About Us

   Framed-Arts.com is a family business owned and operated by Treasure and Jim Phillips. Yes, we promise Treasure is the actual name on the birth certificate. Our journey to becoming a custom frame shop offering custom framed art on the web began nearly 30 years ago in a very small town in New England. Like many others, we could not have predicted our journey would have led us to the framed arts community. Looking back on where the path has taken us, it’s clear we have arrived where we belong.

 

Treasure was 6 years old when she received her first camera as a birthday gift, and the artist was born. To this day we have a gallery of thousands of artistic photographs captured with the whimsy of a young enthusiast, from the heart of a teen apprentice, through the present day professional. What does one do with such a large personal gallery?  Framed art, of course! As her passion for all things art simmered in the background, Treasure’s adult life has prepared her well for owning and operating a business focused on customer satisfaction. For many years, her day job progressed through the ever increasing responsibility of the management of a well known national retailer. She learned many times over, the heart of successful retail is the customer, the customer, the customer. At its peak, Treasure’s responsibilities required her to travel to major metropolitan centers nearly 100% of the time. Constant travel provided the perfect opportunity to feed her natural love of the arts. Art auctions and art shows became her favorite outlet when on the road, and along with the photography, the new collection of signed lithographs began to grow into an impressive gallery.  A busy, corporate woman with a wonderful, diverse gallery arriving to a home with bare walls. “I would love to come home to a house full of framed art and framed prints instead of bare walls and art in storage" .

 

  Jim’s journey has taken a different path. The world of art rarely pierced his narrow focus of math and science as a young person. Art posters of rock stars and fast cars were as deep as it went. When not in school, outdoor recreation was the focus. Normal things were on the agenda then; sports, building things, breaking things and girls. The lovely young Treasure captured the interest of all young men those days, including Jim, however their first real date didn’t happen until 20 years later. Better late than never. In the mean time, Jim’s life moved on through undergraduate and graduate school. A promising career as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry awaited him. Moments before closing the door on school and entering through the door to a professional life, family tragedy slipped through with him. A close family member was struck down with a severe brain injury. Being personal witness to many dark days and a long term struggle for Janet’s resurrection has taught Jim much. Art has the ability to uplift and inspire in the most desperate of times. For it was the arts that first brought Janet back. As random and short as life can be, don’t let your dreams wait too long. Jim’s dream has been to return to his small home town and to take a new direction in life. What new direction would this be?

 

During one of Jim’s visits home to Janet, they had occasion to dine out after the Christmas holiday. While waiting to be seated, who should he see arriving with her parents, but Treasure. What a coincidence. Treasure’s corporate life only allowed her a few visits home during the year. They got reacquainted. They fell in love. They got married! Treasure’s busy corporate life no longer suited her, and she was also looking for a change. Settling in with her new husband and their house, they set to the task of making it their home. If ever there was a time to dust off that wonderful gallery and cover the walls with framed art and framed prints, the time was now. The collection had been years in the making and Treasure was eager to see her life artfully displayed. We learned much about the custom framed art industry, and some of it was not good. If you are not fortunate enough to live close to a custom frame shop with the benefit of a talented and devoted designer, your choices are often limited to the big box outlets. This is absolutely fine for big screen TVs and the like, but big box retailers do a poor job when complimenting a lifetime art collection. In our search for the right custom frame shop, an idea was born. Why not open our own custom framed art shop? Treasure has the business and customer focused retail experience. Jim has the skill to maintain the machinery and equipment needed in a modern framed art shop. We both want Treasure home more. The region we live in had a definite need for a custom framed art shop. Our leap into the framed art community resulted in several new friends willing to help guide us in our new venture. We took the leap and we are thrilled with the result and thankful for the help we received. Over the years, Framed-Arts.com has grown to a full service custom frame shop with a large selection of frames, mouldings and a gallery of over 160,000 prints. We are proud to say we have built a loyal customer base of artists and enthusiasts locally and online.

 

   In December of 2006 the family was blessed with a new apprentice custom framer. His name is Levi. This little boy has brought a great sense of joy and inspiration to us both. The dream of moving the family to the same small town we grew up in has taken on a renewed sense of urgency. Don’t let your dreams wait too long.