NEW YORK, NY.- Eli Wilner & Company has announced that tours of its frame restoration studio will be made available for groups from non-profit cultural institutions at no charge whatsoever. Eligible groups would include members of the institution’s staff, a group of patrons or volunteers, or an educational program. Visitors will have the rare opportunity learn about the age-old art of frame making and restoration.

Eli Wilner & Company produces frames using traditional methods and materials, and no mass production techniques. Visitors will meet the actual carvers, woodworkers, mold-makers and gilders who work in the Eli Wilner studio, and have the opportunity to try their hand at each of these skills.

Visitors will meet the same artisans who recently created a hand-carved replica of the lost original frame for Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, which is now the focal point of the American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the creation of the frame, Morley Safer visited the Eli Wilner studio and created a report for CBS Sunday Morning. The video can be viewed here.

Tours must be arranged in advance and are subject to availability. Tours generally last 45-60 minutes, and groups of up to 100 guests are welcome. Recently VIP groups from The Metropolitan Museum, AXA Art Insurance, Chubb Insurance, and the Guggenheim Museum have enjoyed studio tours. A representative from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art said, “Thank you for… sharing your passion in the field with us. … Thank you for a truly informative and enriching experience.”

Committed to the education of curators, collectors and dealers regarding the period frame, Eli Wilner & Company has published over 100 articles about the antique frame, curated several important museum exhibitions and given over 100 lectures throughout the country for museum audiences and private groups.

As specialists in period framing for the past 28 years, Eli Wilner & Company has worked with museums including The White House, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Cleveland Museum of Art and many others.