David, I think that Seth has made many excellent points about gallery lighting strategies. If you can provide for flexibility in placing your lighting fixtures, you will be forever grateful for your original sagacity. Seth's suggestion for hiring a lighting designer at the outset can be critical, of course. I recently visited a museum where I worked a few decades ago, and was disappointed to see that the tracks and fixtures that were there before my tenure were still in use; the first new lighting installation was about to happen. It will be interesting to see the results. In my last museum, we achieved moderate lighting flexibility in the galleries by using new, short tracks that could be surface mounted to the ceiling almost anywhere, and plugged into a power tap on the permanent track. Not ideal, but essential (and cheap) for lighting some odd spots in the galleries. For one special, long-term installation of a very large painting, we made a layout on the floor (easier than on a wall) with a rough model of the picture frame, and a few light fixtures that could be moved around. Nothing like empirical testing, if you can manage it.
One other vital point I would like to make is that if someone else is specifying the minimum effective number of track fixtures for your installation, add a goodly percentage of fixtures, to try to ensure that you will have enough. Aside from installing tracks in patterns that are not quite what you want, having too few fixtures is a tough thing to deal with. Buying more after the fact entails a large and hard-to-obtain budget allocation. All right, one more suggestion: try a few choices of bulbs before purchasing a large supply; anyone else's recommendation of what is best for you may not be what looks best in your gallery. Make a simple, small-scale test, choose the best light for your gallery, then go ahead.
Best,
Bruce
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Bruce MacLeish
Curator Emeritus, Newport Restoration Foundation
Cooperstown NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-18-2018 05:52 AM
From: Seth Frankel
Subject: Lighting - Distance, Angle, Height.
It may seem counterintuitive, but running tracks in tangent to the primary walls usually results in the most flexibility for spaces that exhibit a variety of materials (2D, object cases, thicker wall elements), when spaced a few feet apart. When track is parallel to walls it give you no flexibility for distance from wall. In tangent you have the freedom to move fixture closer and farther. Having a handful of bridge tracks that attach to two tracks and allow for placing fixtures between track rows can get you in the middle and more for detailed work. If you envision a rectangular room, run many tracks the short distance with this method. Your ceiling height and fixture type will help determine the first and last row's distance from the wall on the parallel ends. The higher the ceiling the farther you'll be from the wall. The goal with the correct beam spread is to illuminate the wall just over the heads of visitors so that they don't throw shadows. The beam spread, either as general wall washers or spots, work in the same angle, but with different purposes. Others have mentioned 30 degree angle from the fixture head to the focal area. That's good, but don't make the mistake of position the track at the 30 degree point, but rather the nose of the lighting instrument itself, which depending on the size could be 6-12" lower. This is especially true if you're using older conventional can fixtures. The light fixture/bulb will have photometries which give you the exact beam spread. A simple section drawing of the wall/floor/ceiling/track and position of the art can be done (with a scale person) and you can mock up the scenario with some basic drawing.
Of course, I advocate for using a professional lighting designer (which I'm not) to help with the layout. It's well worth the cost when weighed against the material/installation costs and the longevity of time you'll be living with mistaken placements or cost to retrofit.
Good luck.
Best,
Seth
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SethFrankel
Principal, Studio Tectonic
Boulder, Colorado USA
seth@studiotectonic.com
www.studiotectonic.com
Original Message:
Sent: 09-12-2018 05:12 PM
From: David Lynx
Subject: Lighting - Distance, Angle, Height.
Are there recommendation for track lighting as far as best distance, angle, and height. For example, if the lights are 14 ft high.. should they be a certain distance from the wall.. or angle.. etc.
Thank you.
David
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David Lynx MLS
Director
Larson Gallery
Yakima WA
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