DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704080557

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ANN WRIGHT, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  161 lines

ART SMARTEXPERTS OFFER GUIDELINES ON WHAT TO BUY AND WHERE TO PUT IT, BUT THEY SAY YOU LEARN BY LOOKING AND SHOULD GO WITH YOUR GUT

REAL ART COLLECTORS fall in love a lot, always finding new objects of desire to bring home.

The answer to ``Where are you going to put it?'' is ``Oh, I'll find a place.'' And they always do. Only the bank account limits their zeal for acquisition. Others may love art just as much but are restricted by their lack of confidence. They live a life of regrets because of the things they really wanted but didn't buy.

This story is for both the timid and the bold, offering encouragement for the former and practical suggestions for the latter. It is inspired by the popular CommonWealth Collects exhibition and sale at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. The sale of works by regional artists continues through April 20. AT HOME WITH ART

In conjunction with the exhibition, the art center has invited Al Seely to conduct a workshop on incorporating art into home decor.

While the thought of contemporary art in a traditional setting can induce nervous tremors in the faint of art, Seely loves the challenge of such juxtapositions. An interior designer at Decorum stores in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Seely also started Zeitgeist, a contemporary art gallery on Granby Street that recently closed.

Art can energize an interior, and Seely enjoys helping that happen. He believes antique and avant-garde can play off each other in interesting ways.

``Restraint is the key,'' he sayd. ``Inveterate collectors can oversaturate a space, and then art becomes clutter. I advise getting a space right and then leaving it alone by resisting the temptation to keep adding things. Say `This room is finished' and walk away. Move on to other areas that need attention.

``Less is more when it comes to art. I'd rather see one great piece than 20 not-sos. Keep your approach to display thoughtful.

``You might consider dispersing a collection through several rooms and look for unusual places to hang art. An exercise room or a home office is a great place to enjoy a wonderful painting. And turning a hallway into a gallery can be very elegant.''

He encourages collectors to learn and understand the rules of scale and proportion. ``They're made to protect the innocent and keep them from making awful mistakes,'' Seely says. ``After you master the theory, you can ignore it and let the specifics of the situation help dictate a design solution.''

Seely illustrated some of his thoughts by borrowing works from the CommonWealth Collects exhibition and using them with display furniture at Decorum's new Hilltop East location. A marble and aluminum sculpture by Matthew Fine looked stunning on a glass-topped Italian walnut and marble dining table.

``You'd have to move it if you had a dinner party because it's tall, but I like the idea of a piece of art rather than a centerpiece on a table,'' he says.

An asymetrical painting by Amie Oliver was happy over a reinterpretation of a French bombe chest. Marguerite Gignoux art quilt would have worked just as well over a bed or a buffet as it did hung over a clean-lined sofa. Beverly Plummer's two works in handmade paper added a note of refreshing color above an Italian beechwood buffet. LEARNING ARTS SMARTS

Learn by looking and go with your gut is the advice art professionals give timid buyers. One way to start is by visiting museums and galleries. This broadens your awareness of art and helps you understand what appeals to you. Heed your viscera and buy what delights your eye.

Purchasing art should be a subjective experience, counsels Susan Spain, who has degrees in fine arts and interior design and a certificate in art psychotherapy. As she helps clients select art for their homes, she wants them to ``become involved emotionally with what they buy. A good selection is one that should give them pleasure over and over.''

Spain loves the liveliness of mixing styles and periods of art and furniture. ``Color can be a unifying factor. Much of contemporary art has vivid, strong colors. Playing off those colors with textiles and paint makes an interesting, even a surprising, scheme. And mixing furniture styles with art of different eras works both ways.''

Antique paintings can be as much a dramatic contrast to clean-looking contemporary furniture as mixing contemporary art into a traditionally furnished room.

``Trust yourself,'' says Neill Hughes, acting curator of the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia.``If you buy something you really like, you'll probably like it forever.

``Don't be afraid to shift things around from time to time. Hanging a work in a new place often helps in rediscovering it.'' GETTING FRAMED

``The whole point is to see the art,'' says Wiley Francisco of Calvin & Lloyd, an interior design studio, gallery and frame shop in Norfolk. ``The framing should enhance the art visually while remaining unobtrusive.'' Successful framing subtly complements the work without calling undue attention to itself.

The art should dictate the framing. The style of the art needs to work with the molding, and the scale should be in synch. ``Too narrow a frame looks skimpy and too wide can be overwhelming,'' he says.

The artwork rather than the room where it will hang should suggest the colors of the frame and mat, if needed.

The medium of the work also has a lot to do with the framing. Oils and acrylics are never framed under glass, but watercolors, drawings and pastels always are.

Francisco does only conservation framing, using the same acid-free paper, UV glass and other materials museums employ to preserve artworks.

Sometimes the maxims of scale and proportion can be broken intentionally to call attention to a small work. ``Tiny canvases in a plain wide molding can be very interesting,'' he says. ``A large mat surrounding a small drawing or photograph adds considerable emphasis.''

He also urges art collectors to buy originals, rather than reproductions whenever possible. ``An original work has color and texture that no reproduction can copy, and there are good original works in every price range.'' ILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTOS BY TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

Marguerite Gignoux's art quilt, ``The Embrace,'' looks at home over

a chenille sofa. Art from CommonWealth Collects was photographed at

Decorum.

LEFT: Amie Oliver's asymetrical painting, ``Ma Foi,'' adds interest

to a reinterpretation of a French bombe chest. RIGHT: Handmade paper

works by Beverly Plummer, ``Bedtime'' and ``Elephant Queen,'' work

well because of their size and bright colors.

A Tennessee marble and aluminum sculpture by Matthew Fine sits atop

a glass-topped walnut and marble dining table.

Graphics

ABOUT THE SHOW AND SALE

CommonWealth Collects is an annual art show and sale, as well as

a major fund-raiser for the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia

(formerly the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts). For three years,

center supporters have pledged, in advance, to buy $500 to $5,000

worth of art by regional artists selected by an out-of-town juror.

Kathie Moore, president of Cellar Door Entertainment and owner of

an ever-expanding art collection, is keen on the fund-raiser. ``It

gives me a chance to see work from outside this area that I might

not encounter otherwise, and it's a really fun event,'' Moore says.

None of the work already sold can be removed until after the

exhibition closes April 20, and there is still plenty of interesting

art for sale. The center gets 40 percent of the purchase price,

netting about $20,000 for each event. Art buyers get to take the

same percentage as a tax deduction.

If you'd like be in the Collectors' Circle next year, contact the

Contemporary Art Center of Virginia at 425-0000.

More than 400 works by nearly 70 artists are in the show. More

than one-third are Southside Hampton Roads artists, such as Ed

Carson, Pamela Lassiter, Leonette Adler, Janice Gay-Maker and Ruth

Laakso. Richard Dana, executive director of the Washington Area Arts

Consortium, served as juror and selected artists from Virginia,

North Carolina and the D.C. area.

FIND OUT MORE

What: ``Contemporary Art and Home Design,'' a workshop conducted

by Al Seely to explain his approach to art and interiors

When: 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, April 17

Where: Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, 2200 Parks Ave.,

Virginia Beach

How much: $15 for members; $18 for non-members

Info: 425-0000

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