At TurnKey Art Soultions we sell a great number of framed, photo reproductions. Many people like to connect the old with the new. In fact, one of our more popular art products is a framed piece that displays side-by-side photos of the old and new of certain buildings, landmarks or just street corners. (We call this art piece “The Story of a Street Corner”. For more about this please see Houston vintage pictures.)

One of my favorite of the old structures are the two Esperson buildings, which were developed and built starting in 1927 by Neils and Mellie Esperson.

At the time, the Neils Esperson Building was the tallest building in Texas and the third tallest in America. The Mellie Esperson was built later and had the largest office space of its day. It was also one of the first to be built with central air conditioning. (Yes, there were times in Houston without air conditioning. I personally attended school in Houston without air conditioning.)

The Esperson Buildings have been preserved beautifully over the years and are among the most thriving in Downtown Houston today. Walking through them gives a person the feeling of yesterday’s elegance. You may even experience a distinct sense of Mellie Esperson herself in the building. There have been reported sightings as well as a feeling of her presence in the hallways.

If ghostly sightings gets your attention, you’re sure to enjoy our next article in this category. There are two downtown buildings that are listed in the register of haunted buildings, and I’ll tell you about them. (Here’s a hint: Think about having Italian food.)

for both Corporate Art and Residential Art clients,

please contact us at:

832-606-3303

Email: Scott@TurnKeyArtSolutions.com

Our main website for Corporate Art clients is at:

TurnKey Art Solutions

Residential art clients may also want to visit us on the web at:

Art By Room

For all our clients, we offer more detailed information about custom art and picture framing at:

Houston Art and Frame

Thank you for visiting us. Please come back soon.

Why are we moving our Featured Artists Series?

Nothing on the Corporate Art blog is changing, and we hope you’ll continue to visit and enjoy the articles and information posted here. However, we feel that our Favorite Artists Series is better suited to our blog at Houston Art and Frame, which is the residential art division of TurnKey Art Solutions.

We apologize for any inconvenience and can only attribute it to growing pains, which in this case is a good thing. Our clientele in both corporate and residential art is growing quite rapidly, and we’re in the process of making a few changes in order to better serve the needs of both.

Thank you to all our loyal clients, and welcome to everyone who is searching for superior quality custom frames and art project services. We hope you’ll find our TurnKey Art Solutions and Houston Art and Frame websites helpful, and as always we welcome your questions and inquiries. Please contact us at:

832-606-3303

Scott@TurnKeyArtSolutions.com

]]> http://turnkeyartsolutions.com/corporateart/art-picture-framing/favorite-artists-series-were-moving/feed/ 0 http://turnkeyartsolutions.com/corporateart/featured/focus/ http://turnkeyartsolutions.com/corporateart/featured/focus/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:23:15 +0000 admin http://turnkeyartsolutions.com/corporateart/?p=259 In the world of art there is a vast array of art styles and types. We as a people tend to find a particular style that we like, someone else sees our display and copies it, and before long a once-unique look has become a fad. In time it can become overused and yesterday’s history. Sadly, this could be said for Windberg, and even for Thomas Kinkade.

Another overused art item is the motivational piece. These are the art pieces that depict everything from soaring eagles to sailboats on perfectly still water. They include words or phrases such as Courage, Patience, Power, Success, Love, Hope – and the list goes on and on.

While one motivational art piece in an office or home is beautiful and meaningful, having too many of them borderlines on overused and, to the extreme, downright silly. I have been in office buildings where, literally, there are 10 to 15 motivational pieces displayed in one area. Starting at one end of the hallway there is “Believe”, followed by “Power”, then “Patience”, then “Soar”, then “Listen”, and by the end of the hall I think the next one should be “Confused” – and then very last, “Focus!”

Whether planning for your home or your office, you can create a much more appealing experience for both you and your guests by keeping the motivational art piece in one specific place to express one specific message. It means more and will certainly have more impact – and instead of surrounding it with clutter, you can put real art where art needs to be.

→ Especially for our residential clients – If you’d like to work with a professional who offers expertise and listens to your ideas and input, consider our free, on-site Art Consultant service.

His art interests are widely varied and include buildings, animals, oceanscapes, and southwest landscapes. His watercolors are stunning. A signature item in his art is his technique with the essential use of white space. His style starts with fine detail at a center point and gradually and gradually becomes less detailed as it goes outward.

My personal favorites are his southwest landscapes. Many of these paintings have as a center point a horse and rider that are no larger than an inch or so. Progressing outward from there, the surrounding landscape becomes less defined, with sky that is even less defined. I like to describe it as “ abstract with incredible moments of detail”.

A right – Michael Atkinson’s “Spring Thaw”

→ Do you know about our free on-site consultation service? Your input is welcome and encouraged, and our art consultant will work with you to create the look you want. Find out more about our complete “turnkey” service at Art & Picture Framing Houston.

