P.H. Miller Studio, Frame-Makers Celebrates 25 Years <     The P.H. Miller Studio, Frame-Makers, located at 495 Main Street South, celebrates it's Twenty-Fifth Anniversary in 2008. To celebrate, the studio will host a Gilded Champagne Reception on Friday, June 27th from 6 to 8pm and a day of Water Gilding and Carving Demonstrations, as well as Complimentary Art and Antique Consultations with a Certified Appraiser, on Saturday, June 28th from 2 to 5pm. All are welcome to attend.     Incorporated in 1983 as Beaux Arts Inc, the P.H. Miller Studio has grown and developed from a local "frame shop" into one of the finest frame-makers in the country. Once choosing from a selection of manufactured molding, the Studio now designs and creates entirely unique, one-of-a-kind carved and gilded, handmade frames.     Over the past few years, the P.H. Miller Studio has developed a Studio Collection of handmade frames and mirrors. In the Studio Frame Collection, styles range from classic American inspired by Thomas Sully and Childe Hassam to those inspired by the Italian Cassettas and surface treatment techniques including sgraffito, pastiglia and granito.     The newest addition to the Studio Frame Collection, a variation of a contemporary Sully style molding, incorporates a carving design called the "Rolling Hills." It is an original P.H. Miller Studio design first created for a George Sotter painting titled "Snowbound Hills." The soft, flowing hill motif perfectly accentuated the hills and overall tone of this painting and the Studio then decided to make it part of the Collection.     Included in the Studio's Mirror Collection are a wide variety of styles incorporating both traditional and modern aesthetics with nuances entirely unique to P.H. Miller Studio creations. One such mirror uses a small Italian Cassetta molding profile with cherry blossom carvings at each of the corners. Each blossom is hand carved and then textured with pastiglia, a raised gesso application. Also unique to this frame, and many P.H. Miller Studio designs, is the specialized bole application. Under the gilding of the blossom and its leaves are pink and green boles, which are rubbed after the gold is applied to bring out these colors. The effect is that of a true-to-life cherry blossom emerging from a golden blanket.     The P.H. Miller Studio emphasizes that, although they will gladly reproduce any of the Studio Frame and Mirror Collection samples, their main ambition is create frames for specific paintings or, for mirrors, interior spaces.      Peter Miller states, "We take pride in designing and creating unique frames for each and every painting [or interior plan] that comes to us.     We look carefully at each work of art [or interior space] and analyze it in terms of period, color, tone, texture, and geometric elements. From there, we make decisions about the shape of the molding, the color of the bole and karat weight of gold, carving details, and other surface treatments."      The P.H. Miller Studio has always employed this design method and has, with the launch of the Studio Frame Collection, given it the title of the Allusion Design Theory. [As a modern novel or screenplay may allude to a historical work, for example, P.H. Miller Studio frames allude to the works of art for which they are created.]     In addition to the Studio developments, Peter H. Miller has also recently been involved in such major projects as the re-gilding of the roof of the New York Life Insurance building and the restoration of a collection of Chippendale chairs owned by a private client in the Bahamas.     Celebrating Twenty-five years, as well as the launch of the new Studio Frame and Mirror Collections, the P.H. Miller Studio is pleased to invite the community to a celebratory anniversary weekend. All are invited to attend the Gilded Champagne Reception on Friday, June 27th from 6 to 8pm and visit the Studio again on Saturday, Junday 28th from 2 to 5pm for Gilding and Carving Demonstrations and Complimentary Art and Antique Consultations by a Certified Appraiser. Walk-ins are welcome.     For more information, visit the P.H. Miller Studio, Frame-Makers website: www.phmiller.com or contact the Studio at (203)263-3939 or info@phmiller.com. Regular studio hours are Tuesday-Saturday: 9:30 – 5:30. P.H. Miller Studio Frame-Makers. Every fine painting deserves a P.H. Miller Studio frame.