When one is shipping art they have to be very aware to care put into the packing and shipping of it. The smallest things can damage a painting. Lighting, temperature and protection can mean the difference between a successful art shipment and a failed one. When shipping a painting one must put different layers of protection around it to keep it from damage during the moving process. For example bumpers on the corner of the frame to protect from damaging the wood and/or canvas. The material canvases are made out of can easily tear. The painting must be wrapped to be protected from things that could puncture or tear the fabric. For some art mediums like the paint itself, the temperature of the room could cause damage. Oil paint can take up to years to dry depending on the thickness of it, and if it is in a hot room the paint could fall right off. For paintings like these temperature controlled packaging is required for the art to make it from point A to point B intact. For some art mediums controlled lighting lays a big factor in the preservation of the art itself. Harsh lighting can wear out the colors on the canvas, dry out the paint or stiffen the canvas. For some art, keeping it in a box of some sort is crucial for protected shipping. Every detail put into the shipment of a piece of artwork is a piece of art itself. Most people do not realize that even just moving a painting down the road could cause damage beyond belief. The same goes for moving any form of art work, like sculptures. Not many people have sculptures in their home, but the very few that do know how crucial it is to protect them. Sculptures can be made of thousands of things, this means that almost anything can damage them. When shipping or moving sculptures one must be very precise to make sure nothing can cause damage. This means layers of protection, temperature controlled, lighting protected and even the amount of things touching it.
A piece of artwork is compiled of very small details that create the bigger picture, the same can be said for the packing and shipping of it. The details put into the artwork and the details put into the shipment of it, both create a bigger picture. Care is everything when shipping art. The shipment of someone’s work is not easy, and not many know that. Some people are oblivious to the fact that every little thing could mean life or death for a piece of art. We cannot throw a piece of art in a box or truck and hope it makes it from place to place with no damage. Even though we cannot prepare for every unfortunate event all the time, we can be prepared for the events we can predict. It takes a lot of work to ship a piece of art properly, but the amount of work put into the shipment is even more valuable than the artwork itself.