The first thing to remember is, be yourself. Acquire art pieces that express the values and favorite styles of you and your family.  Trying to display what you think other people will like is going to express nothing, and that will show through in its appearance.

For example, I believe the most important pieces that you put on your wall are family portraits and other family memorabilia.  These special displays should be located in the more heavily traveled areas of your home. Some of the best locations are the entry, hallways, stairways, or other areas where people walk through, and the presentation is directly in front of them.

With family pieces, it is appropriate to use single portraits, multi opening pieces, or shadowboxes.  The type of frame is not critical, and your various art pieces do not need to all have identical frames. A collection, or even a grouping on a single wall, should give the appearance of pieces that have been accumulated over time, perhaps decades.

This is the first of a continuing series that will consider many ideas for placing art in your home. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts, ideas, and questions. Art is a very personal matter, and there are really no right or wrong answers.

Before we blame him too much, however, consider what he has brought us over the years.  We regularly made trips to the playoffs and one trip to the World Series.

Remember When? Houston Astrodome, 1964

The problem for the Astros in bringing these great seasons, was in the trading off of high quality young talent for a few big names.  Probably the most notable was the trade for Randy Johnson.  We gave up 2 top pitching prospects that proved to be major league stars.  In the end, we were unable to keep Randy Johnson because he really didn’t want to be here anyway.

Same with Carlos Beltran, and the list goes on.

From  the interviews with the new owner, Jim Crane, it is clear there will be no quick fix.  It is also clear that he is about to clean house with current management.  I think it will be an interesting next few years. Personally, I will follow a longstanding tradition in my family and attend the opening day game.  After that, we will just have to see….

→ Sports fans who have collected mementos from special games and events may be interested in visiting Sports Memorabilia Display and Framing on our website to find out about our conservation framing service.

What is art?  What determines “good” art?  Why do different people observing the same piece regard it with antithetical perceptions?

We humans have been asking these questions for a long time.  I suspect the earliest human rock drawings and ivory carvings were viewed with wide eyes and smiles by some and furrowed brows and curled lips by others.  Why?

I don’t have an inside track to ideas regarding artistic value, but, some factors are fairly obvious.

One is scarcity.  One of the 6 human tendencies is to desire what is hard to get.[1] As an artist’s work becomes scarcer, it becomes more valuable.  Other human tendencies involved in artistic perception are Liking, Social Validation and Authority.

Obviously, you’ll have a higher regard for art if you find it pleasing ………. to look at, listen to, etc. In other words, actually liking it helps.

Desirability also increases if lots of people seem to like it – Social Validation.  And if someone with perceived Authority (especially in the considered field) blesses a work, it will be seen as being of greater value.

These four human tendencies, taken together, can create a perception of an artist, or a work, that transcends rational thinking.  Thank goodness, the irrationality of most of the thinking is positive and simply enhances.

We are individuals.

As such, we are not all drawn to a work because it is “known” to be good.  However, the amount of enjoyment derived from a work of art is directly related to how much value that work has – to the one who values it!

So, art truly is in the eye of the beholder.  We know that several of the most renowned masters struggled for years before their work was considered valuable.  We know the art itself has not changed; we have the actual original art.  What has changed is the perception of the value of the art.  What has not changed is the ability to enjoy the art.

Another determinant to the value, perception and enjoyability of art is the mystery surrounding a particular work.  The mysterious aspect of a work of art allows each observer to use his own imagination to solve the mystery……..and we can solve the mystery in a different way every time we observe a work.

Another factor to be considered in the perception of art is the emotional cost of the work in question. What I mean by that is, did the artist expend any emotional energy during the creation of the work?  Oftentimes the emotion expended during the creation of a work is evident to the ones who appreciate it most.

Many of my most interesting subjects are found while driving my car.  I seem to see things others don’t.  If other motorists see what I see, we’d have a wreck-a-mile because I stop quick!  I just have to find out what that was I thought I saw.

I can hardly wait to get a closer look at it.  That’s a real draw, for me; finding curious things, beautiful things.

It’s hard for others to join me on a hike.  I’m always stopping to investigate an interesting plant or flower.  Recently while searching for a lost radio controlled airplane (yes, I’m a poor pilot, that’s why I was searching) I stepped out of the “big woods” into a pleasant pasture. The “big woods” are owned by a timber company and they grow huge pine trees.  Just as you leave the woods there’s a transition area.  Transition areas are where the action is – if you like to see plants and animals.

