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Selecting and Displaying Art in Your Home

Selecting and displaying art is an art in itself. Experiment to learn what pleases you and what doesn't. You'll be well-rewarded for the time you invest by finding more satisfaction both in the art and in your home.

Here are some things to consider when grouping and hanging your art:

Contrary to popular belief, your sole task isn't to pound a nail in the wall and hang the picture level. Pleasing wall arrangements follow the same interior design rules used for placing furniture in a room.

Do you want a serene room or a stimulating one? Well, rhythm -- the movement from one object to the next -- contributes to a room's tone. Creating a certain rhythm depends on the size, shape, and spacing of objects.

When all of the objects are the same size and equally spaced, the rhythm is more placid. If the larger objects were replaced by tall, vertical rectangles, the rhythm would be staccato, setting an emphatic tone.

Balance refers to the even distribution of visual weight within a display. Maintaining balance is important because an unbalanced arrangement may look top-heavy, bottom-heavy, or as if a side is falling off.

A symmetrical arrangement (where each half of an arrangement is the mirror image of the other) is the most straightforward illustration of balance, but you can use the technique to create asymmetrical arrangements too.

Sometimes an object's visual weight demands that it be displayed alone. Anything that is large, dark, bright, boldly patterned, or oddly shaped will look heavier and bigger than an item that is small, pale, solid, and predictably shaped.

The sheer size of a huge rectangular wall hanging makes it best displayed alone, but a smaller, bright red item would have the same visual weight. When using this technique, it's best to display your weighty object near similarly weighty furniture or architecture, such as a sofa or fireplace.

Hierarchy, or the use of one dominant object mixed with sub-ordinate objects, allows you to display a group of things while drawing attention to the focal point.

Sometimes the wall area between items, called negative space, is as interesting as the items themselves. Try placing a square and four identical rectangles so the negative space creates a pinwheel effect.

It's easiest to draw attention to the negative space when your objects are in a color that contrasts with your wall, such as white against red.

You can create a dramatic and dynamic pattern with repetition of a simple object.

Repetition is a favorite trick of interior designers because the objects used can be as humble and inexpensive as garden seed packets or the same photocopy of your dog just thumb tacked to the wall. This technique is equally as effective for three-dimensional objects, such as wall vases or display boxes.

Proportion is the size relationship between items, and analyzing proportion helps us make visual sense of our environment. Take a grouping at the top and make it large. However, divide a rectangular piece and divide it into familiar proportions. That way the top is divided in half and the bottom uses thirds.

Dividing up a panoramic photograph in this way, for example, would make it more interesting and approachable. You could also use rectangles painted in three intensities of the same color.