical contractor to employ and retain such a highly skilled workforce of craftsmen and mechanics who enjoy what they do. Working carefully and efficiently, 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.
Follow Us: