At Sandlapper Art & Frame, Robin Price Jumper protects memories
by Aïda Rogers
Robin Jumper
Robin Price Jumper never knows what might be coming in the door. Or whom. But she can pretty much guarantee that any job she takes on at Sandlapper Art & Frame will be meaningful.
“I frame a lot of people’s memories,” she says, ticking off the items she’s artfully arranged in shadow boxes. Law enforcement badges. Football jerseys. Boy Scout medals. Fishing lures. Christening gowns. Even old pipe-fitting tools. “Basically I’m framing their lives.”
One customer wanted a shadow box that would honor her long-ago ancestor, an English immigrant who came to America via Staten Island. Robin designed a shadow box that contained a collage of yellowed pages from some of his books and a pair of his short wool pants. His leather-bound journal was opened to the date he came to this country.
Then there was the flapper dress. Robin framed it to look like it was in motion, and added beads and silk feathers to match its time period. She’s framed Purple Hearts, learning the proper way to present military medals, and a Japanese flag, prompting her to study the Japanese alphabet, so its lettering would be turned correctly. “I’m just not throwing it in a frame; I’m thinking about it,” she asserts.
Robin has been in the framing business close to 15 years, and does commercial and residential work. Last summer she landed the framing job for Southern First Bank’s headquarters in Cayce, for which she framed about 100 pieces. Photos, decorator prints and original art were selected by interior designer Day King of Greenville, who later praised Robin for her talent and time “finding the right piece and framing so perfectly to fit each space.” Southern First President Justin Strickland was impressed too. The King-Jumper team “combined local artists and scenes that truly brings out the warmth and professionalism we seek to provide our clients,” Strickland said.
Located in the Shoppes at Flight Deck, Sandlapper Art & Frame also sells art prints and handmade crafts – pottery, metal sculpture and jewelry. The work is by artisans in the Carolinas. “I like to stay as local as possible,” Robin explains.
The combination of retail crafts and custom framing sets her business apart from shops that sell only gifts and shops that only do framing, says Robin, who considers herself a custom framer. She can program her computerized mat cutter to cut mats the way she wants. And she takes care to use acid-free mats and backing, and UV glass. This “conservation framing” allows her to protect the artwork.
“Building a frame is like building a house,” she observes. “I have a stick of wood, a piece of matboard and a piece of glass. It’s built from scratch. I don’t think most people realize that.”
To Robin, the frame is part of the art, creating “a total piece.” That’s why she’s gratified when customers are pleased with her work. She’s got good feelings about a family piece she’s working on now that honors three generations of U.S. Army sergeants in one family. Service in World War II, Vietnam and Iraq are commemorated.
“When people pick things up, especially the shadow boxes, they might cry, they’re oohing and ahhing,” Robin says. “It’s something they’re proud to display on their wall. It’s not something they’re going to stick in the closet.”
Learn more at www.sandlapperart.com or call 785-4278.
