Sarah Balinskas Art Services

Sarah Balinskas Art Services Trusted by the Art World for our museum grade, high-quality craftsmanship to safeguard your artwork.

Fabulously dressed ✅ Fashionably late ✅ Certifiably over-the-top ✅Tag the Leo in your life who knows how to ma...
08/13/2026

Fabulously dressed ✅ Fashionably late ✅ Certifiably over-the-top ✅

Tag the Leo in your life who knows how to make an ENTRANCE♌

Two Japanese woodblock prints from different eras: on the left, a Yosh*toshi print from the Meiji period (1868-1912); on...
08/12/2026

Two Japanese woodblock prints from different eras: on the left, a Yosh*toshi print from the Meiji period (1868-1912); on the right, a Toyoshige print from the earlier Edo period (1600-1868).

The two differ in subject matter and style but are united by choice of frame: a black flat top frame with gilded corner ornaments. Each stands beautifully on its own, but brought together by the frame, they juxtapose two gendered archetypes: in bold blacks and reds, a hyper masculine epic hero slays monsters! In soft pinks and blues, a beautiful courtesan plays with a cat in a bow and a bell. The matching frames bring the two into a greater dialogue.

From left to right:

Tsukioka Yosh*toshi (1839-1892)
Shoki Capturing a Demon in a Dream, 1890
woodblock print
9 3/4 in x 14 5/8 in

Utagawa Toyokuni II (Toyoshige) (1777–1835)
A New Mirror of Sake Cups, c. 1820-1824
woodblock print
10 1/4 x 15 1/8 in

At first glance, these two frames seem nearly identical, and for good reason.Above: a corner from a "Murphy" frame, name...
08/04/2026

At first glance, these two frames seem nearly identical, and for good reason.

Above: a corner from a "Murphy" frame, named for early 20th century master framemaker Hermann Dudley Murphy. Out of his Boston area frame shop, Carrig-Rohane, Murphy was in large part responsible for reviving the tradition of fine framemaking in American decorative arts.

Below: a corner from a "Hassam" frame, detailed in our last post. This design is named for one of Murphy's prominent clients and collaborators, American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam.

Having arisen from the same movement, the two frames share a common design vocabulary, but they reflect slightly different philosophies. The Murphy frame (upper left) is defined by architectural precision, with crisp linear elements and rich carved ornamentation. The Hassam frame (lower right) softens the design with a simpler form and more fluid organic carved details.

The result: a pair of closely related designs – one emphasizing structure and refinement, the other organicism and warmth with a touch of lyricism – both unmistakably Carrig-Rohane in character and origin.

We wish we could claim credit for this beautiful pairing, but truthfully, the design began with pure intuition on the c...
07/31/2026

We wish we could claim credit for this beautiful pairing, but truthfully, the design began with pure intuition on the client's part.

While our designer was busy prepping space for the consultation, the client wandered over to one of our panels – a collection of early-to-mid-century American profiles – and almost absentmindedly lifted a single sample off the wall. He laid it down next to the painting, and both were quiet for a moment. That was it. Done.

Was it pure chance? Maybe. But there are very real reasons why this frame works so well:

Its design derives from frame styles developed by master framemaker Hermann Dudley Murphy and painter Childe Hassam in early 20th century Boston. As an artist of the American Impressionist movement, Hassam was deeply invested in how his paintings were presented, and Murphy's shop (named Carrig-Rohane, meaning "Red Cliff" in Gaelic) produced frames that reflected those ideas — restraint over excess, harmony over contrast, and an emphasis on light, color, and atmosphere.

Those principles were part of an overarching design philosophy and visual language shared by other American artists of the same time period, including the painter of this particular work, Pauline Palmer. Like Hassam and his Impressionist peers, Palmer sought to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere, and frames like this were made to support those aims rather than compete with them. The result -- a frame and painting that together feel like one luminous object, expansive but contained -- is entirely by design.

