Your art is like a child; a reflection of your talent, your experiences, your ideas, even your soul. You want it to be in good hands while it’s being prepared for display. That’s the work of Imaging Arts. Owner Steven Hyatt says that when you bring a painting, photograph or other work to Imaging Arts for printing you’ll get back “a high-quality reproduction that has been expertly printed to bring out the very best in your work.”
Artists and non-artists alike have been bringing their work to Imaging Arts for seven years, secure in the knowledge that their creations will be customized for the medium of their choice— canvas, paper or metal—and printed in high resolution for display. They know that Hyatt understands their needs and can deliver, because he is an artist himself.
“Art is all about creating. The need to create is in me,” he says.
Walk into the business in West Ashley and you can see examples of his work. Hyatt’s own photograph, a bird’s-eye view of Charleston framed by an antique window in St. Michael’s Church, pops off the wall of the studio. Printed on canvas and mounted on customized stretcher bars, the blue of the sky and wisps of clouds make viewers feel as if they are flying above our historic city.
Hyatt has been doing this work, in one form or another, since he was a teen in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He honed his craft during the early days of digital printing and Photoshop.
To approach perfection, Hyatt employs a multi-stage process regardless of the type of original or the medium on which it will be displayed.
When a customer brings in an original work of art—an oil painting, for example—Hyatt photographs it under controlled conditions to ensure clarity and true colors. This, he says, is best done on a tripod and with balanced, constant lighting (not flash). Next, he crops the file and fine-tunes it for color, brightness and other visual elements.
Finally, he optimizes the file on a computer, precisely adjusting it for the desired medium: paper, canvas—even metal. If he’s printing art on canvas, Hyatt’s not restricted to “standard sizes,” because he builds his own stretcher bars.
Of course, some art lends itself to a particular medium. For example, watercolors often look best on watercolor papers.
Many Imaging Arts customers are photographers and painters. But Hyatt hastens to add they are not all professionals. Anyone who wants the highest quality reproduction—turned around within a week at a reasonable price—can employ his services. That includes many Charlestonarea artists as well as amateur photographers who want their photographs painstakingly reproduced.
“What I give people back makes them feel good about what they’ve created,” he says.
Barry Waldman is principal at Write Stuff Communications, a PR and marketing firm for non-profits and small businesses. Reach him at:writestuffcomm@gmail.com
