You know that great feeling you get when a loved one opens a gift you chose and smiles from ear to ear?  It’s the kind of smile that screams, “I love it”, leaving no question that your pick was perfect.  There’s only one gift I know of that virtually guarantees this reaction.  It’s a cherished photo or meaningful piece of art beautifully framed to be displayed with pride.  And, thanks to Barrington custom framing expert, Tina Show-Willis, you can give this gift this holiday season at a fraction of the cost. Tina is the owner of Tina Han Gallery & Custom Framing in Barrington’s Ice House Mall. For a limited amount of time and people, Tina is offering $150 worth of custom framing and fine art purchases for only $75. It’s a deal that’s only available right here at 365Barrington.com.

With years of custom framing experience, Tina is a seasoned local expert when it comes to choosing colors and materials to frame your favorite pieces.

In the Tina Han Gallery, you will find endless frame and mat possibilities to surround your newly acquired contemporary abstract, the antique print you picked up at a kiosk in Paris, a treasured family photograph or the ornamental dolls you brought back from a small province in China. The frames she offers range from simple to ornate, contemporary to classic. She does the framing herself, in her studio on-site, and can have your works of art finished and ready to be wrapped within the week.  Tina’s impeccable eye for design and professional integrity are clear when you view the framed artwork featured and available for purchase in her gallery. She brings this expert eye to the cherished collections on display at her clients’ homes throughout Barrington and beyond.

In addition to framing, Tina’s gallery offers an outstanding original selection of paintings and limited edition prints. The collection includes oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels and drawings created by over thirty established and emerging artists from around the world. She features an impressive list of artists based right here in Barrington and has special showings of new and upcoming artists who are making a name for themselves regionally and nationally.  The most recent is a special showing of selected new works by Marketa Sivek, whose art is among the very best being produced today in Chicago. 

From the "Red Balls Series" by Marketa Sivek, 48 x 48

Tina says she’s most impressed with the visual quality and technical presentation of the varied visions from Sivek’s mind.  “She brings these visions to you in the most vivid ways. Her Red Balls series is about stillness and movement coexisting. The vastness of space in which the red balls interact lends this piece many possibilities. Something is going to happen if you wait and look long enough. Perhaps these red ‘circles of life’ will change positions unexpectedly. Perhaps one will fall from the canvas on to the room floor, allowing you to pick it up and feel its velvet touch. The inevitability of the painting’s drive for unity will force the circle back into its canvas, however, as one circle cannot function without the other.”

Marketa Sivek grew up in Czechoslovakia. She now lives and works in Chicago. Among the Barrington-area artists with works on display at Tina Han Gallery are Bill Stone, Ann Ponce and Jim Root.

Bill Stone
The highly emotionally charged paintings of artist Bill Stone are dense with feeling.  Energetic, thick strokes create a weight and sense of elegance to his vibrant abstract works and add vital spirit to his expressive figures.  Mr. Stone’s work invites the viewer to become lost in a myriad of color, texture and movement while challenging internal reflection, emotion and response.  As a radically observant artist, Mr. Stone is able to conceptualize his passionate instincts onto the canvas, capturing the power of universal breath and vitality.  To learn more, visit BillStoneStudio.com.

Bill Stone - Garden Series at Tina Han Gallery

Ann Ponce
Ann Ponce is part of a well know family in television and the arts in Chicago.  She has been painting and teaching art for almost 30 years, in Denver, Indianapolis and Chicago.  Classically trained in art, Ann first studied drawing and painting at Indiana University, then at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in Denver, Colorado, where she joined the faculty from 1976 to 1978.  From 1988 until 1997, she taught classes in Portraiture, Figure Drawing and Painting at the Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois.  Ann now teaches from her own studio. Her work is in many private and public collections.  Her large portraits and her evocative landscapes from around the world capture the breadth and beauty of the subject and the artist.  To learn more, visit AnnPonce.com.

Ann Ponce - Rural Midwest Landscape, Late Afternoon

Jim Root
This painting is a piece Jim calls Flat Bottomed Skiff.  “It was a moment at low tide when, standing on the pier, all the boats were 10 feet lower than at high tide, hence the birds eye view.” He was enjoying a lobster dinner with friends by the water that night and the light was just right. In fact, Jim says light is one of the things that he loves to paint most. “I love the sunlight early in the morning or late in the evening. The way it wraps around and lights things up, whether it’s a tree, a boat, a house or someone’s face.” Most of his work is inspired by light, landscapes and the outdoors.  To learn more about artist Jim Root, read our interview, Get to Know Artist Jim Root.

Jim Root - "Flat Bottomed Skiff"

Tina welcomes you to strike up a conversation when you drop by her studio. If you’re a collector or like to discuss art techniques and interpretations, she’s an authority and her passion and expertise are evident.  Tina also offers special prices on almost all art in the gallery. If you do not see it, just ask. She has works available that you won’t find on display and can acquire many other special pieces thanks to relationships she has developed with artists everywhere.  Tina also features an impressive collection of glass art in her gallery.  The pieces are gorgeous, the colors are vibrant and, like all the works on her gallery floor, they become focal points and conversation pieces when displayed at home.

For more information about Tina Snow-Willis, her custom framing service and the artists whose works she features, visit her website at TinaHanGallery.com.  You’ll find the gallery in the Ice House Mall at 200 Applebee Street in Barrington and you can reach Tina by phone at 847-382-1030.