Pauline Pamer (1867-1938)
Sunshine & Shadow
oil on board
26 in x 32 in

We are in the midst of Cancer season, and with it, we celebrate Cancers for their warmth, loyalty, and tenacity! This ca...
07/06/2026

We are in the midst of Cancer season, and with it, we celebrate Cancers for their warmth, loyalty, and tenacity!

This carved Spanish frame is warm and earthy with a strong, steady presence. Timelessly resilient.

Paired with an ornate paneled sgraffito frame circa 1500s Florence, this 20th-century modern expressionist painting of S...
07/02/2026

Paired with an ornate paneled sgraffito frame circa 1500s Florence, this 20th-century modern expressionist painting of St. George is an unapologetic statement. Minimalism has its place, but sometimes? MORE is more...

Unknown
St. George
acrylic on canvas
31 in x 39 in

06/19/2026

Behind-the-scenes of our studio this week🎥

June is always our busiest month, and this one has proved to be no exception! We have lots of exciting projects in the works, from carved frames to custom mirrors and conservation projects (with which we are immensely grateful to have the assistance of paper conservator Lyzanne Gann).

Because most of our team are practicing artists – printmakers, painters, photographers, performance artists, and even on...
06/05/2026

Because most of our team are practicing artists – printmakers, painters, photographers, performance artists, and even one textile artist – we try whenever we can to showcase their work. Today we're sharing a painting by one of our preservation fitters, Márcia Baptista:

Márcia was born in Portugal to a family of Angolan origin. She studied Drawing and Painting with an emphasis in Illustration at the Laguna College of Art and Design.

With a focus on figures and domestic interiors, Márcia's paintings have a distinct atmosphere. They are soft, quiet, and contemplative. Figures and spaces appear in solitude – sometimes in shadow, other times in vast, airy spaces that look like home but feel out of place and time. They are peaceful, but haunting.

"Freeze" is framed in a Natural Walnut floater frame from our In-House Hardwoods line.

To see more of her work, visit artofmarcia.com.

Márcia Baptista
Freeze, 2026
oil on panel
10 in x 14 in

Gemini season is upon us♊These twin frames are made by a master frame maker in Romania – he told us this particular desi...
05/29/2026

Gemini season is upon us♊

These twin frames are made by a master frame maker in Romania – he told us this particular design was inspired by a popular motif used by Italian Renaissance frame makers, who were inspired in turn by designs in ancient Egyptian decorative arts. His frame designs are singularly beautiful, and masterfully made.

Lately, we have had the privilege of framing several works by Claudia Alarcón, an indigenous textile artist hailing from...
05/28/2026

Lately, we have had the privilege of framing several works by Claudia Alarcón, an indigenous textile artist hailing from the northen Salta province of Argentina.

Both as an individual artist and as a member of the Silät collective – a community of 100 Wichí women weavers from the Alto la Sierra and La Puntana communities – Alarcón engages in a communal weaving practice based on intergenerational tradition and ancestral myth. Using hand-spun fibers from the native chaguar plant, Alarcón and the weavers combine ancestral geometries depicting stars and celestial bodies with geometric motifs lifted directly from the surrounding environment. Together, these designs – along with the communal practice of making them – comprise a deeply valued form of non-verbal communication between generations and communities.

Of her work, Alarcón says: "I recover legends and stories from our people; I feel there is much work to be revived. I think about how to recover this, because it is something that perhaps cannot be said orally, we cannot say it out loud. But the textile also speaks. There are those who can understand or feel it. I realized that even though we weave in silence, everything is said in the textile.”

We framed this Silät collective work in a Walnut Espresso floater frame from our In-House Hardwood collection. The textile is sewn onto linen wrapped taut around a stretcherm and the mounted piece is then floated inside the frame with 1/8 float space all around.

Address

1114 Taft Street
Houston, TX
77019

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+17136300030

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