What is the best way to light your art?
Elongated filament tube-bulbs, often greater than 6” in length, used to be the “go to” choice for lighting paintings, or other relatively flat objects (like plaster of stone friezes). With paintings there would often be a fixture with one or two bulbs directly overhead. This was called Direct Lighting, which would illuminate a rather central splotch, often leaving the top cor
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Fine Art Lighting
Art Lighting, Repairs, and Maintenance
It’s a complex skillset
Some folks might think that "art lighting" is easy— clamp an elongated tube-style incandescent fixture to the top of a picture frame, and you're done, right? Sadly, no; that went out of fashion years ago, right along with button-up shoes.
The technology has advanced from the power-hungry, short-lived incandescents invented in the 1890s, to durable sources that use 1/10th the power, and las
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Neatness Counts
No mess… and we vacuum, too!
Back in your school days, on top of the requirements for a test or quiz, your teachers would often add “…and Neatness Counts”. At the time we might have regarded that as unfair since knowing the answers might have seemed hard enough. The teachers, however, were preparing us for Real Life, because neatness really does count.
Just like Home
It’s true that we know all our fixtures intima
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Seen in the Right Light
The Spectrum Your Art Needs
Salvador Dali’s paintings would not be best viewed by candlelight. A Cézanne would be ill-served by the harsh actinic radiation from a halogen bulb. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” might look extra-creepy in a yellowish-orangey sodium vapor light, but is that what you want? We probably all agree that we should stick with the artist’s original vision.
The Future Lights the Past
There are a
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Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder
But first they must be able to see it!
If your selected art-lighting team doesn’t own and use a light meter, they are unqualified! If they don’t bring test equipment and rigs to put temporary lighting in place so they can check the values, effects, and appearances, they (quite frankly) don’t know what they are doing.
Each canvas, statue, or subject in any medium, has distinct needs to optimize its appearance. Some
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Versatile
Are you ready to make tracks?
Balanced, well-considered lighting is essential for art. Absolutely nothing compares to using silhouette spots, complete with non-destructive lamping, to bring out the very best in your collection. We are the undisputed experts in fixed lighting for your fixed-in-place art.
That being said, sometimes you have art that changes, evolves, or needs something more adaptable. That is where
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A Study in Contrasts
Fine Galleries do it…so should You!
If there is one consistent thing about art galleries, they know how to illuminate fine art. Our founders, Jim Stephens and Tom Kretzschmar, began their lighting careers through a chance meeting at a small firm specializing in fine art lighting. The two men possessed contrasting, yet complementary skills in lighting design and electrical engineering—a synergy which evolved into Ill
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Architectural Features
Light can be Art, too!
Many people, when they think of art, immediately think of the painting Grand Masters, such as Rembrandt, Vincent, Michelangelo, and Leonardo, and galleries graced with their works. Others think of Rodin’s “The Thinker” or Michelangelo's "David."
Still, rarer are those whose first thoughts turn to the Vatican, the Louvre, the Guggenheim, or even the Chrysler Building, for their Architectural
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LED Home Lighting
Indoor and Outdoor LED Lighting Options
LED Home lighting is one of the fastest growing trends in home lighting design. LEDs have historically been the most energy efficient forms of lighting. In the recent past, LED engineering has advanced to a level that puts the quality of these fixtures on par with traditional light sources. It is now possible to do anything with LEDs that you previously did with metal halide,
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Home Audio Automation
Throughout human history, the wise and the great have often referred to music as the true Universal language. As a lighting company specializing in universal visual phenomenon, Illuminations Lighting and Design decided long ago to incorporate our clientele’s passion for top-quality audio into the home automation systems we designed and installed. Neither our clients nor we have ever regretted this decision. As t
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