In The Frame: Creating Gallery Walls with Joy Moyler

Award-winning interior designer Joy Moyler’s love for color and textiles started at a very young age. As a child she would help her mother pick out fabrics for quilts, as well as watch her father and grandfather getting fitted for suits. Forever embedded in her DNA and the work she produces, Joy believes texture, haberdashery, and haute couture details are the second skin to architecture and interior design. Working for some of New York’s most prominent architectural and interiors firms, she has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Sharing her expertise, Joy shows us how to create a beautiful gallery wall.

For interior spaces that are traditionally focused, I prefer heavy frames - often carved and preferably gilded - to feature art. The gallery could be singular, allowing one piece of art to shine and have its moment, particularly if it’s an heirloom.

For modern and contemporary spaces, I generally place art in a cluster. The layout may be linear, where art is placed within same sized frames and is on a grid with equal dimensions, or I may use a mix of frames and art in a more organized layout. I love mixing frame finishes. I will place black, white, silverleaf and gold tone frames together to create a stunning visual.

This gallery layout may be singular or a combination of like-minded frames. I don’t always use frames in these settings, I sometimes prefer the contrast between the art and the wall treatment. Another idea is to hang the art from a thin filament from the ceiling; this allows the space around it to act as a frame.

1. When selecting art, the best advice I can give is to purchase art you love and want to look at every day.
2. Look at the colors in the art; let them take the lead when selecting complementary frames.
3. A fun thing to do is to pull a color from the art and have the matte board match.
4. A gallery of multiple artworks can be best seen and enjoyed on a simple wall finish. If wallpaper is heavily patterned, it makes it difficult for your eye to enjoy the art.
5. If you have a large room with a nice ceiling height, go big. Maximize the space to enhance the display.