Effects Light
Effectively Lighting Your Artwork
What are the first impressions of visitors entering your place of business or home? Artwork is often the crucial and memorable element that completes a well defined and designed space. Your artwork speaks volumes about your values and interests. Artwork reflects your image, promotes a stimulating work environment, and enhances a comfortable living space.
After spending time, and often a lot of money, for the right pieces of art, the works must be carefully placed or hung to best be seen and to complement the spaces they occupy. What is often overlooked is proper and effective lighting of the art. Imagine the difference in impact between an unlighted painting at the end of a hallway and the same painting artfully illuminated. In the first case, the painting will often fade into the background. A well lighted painting will become a focal point.
A picture can be illuminated either from a ceiling-mounted spotlight focused on the work, or from a tubular lamp mounted above it. A spotlight mounted at the correct angle can provide excellent illuminating, but may have the drawback of attracting attention to itself as an element of the ceiling.
When considering a tubular light mounted above a painting, many of us think of the 8″ wide incandescent lights that have been prevalent for this type of lighting. These lights have been very warm in color, produce a fair amount of heat, and tend to illuminate just a small center area of a picture. Until recently, the only real alternative has been fluorescent lighting which, due to its color and potential flicker, has not really been an option.
Recent developments in LED lighting technology provide pleasing lighting colors in various widths of lighting strips, and allow the illumination to be focused on the artwork with minimal “spillage” onto the surrounding area. LEDs have the further benefit of producing virtually no heat, which can be destructive to artwork.
When choosing appropriate lighting for your paintings, here are some things to consider:
1. How much heat and infra-red radiation does a light source provide. In this case less is better.
2. Does the light source produce ultra-violet radiation which can be detrimental to artwork? Does the fixture provide ultra-violet filtering to eliminate the ultra-violet light?
3. What color is the light? The color should bring out the colors and mood of the piece being lighted. A painting with oranges and reds will be complemented by a warm-colored light. Conversely, a predominantly blue painting will look best with a cooler light.
4. Will the light provide even illumination over the width and height of a picture?
The Ektralamp art light is one device that creates virtually no heat, is available in a variety of sizes, mounts over a picture, has ultra-violet filtering, and can be equipped with color filters to best bring out the colors in your artwork. You can check out this light at www.ektralamp.com.
After making an investment in your art, show it off to the fullest by effectively illuminating it.
About the Author
Will Limkemann is an author, speaker, business advisor, and inventor. Check out his website.
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