By the way, I found my plane.  It was 100 ft. up and in several pieces!  And I wasn’t in a very good mood.  However, as I came into the pasture, right at the transition area, I stepped onto an amazing “carpet” of pine trees.  Millions of pine trees, no taller than your hand-laid-flat.  So thick, you couldn’t make a step without crushing hundreds.  And oh-so-sparingly spaced among the trees were the tiniest, frail, magnificent flowers!

Naturally, my camera was a mile away and it was getting dark.  But, as luck would have it, the next morning my friends were right where I left them.

Interested in fine art nature photography for your home or office? Visit the TurnKey Art Solutions website for more about framed photography from Thomas Ward.

http://www.socialcommercetoday.com/downloads/CialdiniSciAmerican.pdf

Most importantly, does it say what you want it to say to your clients and employees? Framed art has the clear potential to affect employee productivity and the buying or decision making mode of your clients.

To assist art consultants such as myself, I like to solicit opinions of a wide range of persons. Please take a moment to express your opinions on the following poll. Assume you walked into an attorney’s office and saw the following pictures. What moods or feelings would you have when looking at each picture? Evaluate each of the 5 pictures separately and check the choices that come to mind. You may select as many as you wish.

Need assistance with your own office decorating and remodeling? Click here to learn about free corporate art consultants services at TurnKey Art Solutions.

The Houston Astros have been part of Houston sports since 1962, when as the Colt 45’s, they made their debut into the National League. Through the early years, the Astros, as they would become, were a wild and crazy bunch of old veterans that truly knew how to party hearty. I remember as a 12 year old avid baseball fan, a particular occasion at the ballpark.  I remarked to my Dad, “Why are the third baseman and shortstop having so much fun, and why do they keep dropping the ball”? It turned out later that they were actually both drunk when they took the field that night.  The press worked hard to keep much of this type of thing under wraps and away from the public.  Certainly the times back then were less tolerant of the behavior.  However, it was done mostly to show well with a culture in Houston that has tended to be more conservative than other big sports cities.

As time went on, the team become younger and new ownership brought in a group of players that were more pranksters and on the edge personalities.  Who can forget the likes of Dave Smith, Charlie Kerfeld,  Jose (Lima Time) Lima,  and Juaquin “where be my head“ Andujar.  They were a little nuts but more embraceable by the fans.

The real love affair with the Astros evolved after Drayton McLane acquired the Astros.  He is, to say the least, a very conservative owner with much attention placed on family values and promoting role models.  If you want evidence of this, just look whose statues are in front of Minute Maid Park.  It is Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, two of the finest role models you will ever hope to find.  The Astros  have literally been promoted throughout baseball as the “Good Guys”.   Many Houston fans, this one included, feel that at times having quality players has been sacrificed for having role models.  The cold, hard truth is that many of the best players in the league borderline on being thugs and criminals.  To win pennants and promote image, you likely have to have both.

The Houston Rockets, our NBA franchise has for a number of years been under the ownership of Les Alexander.  The NBA, by it’s nature has become a haven for overpaid, over tattooed thugs, criminals, drug addicts, and sex offenders.  However in the middle of this, Les Alexander has stepped up and set the Rockets apart from the rest of the league with his insistence of community involvement and promotion of education in the area schools.  The question is, is this really Les Alexander the person or Les Alexander the businessman?

With the controversial exit of the Oilers and subsequent move to Tennessee, Houston was left without a pro football team until the Texans came onto the scene in 2002.  Owner, Bob McNair, brought to Houston a culture of Texas football.  For those unclear as to what this means, IT IS RELIGION !  It is hard to know the difference at church on Sunday morning during football season.  As the minister continues with the morning sermon, fans are beginning to look at their watches.  With some cell phones, fans can now catch the kick off while still sitting in their church pew.  Either way the minister has probably lost many of the members by about 11:30.  Could this be why early services and Saturday night services were started?  Maybe.  Bob McNair has seemingly gotten a grasp on what makes Texan football work and what brings them to the stadium on Sunday.  He also has a clear understanding of the importance of community involvement and role models.

Houstonians have, over the years become known as a population that is friendly, conservative, diverse in race and culture, suburban in growth, and driven by family values.  The question remains.  Does the culture affect pro sports in Houston, or does pro sports affect culture?

Consider this and make no mistake.  Pro Sports is about MONEY!  Although all three         owners are first rate people and among the best in terms of community involvement; it is still about the money.  The culture of Houstonians goes back way before the Oilers, Texans, Rockets, Colt 45’s, and the Astros.  Understanding this, ownership knows what sells.  As wealthy and powerful as they are, they play to the city and its core beliefs.  The bottom line demands it and their egos will not accept failure.  So, the next time you see team T-shirts or framed sports memorabilia remember what is behind it all.  MONEY!

Follow this post category for continuing thoughts and opinions about the Houston sports scene. To have your own sports memorabilia framed, click here to visit the TurnKey Art Solutions website.