This will get long, and I’m sorry, but some things do need to be addressed.
Don Pierce managed to create FACTS with the help of many framers, distributors, manufacturers and even paper mills. A lot of people did FACTS, not just Don Pierce. He was the one who spearheaded it and he managed to get the document done without selling out to anyone, staying as neutral as possible and it is a very good document. JB, it is not the document you describe at all. I like it because it is flexible. It was written for framers, not conservators. Every time I read something in the past about preservation it was from a conservator. The art I frame is not going to end up in a museum and it’s controlled environment. It goes into homes in smog filled cities, no climate or humidity control. I felt the conservators were unrealistic about my customers and their needs. Yes, I want to preserve art, but I am also in business and I must please my customers. With the FACTS Guidelines, it says the hinge must be non invasive. It doesn’t say exactly how I am to hinge, it just must be non invasive. There are many ways to attach a work of paper art to a backboard and many more are thought acceptable now than used to be. (That is where education comes in because pressure sensitive tape is still not OK). That’s just one point.
In the past, a neighbor competitor of mine advertised himself as an “expert in conservation framing”. Someone brought a piece into my shop they had just picked up from this framer and wanted to know why it was so rippled across the surface. I took it apart, in front of the customer of course, only to find the framer had put it right against the raw edge of the wooden frame leaving no room for expansion or contraction. He had cut a triangle of 1 ply rag board and taped over the corners of the print with a strip of masking tape. An “expert” did that. With FACTS, yes, that framer is leaving himself wide open for a lawsuit BUT if he was framing to the standards of the day; he would have nothing to worry about. If there are no standards of the day, anything goes. It cost me much more to do the same job he did because I did it right while he cut corners. I couldn’t compete.
A funny side story. Once I was doing a presentation to a local art support group about preservation when one of the little ladies came up and told me this guy was her framer and she really liked him but she didn’t think he knew much about preservation of artwork and would I go talk to him? Can you imagine me knocking on his door offering to help? I just laughed and told her I didn’t think so. She ended up having me do her framing.
Don admitted in Chicago that he was lousy at raising money and it had become the situation John Ranes described, tiresome. The funds had dried up. Many reasons. Don is also not a great administrator nor promoter, he got tired and discouraged. With enough financial support, Don will get help. FACTS is too valuable to the industry to let it fade away. There is a lot to do to make it all work, but it is not just Don who will do it. Many people will help if they are convinced it is of interest to framers.
PPFA is not going to do FACTS. In Chicago they had no proposal or plan of action. FACTS doesn’t want the PPFA to take it over. It is important that FACTS stay independent and it is not a trade association. When I read the UK document, I find it to be a compromised document with statements that are confusing. For example, “A cotton museum board can be used as a conservation board but a conservation board cannot be used as a cotton museum board.” There is no scientific basis for that statement. Cotton or purified wood pulp is interchangeable in use in matboard. Alpha cellulose pulp is alpha cellulose pulp, period. FACTS must be independent. It’s not perfect, but it is a sound document. Matboard either meets the FACTS PMMB-2000 and is suitable for preservation framing or it is not. The PPFA can use the FACTS information for educational purposes, just as anyone else in the industry can.
Every framer needs FACTS whether they have heard of it or not. I do want to take to Atlanta 1,000 checks from framers. If we want FACTS and put our money up for it to show we want it, we will have it. If we don’t we won’t, it will be gone. It is honestly as simple as that.
There are around 4,000 framers who have felt the need to earn a CPF. WHY? Some people say to get three letters behind their name, but I disagree. I think it’s to test themselves against their peers. Do I know my profession? I think it’s to learn, “the right way”. I think it’s to show they care about what they do. It sets them apart. It costs a significant amount of money to earn it especially if they buy all the recommended reading. It takes time, money and effort. Just for three letters? No, it’s because they care.
There are framers who make millions in this profession, but the vast majority of us do not, yet we are content with our place in life and our businesses. If a person wants to make lots of money, it just takes a good business sense to do it. I care about money, sure, but I care also about craft, and I mean that in the hand worked sense, I care about my customers, I care about art. Jay Goltz has a big sign in his shop which says something like, I don’t want you satisfied I want you thrilled. That says it. I’m never going to make a million. If I was I would be framing and I wouldn’t be here trying to get you to see that this is a last stand. Even the Michael’s and the Aaron Brothers and Hobby Lobbies need FACTS. Every element of this industry needs a solid basis and FACTS is the basis for framing. It turns chaos into order.
If you haven’t made out your check, please do so. Send it now. Call every framer you know and ask them to do the same. There is not a lot of time before Sept 20th.
Check, made out to FACTS
Nona Powers, CPF, GCF
P. O. Box 600025
San Diego, CA 92160-0025
I will hold the checks until I get 1,000. If we fail and I don’t get that many, they will be sent back or shredded.
Read the FACTS Guidelines at
www.artfacts.org