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copyright ©1999-2002 |
As a studio arts concentrator at a college far better known for turning out future presidents and Pulitzer-prize-winning writers and Nobel laureate scientists than famous artists, my friends sometimes teased me for choosing a major that would leave me with so few practical real-world skills. (This, of course, was utter nonsense, since let’s face it: very little of what any of us actually learn in our liberal arts college courses is of direct relevance when it comes to real jobs.) Years later, now, I can’t remember a speck of the organic chemistry I was forced to study back when I was still deluded enough to think I should go to med school. But the things I learned in art class, like how to compose a picture, and how to think about how the objects in my environment relate to one another – these are the things that stick with me, that help me as much in my work as a graphic designer as they do in creating my home. And one of the most useful skills I learned back in my art student days was that you can pop just about any bit of artwork in a mat, and it’ll look ten times better than it would in its naked state. Furthermore, a mat’s essential if you’re placing your pictures, especially photos, into frames: they’ll keep your pictures from eventually getting stuck to the glass (trust me: it takes just one ruined treasured snapshot to ensure that you’ll never again stick a beloved photo into a frame unmatted).
get equipped
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Getting
pictures professionally matted and framed is, however, a rather
expensive endeavor. Fortunately, with a few choice tools, anyone with a
little patience and a steady hand can cut mats that look every bit as
good as you’d get at a frame shop.