The New York Times’s Home section takes a novel approach to promoting the Affordable Art Fair taking place in Manhattan this week. Focus on the framing instead of the art. Here are some tips from Helen Allen, the fair’s founder:

“Sometimes you have things you’d like to frame,” she said, “but the budget’s not there yet or you’re not sure exactly what you want to do.” [ . . . ] Displaying art, she said, need not be expensive, particularly since an object “doesn’t have to be made for art” display to be useful in that regard.

One of her favorite tricks for hanging unframed works on paper is to attach binder clips to the top two corners and hang them from push-pins or nails. “I’ve done it at home and in the office,” she said, suggesting colored clips from Staples. One caveat: though most clips cause little or no damage, she said, “I wouldn’t do it with a Warhol” or any especially valuable piece.

On a shopping trip in Manhattan and online, Ms. Allen shared other creative ideas. At Urban Archaeology in TriBeCa, she found an antique shirt display stand that she thought would make a perfect easel for small paintings and a wall-mounted steel coat rack that could hold small sculptures.

At Olde Good Things, an architectural salvage store in Chelsea, Ms. Allen liked hand-carved wood corbels that could be installed on a wall to hold sculptures. “That’s something you see in museums,” she said.

Off-Center Framing (New York Times)