The CornerShop
Picture Framing Out of the Ordinary
The Old Granary Workshops, Bank Street, Bishop's Waltham, Hants. SO32 1AE
Please ring up before you turn up - 01489 891869.
If it holds treasured memories for you, even a photo may be irreplaceable. Here, everything, from a postcard to a Rembrandt, is treated with care and respect, all as part of the service. If you really can’t run to properly framing an item that is unquestionably worth preserving, you would be recommended, out of consideration for your possessions, to take it away and save up to have the job correctly done, rather than frame it inadequately, which could cause it to deteriorate. This concern was born out of a love of art (not because it was a “rapid-growth market-sector” in the 1980s... ) so this is not part of some underhand long-term sales-gimmick: it’s genuine, old-fashioned care!
You’re assured best-quality work, completion by deadlines, and your overall satisfaction. Getting things absolutely right is second nature (“that’ll do” is not good enough for The CornerShop).
Matching up wood-grain patterns at the corners; aligning knots (if they prove unavoidable) to a picture’s vanishing-points; using colouring-techniques similar to those of the artist; echoing an image’s compositional elements in the mount-textures, or in the sectional shape of a moulding: these are the “meat and drink” of The CornerShop’s everyday ideas. Such subtle points make the surround an inseparable part of the whole, so natural that you can ignore it and get on with enjoying your picture.
By welcoming the unusual, problematic, or special-to-you, The CornerShop has experienced a large range of work that most framers never see. “Unusual” processes, like stretching fabrics, are par for the course (and I wonder why people feel the need to ask if The CornerShop deals with them — this is a framer’s, right??) Much greater-than-normal knowledge of conservation-techniques and -issues, means you can have confidence in The CornerShop’s advice in this field.
Paul Clarke’s CV
1977 – 78 Foundation course at Winchester School of Art (now University of Southampton).
1978 – 81 Honours Degree in Graphic Design, specialising in Photography, at Exeter College of Art and Design (now University of the South West).
1982 Framing course at West Dean College. First workshop, at St. John's, Portsmouth.
1983 Set up as AAA Framing under Enterprise Allowance Scheme. Moved to Victory Business Centre, Portsmouth.
1984 First major exhibition (Eric Meadus) gave full reign to develop style of 'sympathetic' hand-applied colouring (echoing the artist's method of using colour), then an almost unheard-of concept, even now rarely seen. Second course at West Dean (frame-restoration).
1986 Major commission, secured against tenders from top London framers: a restored English Civil War banner, belonging to a church on Box Hill, Surrey. First of extended series of articles for The Artist magazine, published all over the English-speaking world. Long project, refurbishing 23 frames for H.M.S. Dryad, the Naval Officers Training School at Southwick, near Portsmouth.
1987 Framing of and publicity design for Two Memorable Men (L.S. Lowry and photographer Crispin Eurich) at “The First” Gallery, and later all over Britain. Style of presentation (particularly the photographs) was much remarked on by curators at tour-venues.
1988 In London: work for the Saatchi Collection; the London Lighthouse Project; City of London (Harold Samuel Collection); the Anthony Caro Studio; and many leading – and more obscure – artists.
1989 Left London to follow up other framing contacts, operating from “The First” Gallery.
1991 Set up as The CornerShop in Woolston, Southampton. The Animated Eye, Peter Markey's touring exhibition earned rave reviews, even singling out the frames(!) assuming them to have been coloured by the artist himself. On the road until 1999, it visited over 30 venues and attracted much favourable comment.
1994 Framed all 89 works, in five weeks (!), for John Hansard Gallery exhibition Photo-Reclamation, later seen in Glasgow, Russia, USA and Japan.
1995 Framing and publicity design for Architect at Leisure, “The First” Gallery's third touring exhibition (of private work by Arthur Mattinson, who designed Blackpool Tower), shown at eight venues.
1997 Moved to current location in Bishop's Waltham. Made and designed re-vamped security-crating for The Animated Eye.
1998 Framing and publicity design for Passage from India by Jacqueline Mair (seen across England).
2000 20 photos by Crispin Eurich framed for the new Milestones “Living History” Museum, Basingstoke.
2002 – 07 Tutoring framing courses at ACE (the Adult Education arm of Peter Symonds College), Winchester.
2004 7307 Stage 1 Teaching course.
2005 on Tutoring similar weekend and evening classes at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh.
OTHER SERVICES
In addition to mounting and framing, Paul also undertakes:
o
"resuscitation"
of damaged frames,
so called to distinguish it from "restoration"
(= repair using original materials) or "renovation" (=
cleaning to look new). Also repairs / retouches, etc. on other items
in similar materials
o tuition, at a local F.E. College, or at your premises
o
conservation
of most items
(such highly skilled work is sub-contracted out to
long-established practitioners)
o small display-plinths, boxes, glass-cases, etc.
o crating for transport or storage
o careful transit for works of art
o special moulding-runs, short or long (with advice on their suitability)
o advice on installation, site-specific displays and security-framing
“THE FIRST” GALLERY
A frequently-changing range of artworks framed by Paul can be seen, especially between exhibitions, demonstrating his own approach to, and choice of, presentation. To view, usually by appointment, but sometimes during exhibition hours (see current programme), ring 023 6046 2723
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OTHER SATISFIED CUSTOMERS INCLUDE
Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
Cross-Channel Photographic Mission, Kent (now Photoworks)
the late Richard Eurich (1903 – 92)
Hampshire County Council Arts Office
Southampton University Hospitals N.H.S. Trust
Hampshire County Museums Service
John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton
Royal
Navy Trophy Centre, Portsmouth
(responsible for the Navy's works
of art throughout the UK)
and numerous private individuals as far afield as London, Mid-Wales, Caithness and the Isle of Mull