This desolate Western landscape feels right at home in this darkly stained classic profile that’s been distressed and finished to suggest that it’s seen better days. As we move West, first from Europe, then from the East Coast of the US, and we push further that further into the frontier, we take along our sense of culture, but our priorities change by necessity as we strike out into untamed lands. My antique finish tells of a fall from prominence, and then a stabilization as the West is won, as the new Victorian mansions are built there using local materials in such places as Armory Park in Tucson. This frame might’ve been neglected for a time, then maybe re-finished without feeling the need to sand it back to bare wood first. There are dings, and some of the dust of ages has settled in them, the new coat of varnish acting as a preservative, allowing us to remember our history and the hard work it took to build this new life. That’s the pioneering spirit I try to capture in my antiqued frames, but like a great song or poem, it can evoke stories as varied as the viewers beholding them. At the very least, an antiqued frame should make you wonder what might this piece have seen over it’s lifetime.
