Gallery wrap is a method of stretching an artist's

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 canvas

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

 so that the canvas wraps around the sides (Stretcher Bar

Stretcher bar

A stretcher bar is used to construct a wooden stretcher frame used by artists to mount their canvases. They are traditionally a wooden framework support on which an artist fastens a piece of canvas...

 or strainer bar

Strainer bar

A strainer bar is used to construct a wooden stretcher frame used by artists to mount their canvases. They are traditionally a wooden framework support on which an artist fastens a piece of canvas...

s) and is secured to the back of the wooden frame. The frame is usually 1.25" thick. As a result, the hardware (staples

Staple (fastener)

A staple is a type of two-pronged fastener, usually metal, used for joining or binding materials together. Large staples might be used with a hammer or staple gun for masonry, roofing, corrugated boxes and other heavy-duty uses...

 or tacks

Thumbtack

A drawing pin , thumbtack , or push pin is a short nail or pin with a circular, sometimes domed, head, used to fasten items such as documents to a wall or board for display. Various designs and names are used. They are inserted and removed by hand, hence the terms "thumbtack" and "push pin"...

) used to secure the canvas is not visible. The sides of the canvas are prepared and primed

Primer (paint)

A primer is a preparatory coating put on materials before painting. Priming ensures better adhesion of paint to the surface, increases paint durability, and provides additional protection for the material being painted.-When primers are used:...

 in the same manner as the face. They may then be painted a solid color or painted to continue the image appearing on the face. This method of stretching and preparing a canvas allows for a frame

Picture frame

A picture frame is a decorative edging for a picture, such as a painting or photograph, intended to enhance it, make it easier to display, or protect it.-Construction:...

less presentation of the finished painting or photograph.

In canvas print

Canvas print

A canvas print, also known as a stretched canvas or canvas art, is the result of an image printed onto canvas which is stretched, or gallery-wrapped, onto a frame and displayed...

ing, the term gallery wrap refers to an image that appears on the sides of the frame as well as the front. The image on the sides is either a continuation or a reflection of the main image, or an otherwise fabricated element such as a solid color or colors derived from the adjacent image.

Gallery wrap production can be digitally automated with a Photoshop PlugIn

Photoshop plugin

Photoshop plugins are add-on programs aimed at providing additional image effects or performing tasks that are impossible or hard to fulfill using Adobe Photoshop alone...

 or Raster Graphics Editor

Raster graphics editor

A raster graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to paint and edit pictures interactively on the computer screen and save them in one of many popular “bitmap” or “raster” formats such as JPEG, PNG, GIF and TIFF....

.

Gallery Wrap Vs. Canvas Stretching

The difference between a gallery wrap and a stretched canvas:

There is sometimes confusion between "gallery wrap" and a "stretched canvas". Gallery wrap is a method of displaying art wrapped over thick wooden bars. There are no visible fasteners (e.g., staples or tacks). It is a finished product that is intended to be hung unframed.

In contrast, stretched canvas is not a finished product. This process precedes the framing process. The hardware is also unique; the stretcher bars are thinner allowing the fasteners to show.

Gallery wrap is a very popular way to display art, however, because the edges of the canvas are wrapped over the thick bars, approximately two inches of the image (top, bottom, and sides) are not visible from the front. If the subject of an image or painting is sized and positioned correctly, then the image will not be negatively affected. However, in some situations photo editing techniques are employed to fabricate additional image/material or mirror existing content to be presented on the wrapped edges. Solid colours can also be used on the wrapped edges.

External links

• http://ultra-canvas.com - Photoshop-PlugIn for automated border editing like gallery wraps

• http://www.finecanvasprints.com - Canvas Printing, Digital Archiving Service for Artists, Institutions, Private Art Collectors