Virginia Beach MOCA art show

Artwork by Lisa Mote

Virginia Beach has many wonderful events to enjoy throughout the year, but one of our favorites has to be the Boardwalk Art Show. This Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) event takes place right on the boardwalk as the name implies, allowing visitors to stroll through over 300 artist booths just steps away from the beach! You really couldn’t ask for a better environment for art shopping.

We believe art is a hugely important part of interior design, making your home truly personalized and creating a space that feels good to you. Read on for some tips to help you shop the Virginia Beach Boardwalk Art Show for pieces that will enhance your home and make you smile.

Don’t just fill space.

We often see people hurrying to accumulate enough art to cover their walls, checking off a list of blank spaces so they can say their home is “complete.” Just remember, there’s nothing to fear from an empty wall, and building an authentic and elegant home is a process, not a one-and-done event. We encourage you to take your time and find pieces that truly speak to you. You should buy a piece of art because you love it, not because it will fill that empty space over your sofa or because it matches the rug.

Consider placement carefully.

While we believe you should buy art that you enjoy, you should consider scale when deciding where to display it. One of the most common mistakes homeowners make is hanging a piece of art that is too small over a large object like a sofa or sideboard. A tiny rectangle floating on a wide expanse of wall rarely looks good, so hang smaller pieces on smaller walls or as part of a vignette with smaller furnishings, and larger pieces on larger walls and near larger furnishings, so they don’t look cramped or dwarf the surrounding objects.

Bring cohesion through framing.

One of the best ways to unite your art collection with your furnishings and other decor is to use a consistent style of framing. That doesn’t mean every frame has to be exactly the same–in fact, we would strongly recommend against that–but the frames should all relate in finish, color, and general style. Visit your local framer and ask to see options that coordinate but don’t match exactly.

Art selection is one of the many Virginia Beach interior design services we offer here at MJN & Associates Interiors. If you would like assistance with finding and displaying art for your home, give us a call at 757.306.6000.