Visiting a professional picture framer can be an intimidating experience, standing at the counter in a store looking up at a wall covered in framing samples and not knowing where to start. But at Valentina Custom Frame & Gallery in New Paltz, it’s a different story altogether.
The new business recently launched by New Paltz resident Valentina Veranes is located in a comfortable, sunlit, studio-like space on the lower level of the home she shares with her husband, Andres — a professional decorative painter and faux-finisher with his own business — and their daughters, Alicia, 13 and Violeta, 9.
The very gracious and welcoming Valentina offers an intimate setting in her shop, in which the client sits down with her at a table within arm’s reach of more than 3,000 colorful moulding samples. Some of the frame corners are mounted on displays around the room, while others are casually grouped in baskets on the floor, which enhances the feeling of a hands-on, collaborative experience. But the customer new to the picture-framing experience need have no worries about having any prior knowledge of the fine points of displaying art and objects; with more than 20 years of experience as a professional framer and as an artist herself, Veranes is well-equipped to guide her customers through the process.
She works with each client to determine not only what color and style of frame would look best in each situation, but what type of framing suits the person’s personal style. “I ask them, ‘What kind of environment do you live in, or what kind of environment do you want to create?’” she says. “We start with, ‘What kind of frame do you like,’ and I help them from there.”
And preservation of the object or artwork being framed for posterity is equally important. In addition to the huge selection of framing options, Valentina Custom Frame & Gallery offers more than 200 museum quality archival mat choices and multiple glass selections with UV protective glazing. “I only like to work with 99-percent UV-protection glass,” says Veranes, which protects the item framed from the ultraviolet light that permanently damages photographs and artwork as well as fragile mementos. “If you’re framing something that you want to keep for the rest of your life, you deserve the best.” The shop also offers a selection of readymade tabletop photo frames that come with UV-protective glass.
Veranes began her framing career in her native Cali, Colombia, where she earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the Popular Cultural Institute and certification as architectural draftswoman and interior decorator by the Academy of Professional Design. After moving to the United States, she honed her skills first in Baltimore and then in New York City, where Veranes was the only woman framer at the legendary but now-defunct Pearl Paint in SoHo. She is a Master Certified Picture Framer through the Professional Picture Framers Association (PPFA) and certified in frame restoration services, able to repair frames and restore paint or gilding.
When Valentina and Andres moved to New Paltz in 2016 to raise their family — “Manhattan is a difficult place to raise children, and our girls are our first priority,” she says — she found work in a framing shop in Westchester’s Bedford Village. Working closely with the female sole proprietor of that business inspired her to open her own business in her home.
But as comfortable as that environment is for her customers, Veranes plans to relocate the business to a storefront in the Zero Place building when that opens next year on Route 32 North. She has big dreams, she says, that involve creating an environment where people can come in and not only get their framing done but experience a community of local artists and crafters participating in workshops and exhibits; a legacy in the community Veranes can give to her daughters.
But until the move to a storefront happens, she plans to continue in her home-based business. On the horizon are workshops for artists, to be held in either her own space or at nearby galleries, on the importance of proper framing to preserve and present artwork. “We have a lot of artists in this area, and they don’t have to use my framing services, but I want to get across the idea that you have to invest in your art in the same way you invest in your property. If a curator sees art in a well-made frame, it makes the art more valuable.” Veranes also offers a selection of beveled stretcher bars for painters, which unlike the “value” product available in craft stores, protect the artwork by raising the canvas away from the surface of the wooden bar.
And she has exhibited her own art widely, with an extensive CV of shows here and abroad. She is particularly influenced by pre-Colombian imagery, she says, and has a side business painting portraits from supplied photographs. But framing is more than a job for her, Veranes adds. “When I decided to become a framer, it wasn’t just an option for getting a job. It’s something I really, really love, and I offer my customers my passion for what I do.”
Valentina Custom Frame & Gallery is located at 7 Taylor Street, New Paltz. Closed on Sunday and Monday, the business is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Drop by or book an appointment by calling (845) 419-2647 or visit www.valentinacustomframe.com.
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