From the Blog

An artist and teacher’s passion for framed art

Local artist preserves his priceless pieces

Well-versed in art and art history, Michael Jon is a visual art teacher at a local high school in Seattle. When he first moved to Seattle 25 years ago, he worked as an artist while networking with other artists and curators, attended art shows and gained notoriety. During the pandemic, Michael Jon found a passion for obtaining signed pieces of original art.

“I found amazing artworks online signed by really important artists that were affordable, so I purchased several prints and later a few small paintings and drawings. I really liked the art I chose and didn’t buy it just for investment purposes,” Michael Jon said. “I don’t usually rush into buying a piece of art. I take my time to make sure I love it and that my wife will like it too.”
“For me to be in love with the art, it’s got to have positive energy, be uplifting, and nothing that brings me down. I really feel art and music are therapeutic. When I create my own art, I work with nonrecyclable consumer waste where I create sculptures like the brown paper fan and round cap sculpture against the orange wall under my blue Tobey art piece,” Michael Jon said.

Michael Jon acquired Mark Tobey signed prints and paintings that he wanted framed and displayed, but was hesitant to start framing the pieces as he had never worked with a framer before.

“My wife originally used a framer in Seattle, but she didn’t enjoy her experience due to lack of customer service.”

“I didn’t want to go back there even with the framer being close to our house,” Michael Jon said. “Sometime later I saw a Museum Quality Framing sign from the road and stopped in to check it out and inquire about frames and prices.”

Michael Jon’s artwork is important to him and fragile, so he was worried about finding a framer he trusted.

“I met with the designers at MQF, and I was assured they would handle my pieces with care and had the right experience. I brought in the Mark Tobey tempera painting that is now on my orange wall at home. The designer provided suggestions and we worked collaboratively. I was super happy with the result,” Michael Jon said.

“I wanted to return to MQF as the art piece looked great and I had two more that were similar to it. The designers and I talked about the art on the paper which had been slightly wrinkled. The former owners of the art had mats on it previously, so the frame designer and I decided to use new mats. I felt at ease that MQF’s design guarantee says if I didn’t like it, they would redesign it for the same or lower cost.”

We went ahead and put mats on the artwork to remove the wrinkles. I lived with the art for a while but after much consideration I brought the pieces back into MQF where they happily reframed them with different floated style that I loved,” Michael Jon added.

As a collection, the Mark Tobey’s are the most special to Michael Jon. He enjoys their complexity and color.

“MQF definitely got me started into investing in my art. After framing the three Tobey’s, I now have about 11 pieces or so framed. I focused on framing the pieces first that were the most valuable to me emotionally and financially. I want my daughter or a small museum to inherit these, and I want to preserve and protect them.”

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The red square Mark Tobey piece is tempera on cardboard floated with the mat to the side so the full art piece can be seen. “The end result when an art piece is framed and completed is the most exciting,” Michael Jon said. “It’s rewarding to see the correct design choices were made. It’s a lot of decision making and it’s fun when the designers with their sharp eyes and friendly approach work with me to get it right.”

“The worst thing is having something valuable and not frame it and have damage occur. One piece of art I purchased online got an acid burn under my watch, because I didn’t frame it sooner. MQF framed it with better materials and through their techniques hid the burn.”

One of Michael Jon’s favorite art pieces is the bright orange and black circle piece by Russian artist Ivan Kliun (1873-1943) created in 1929.

Michael Jon and the frame designer at Museum Quality Framing chose to take a photo of the piece with various frames to consider which frame elevated the art best.

It needed to be floated so the signature would not be covered, so the mat was fitted a quarter inch from the side.

“This piece is vibrant and mesmerizing, a unique universe,” Michael Jon said.

“Choosing the right glass was paramount to protect those bright colors from fading,” Michael Jon added.

“I always spend extra for Museum Glass, because what’s the point of looking at glare? The clarity of the art is what you want to see and if it’s not clear due to bad glass it defeats the purpose.”

Michael Jon also has original art pieces by Japanese artist’s Jiro Yoshihara (1905-1972) & Atsuko Tanaka (1932-2005), Parisian artist Max Pavart (1911-1994), Italian artist Enrico Baj (1924-2003), Greek born Chryssa (1933-2013), and Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944).
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