Introducing Jackson’s New Artwork Carriers

If you’re tired of the material waste and time spent wrapping your work in paper, bubble wrap, or cardboard, Jackson’s Artwork Carriers offer a professional and reusable solution for storing and carrying your work. In this article, I’ll explore the benefits of these carriers, and highlight what sets them apart from other artwork storage products on the market.

Why Use an Artwork Carrier?

Artwork carriers are designed to allow you to easily transport and store your artworks, protecting them from damage in the process.

Because the carriers can be reused, they offer an alternative to wrapping artwork in disposable packaging for each journey, but this isn’t their only benefit. By using art carriers, you can rapidly open and check on an artwork, without having to cut through layers of cardboard, bubble wrap, paper, and tape. This also means you can immediately remove a painting from the carrier for display, without having to deal with the packing debris.

Many artists make the mistake of tightly sealing their paintings in layers of bubble wrap and tape, which doesn’t allow the work to breathe. For oil painters in particular, trapping even a small amount of moisture inside can be damaging over time and compromise the work’s archival longevity. Artwork carriers are designed to be more breathable, and have added qualities like being water-resistant and acid-free that ensure the long-term safety of your work.

Properties of the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers

Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are padded, water-resistant and acid-free, making them ideal for safely carrying artworks, or for keeping them dust and scratch-free in the studio. The outer shell of the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are made from woven polypropylene and secured with velcro. The carriers are solid black in colour, which gives them a sharp, professional look.

The carriers are lined with foam made from EPE (Expanded Polyethylene) – a lightweight, durable material that offers excellent impact protection. The foam lining is made from expanded polyethylene. Recycling facilities for this material vary, so check whether it is accepted locally. The silver interior lining is an acid-free aluminium film, which will help to prevent transferable mediums from brushing off into the bag. Some other artwork carriers on the market have a soft fabric lining, which is perfect for protecting dried paintings, but not so much for tray-framed pastel works. The cushioned, smooth lining ensures that the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are suitable for both purposes.

The outside of the carriers have a plastic weave finish, making them water-resistant and easily cleanable. To test this, I splashed some acrylic paint onto the carrier and wiped it off with a wet rag. Many other artwork carriers on the market have a finish more similar to fabric. The smooth finish of the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are easier to keep dust free, and help to ensure that your studio storage always looks tidy.

The Jackson’s Artwork Carriers have fold-over flap fastenings that attach with velcro strips. The vertical dimension of the carriers are adjustable since the velcro fastenings stretch down the face, allowing varied dimensions of artworks to fit snugly inside.

This guarantees that your work isn’t unnecessarily moving around inside the bag, or that you have awkward empty ends of the carrier that you don’t need sticking out. The more secure the artwork inside the bag, the better the protection it receives.

On the front of the flap opening, the carriers each have a small plastic sleeve pocket for adding your details to. This is very useful for labelling your works for transportation, sending work to an exhibition, or simply adding your name to your portfolio. Oftentimes, I have physically written or stuck labels onto my artwork carriers, which can look messy. This sleeve design ensures that the delivery and storage of your work always appears professional and clean.

Testing the Capacity of the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers

I wanted to test the capacity of the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers with a range of supports, to definitively demonstrate how much they can hold. As I described in the previous section, the carriers have adjustable velcro fastenings, so that varied heights of artworks can be made to fit neatly inside them. The width isn’t adjustable, so for each set of dimensions, the shorter side is the unchangeable one.

I tested each carrier with Jackson’s Stretched Canvases to verify if different depths of canvas would fit inside them. I tested them with deep edges (38 mm) and regular edges (19 mm). Both depths of canvas fit inside the recommended dimensions below, with the deeper one fitting more snugly. I wouldn’t recommend forcing canvases any bigger than these recommended sizes inside the carriers, since it puts unnecessary stress on the stitched edges.

The smallest carrier, 43 x 53 cm – will hold a 30 x 45 cm canvas

The second size, 58 x 73 cm – will hold a 45 x 65 cm canvas

The third size, 73 x 88 cm – will hold a 60 x 80 cm canvas

The fourth size, 98 x 108 cm – will hold a 85 x 100 cm canvas

The fifth size, 113 x 128 cm – will hold a 100 x 120 cm canvas

Using the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers to Carry Work

Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are ideal for carrying artworks since they offer them protection from outside debris, UV exposure, and dampness. It’s comfortable to carry the two smaller sizes under your arm when the capacity is fully extended, but the three larger sizes will need to be carried in both arms. If a painting is inserted into the largest carrier at full capacity, you will need help to carry it carefully on each side.

Using the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers to Store Work

The Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are also perfect for storing your work in the studio, to keep them free from any studio detritus, and dust from settling on them. They can be neatly stacked together in the studio, giving you peace of mind that your work is safe.

Safely shipping and storing artwork is a major priority for most artists, to ensure the archival quality of their works. Careless handling and studio packing will quickly accumulate damages to artworks. The fastest and simplest solution is to keep art inside of artwork carriers, and the new Jackson’s Artwork Carriers are a brilliant choice since they are adjustable in size, professional in appearance, water-resistant, and acid-free. Whether you are taking your work to your next exhibition, or organising your studio catalogue, the Jackson’s Artwork Carriers will protect your works time and time again – without the need to buy another roll of bubble wrap.

Further Reading

Artwork Protection for Storage and Transportation

Art Fair Checklist for Artists

Expert Advice on Representing Your Art Independently

Fine Art Restoration with James Bloomfield

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