Why use mats?
The decision to use matting is, for the most part, a personal, aesthetic choice. Following are some considerations when deciding whether or not to use matting on any particular piece of artwork.
- To avoid damage to your artwork caused by mold and/or adhesion between the artwork and glass, a mat is the best way to hold the glass off of the artwork.
- Cut multiple openings from a single mat to display several images within one frame.
- Mats can form an area around the image upon which decoration can be added, such as French lines, decorative grooves, hand-carved images, signatures, drawings, plaques, etc.
A more recent development is the use of colored matting material. Mat colors can be used to enhance the image or highlight aspects within the image. Additionally, textured fabric, suede, leather and foil can be chosen to enliven the artwork, focus the viewer’s eye, or make a statement of importance or elegance.
