Bank of America Marathon Collage

When our client came in with a bag full of memorabilia from his run in the Bank of America Chicago 2008 Marathon (formerly the LaSalle Marathon prior to the acquisition of the LaSalle Bank of Chicago by Bank of America), we sat down and collaborated on a really great collage that would be installed in a shadowbox frame. The term "shadowbox" simply means that the frame is deep enough to hold more than flat art and may have 3-D objects in it as well. Clearly, this meant a great deal to him as he already had a carefully thought-out layout of what he wanted. I made some suggestions and refind the total concept a bit until he was satisfied that it was what he wanted. It was a pleasure to work with him on the design.

While this is ideal, from our standpoint, we do not expect you to come in with anything more than a basic idea of what you would like along with your memorabilia to do this sort of framing. If you aren't even sure of what you want to end up with, we would be glad to make a number of suggestions and create a cohesive, interesting design. In the end, the design will be a collaboration between us and we will make no attempt to force anything on you that you do not like. After all, you are the one who will have to look at it for a long time. Let it be something you are proud of.

We decided to use a Studio Moulding "Array Ebony" moulding, which is a tall profile (ST43021) that has a black matte finish with a red undercoat that has had the red exposed at all the edges where the planes change angles. It really is a great moulding finish and has been used a lot in our shadowbox designs.

We floated many of the elements on Crescent BR34921 Brite Core black, which is a black mat board with a red core. All elements were floated against a background mat of Crescent 1576 Dark Gray rag mat. The rabbet inside the frame was also lined with Dark Gray mat board to support the glass and the shadowbox platform.

Designed by Brian Flax, CPF and Tony Onagan

Framing executed by Brian Flax.

Images by kind permission of Tony Onagan.