Lighting

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Of framing styles or techniques that rocked your boat, and also of those that didn't
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John
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Lighting

Post by John »

Having used low voltage lighting for years in the gallery, I'm not sure if we should go for the same again when we get our new premises. The fittings we had, started to fall apart after 4-5 years and we were constantly replacing them. I'm not sure whether this is normal or just poor quality.

I would like to hear how you light your gallery and if you are happy with the system you use.
markw

lighting

Post by markw »

John
I have had the same problems with low voltage lighting, constantly replacing lamp holders especially - Having totally replaced a track recently i was suprised that the quality was much improved. My advice is to go for units that have the power to take 50w lamps - the cheaper units take 20w lamps only - they burn out very quickly. The other advantage with 50w lamps is that you get a good choice of light spread as well as being able to use low uv bulbs. Spread is very important - if you are illuminating a wall of pictures you need a wide even spread with spots on the favoured selling areas.
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Merlin
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Post by Merlin »

We have had the same problem as Markw, and have now gone for the 50W track system for 'washing' the picture wall.. But, we do also have 5 ft tubes down the centre of the shop with Daylight properties.
In honesty though I am still not happy, was looking at the recessed wall washer type of lighting. These are quite impressive but at nearly £100 apiece. Need to do some more homework on this.. ie life of tubes and wattage. The real bonus is that they burn cold, not hot like some of the gallery lighting that I have been looking at.
Our 50w track lighting system in the window works very well and for some reason, those diocromic (sp) are lasting longer than the ones in the main shop area.. I really dont know why either...
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James Miller
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Post by James Miller »

We moved our gallery two years ago into a new, 1600 sq. ft. space with 12 ft. ceilings.

We decided to use color-corrected (3500 degree K) fluorecent lamps in the fixtures provided by the landlord, except that I installed deep-louvered lenses to direct nearly all of the light to the floor. That eliminated the industrial appearance of 'hot spots', leaving the walls relatively dark.

Then I installed line-voltage track lighting and a combination of spot lamps and flood lamps, to illuminate the high sections of wall and accentuate the art on display.

That lighting combination gave us very good light color, along with the natural light through the large storefront windows, comparing to the residential environment most of our work involves. Having the spots and floods gave us versatile, dramatic lighting effects, too.

Like the experiences related here, my research indicated that low-voltage track lighting would be more costly over the long term, mostly due to lamp cost and shorter useful life of the fixtures.

The advantages of low voltage track lighting I found are A) small point-source of the light, which allows precise aiming & light control; B) cooler operation, so long as the transformers are located out of the climate-controlled area; C) longer lamp life, and D) good color rendition. In my case, the advantages of low voltage track lights would not have justified the added costs.

I would not recommend "cool white" or the very expensive "chroma" or full-spectrum fluorescent lamps. While they may produce light very similar to natural light, which is important in museums, that isn't the way most of us illuminate our art at home or in offices. I'm more interested in duplicating real-world display conditions in my shop.
Jim Miller
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John
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Post by John »

Many thanks to everyone who has responded on this thread. Just to update you all, I finally settled on covering the entire retail area with 2 x 2ft diffused fluorescent units fitted with ‘daylight’ tubes and just a handful of low voltage units to create some highlights on one wall. I haven’t yet seen the final effect as only the lights are in place in the framework of the new suspended ceiling. The tiles will be installed next week when the dust settles after sanding the floor. I am a bit apprehensive and hope the lighting does not end up being too harsh compared to the low voltage. After all, I was happy with the light the LV produced; it was just their poor reliability that annoyed me.

Since 70% of our business is picture framing we are trying to create an ambience in which our framing customers will be comfortable rather than trying to look so much like a gallery.

Welcome to the forum James, sounds like you have a great gallery space. Have you kept your 12ft ceiling, or did you reduced it with a suspended ceiling?
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Post by Guest »

John wrote:...Welcome to the forum James, sounds like you have a great gallery space. Have you kept your 12ft ceiling, or did you reduced it with a suspended ceiling?
Thanks, John. Yes, I have kept the 12 ft. ceilings. The gallery room is only 20 ft. x 30 ft., and the higher ceiling gives it a more spacious feel. It also allows plenty of hanging space.
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