Carol Whitehead framing at her shop

Until I met Carol Whitehead I hadn’t thought too much about framing. Almost all our homes have framed art and photos hanging on the walls. You go to a store and buy your frame, right? But, if you consider your artwork, paintings or photos as precious possessions for memories in the years to come, you need to rethink how you frame them. That is where conservation framing comes in, a term I have never heard before this interview. Those who value art works or photos, more than anyone, need to protect these with the proper custom made framing. Carol Whitehead is the one to visit for these services.

Carol Whitehead owns the Carol Whitehead Antique Prints & Fine Custom Framing at 335 First Street in Aspinwall. She worked there for five years when the former owner decided to move to Florida. With a ten year commercial artist back ground and another ten years painting portraits of homes, the timing was right for her to buy the business and open her own shop.

Pittsburgh Trolly painting

The previous owner of the shop focused on antiques and framing, but Carol has expanded the business to include paintings, antique botanicals, natural history and architectural prints. Antique prints are etchings and engravings that are hand colored and date from the 1800’s. She also carries vintage children’s art antique maps.

In addition to these expanding offerings, she displays paintings from a few other artists, art catalogs of prints and posters from leading publishers. The works of two other Pittsburgh artists, Mary Louis Verrilla and Linda Barnicott, are displayed with Carol’s watercolor paintings.

A home potrait

Carol herself is an artist. Starting in her early graphic design days, her love of creative artwork and nature led to learning how to master watercolor painting. Carol told me, “I’ve been going to the Allegheny National Forest for over 20 years”. It is those trips that have inspired her to focus on painting nature scenes. She paints landscapes, floral, ocean and other similar scenes. Customers who want to capture particular scenes commission many of her paintings. Her desire and growth in watercolor painting has led to being accepted as a member of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society [http://www.pittsburghwatercolors.org/].

The custom framing is one of the busiest activities at Carol’s store, although she has begun to expand the line of items, as noted earlier in the story. Carol brings a strong background in graphic art, artistic abilities and knowledge of color and creative design to framing. Her sense of color and balance leads to a frame that enhances the piece being framed. It all started with her home portrait business when customers asked her to have the portrait framed. Fortunately, she gained the experience and skill of framing when she became an apprentice at the store she now owns, the former Kym Mason Ltd.

A commissioned painting from photo

Conservation framing is a specialized form of custom framing. Everything deteriorates over time and exposure to the environment. Some of the more serious problems are high temperature and humidity levels, condensation, dirt, dust, and light. I had never considered that UV rays were the source of fading. Conservation framing is designed to minimize deterioration and avoid contributory deterioration by the materials that surround the artwork. Conservation framing is used for paper artwork, documents, family photos, historic documents or photographs and important mementos.

One doesn’t think of a frame in many parts, but there are a number. Special techniques and procedures are used to prevent these parts from deteriorating. The general components of conservation framing consist of the frame (using higher end of moldings), the glazing, the mat (if used) or spacer, the backing and the hinging. Mats, backing, hinging and glazing must consist of 100% acid free material of conservation quality. Hinging should be of acid free materials with a water based activated adhesive. Pressure sensitive adhesives should never be used on paper as these change character over time and may migrate into the paper. To retain the original state of the artwork, it should not be cut, folded or mounted or glued to backing boards. Carol also offers a line of museum corner molding made out of 22-karat gold leaf.

It would well be worth taking a trip to Carol Whitehead Antique Prints & Fine Custom. She is located at 335 First Street in Aspinwell and her phone number is 412-782-3343. Her hours are Tuesdays through Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit her web site at http://digbig.com/4fjnx.

Be sure to watch a video interview with Carol as she talks about framing, painting and some of her other store offerings at: [coming soon]