How to Arrange Artwork.
If you don’t have a plan, often your arrangements can look a lot like
swiss cheese on the wall. Before you start hammering away, and creating
all those holes, pick up a pencil and paper. Gather together the
objects and/or paintings and trace their silouettes onto the paper. Cut
these shapes out, lay them out in the order you’d like to see them, and
then tape them to the wall in that order. Step back, take a long
critical look, and start rearranging, if need be, until your eye likes
what it sees. This may mean removing one or two items, or even adding
some. You should keep the spacing between objects somewhat uniform.
When choosing objects, it is good to have somewhat of a relationship
between them, almost as if you are having them tell a story. It is also
good to use odd number of things as opposed to even numbers. Sometime
this does not apply, but in most cases it does.
If you want to create intimacy, a good way to do that is to hang your
items lower rather than high on the wall. If the wall is a lot wider
than it is high, the use of a horizontal arrangement works very well,
just as the use of vertical arrangements work well for narrow spaces.
Color and or a unified theme are good to use in groupings. Whereas it
is good to use different sizes and shapes, it is not good to go too
crazy. If you do this it will come across as chaotic. You can also have
some related sizes and shapes repeated. This helps the eye to accept
what is going on. The use of several exact frames or objects is also a
good idea to help create that relationship. They don’t necessarily have
to be placed next to each other, and actually it is better if they are
not placed that way.
It is not an exact science, but the ability to trust your judgement and
your eye plays an important role. Try not to over think the scheme of
things. If your gut tells you “This looks nice” than it probably does.
Afterall, they are not cemented to the wall, you can always change them.
Mary Valentine
Interior Designer, Custom Color Specialist