OUR STORY
It started in the mid 70's when Roger Nielsen bought an abandoned warehouse in Lowertown, St Paul. A neighborhood that was, as he remembers, mostly winos and pigeons. He and Janet Hawn renovated the building into affordable artist housing and opened Master Framers on the main level. The building became known as 262 Studios. So began a thriving artist community that still exists today.
Roger and Janet's passion for art and framing took the frame shop beyond traditional chop & join services. They became experts at hand-finishing and hand-carving frames as well as painting/frame restoration. Today, the artisan staff at Master Framers have been trained using time tested materials and techniques required to take on your most challenging frame projects.
You can find our frames hanging at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Des Moines Art Center, South Dakota Art Museum, The Minnesota State Capitol, the George Bush Presidential Library and other historic sites, churches, and universities across the United States. We are also proud to have many frames hanging in private homes being enjoyed by private art collectors.
Meet the Staff
At the heart of everything we do at Master Framers lies a group of individuals who bring our vision for beautiful, handcrafted frames to life.
Roger Nielsen
FOUNDER
Artist, frame maker, collector, community organizer, advocate for the arts, Lowertown pioneer. Roger has been a leader in the picture framing industry. He has taught numerous workshops and seminars relating to gilding, design, restoration and frame history.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 62
Andrew
OWNER
Always interested in the arts, Andrew fell into framing and has stayed with it long enough to learn all parts involved. Now the main gilder as well as Shop Manager, he spans both front and back shop, sales, deliveries, and all trouble-shooting.
His artistic bent shows itself in his good cooking, art collecting, and varied beard styles.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 26
Jeannine
FRAME DESIGNER/ PRODUCTION MANAGER
Between designing with customers in the showroom and building, carving, or finishing frames in the back shop, Master Framers keeps Jeannine busy with a bit of every step of the framing process. Outside of work, Jeannine also is a fine artist in painting and printmaking.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 4
Em
FRAMER
Coming to Master Framers from past framing work, Em primarily works in the front end of the shop where she focuses on the fitting stage of our process. Her boundless curiosity has led Em to dabble in a wide variety of art mediums and techniques, such as: costume and mask making, polymer clay sculpting, and anything and everything whimsical and odd.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 5
Kel
FRAME RESTORER
Kel comes from an artistic background that has allowed her to get her hands dirty in a variety of ways. Having worked in ceramics, printmaking, and obscure photographic processes, she now works mainly in paper arts and can be found in the back shop doing frame restoration while listening to obscure music and drinking coffee all day.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 2
Kathryn
FRAMER / DESIGNER / OFFICE MANAGER
Having worked in the framing industry through college and beyond, Kathryn soon learned of Master Framer's focus on Old World framing and aimed her sights higher. Since 1995 she has been involved in the exciting world of true custom framing in one capacity or another.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 29
Jonas
WOODWORKER
While studying art curation, Jonas is lending us a hand in the woodshop. He comes from a background of furniture and drum kit making.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 3 months
Chris
SHOP ASSISTANT
Ever a source of positive words and a smile, Chris helps out at the shop with various tasks and errands.
YEARS IN THE FRAMING INDUSTRY: 6 months
Hans
WOODWORKING CONSULTANT
Retirement was too boring so to add some excitement back into his life, Hans came to work with us! His life-long career of wood-working and furniture-making has made him a great asset in our back woodshop. Not to mention he has many good stories to share, too.