The studio
About The Framed Word
The Framed Word is biblical scene art by Trevor Stuckless, made in Hamilton, Ontario and printed at 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17 inches and framed by hand. He made the first pieces for his own prayer wall rather than to sell, and every piece since is his own reading of the moment it pictures. It grew out of the same Hamilton work as the Sons of Scripture men's ministry, and it holds every piece to one standard: the art points at a passage, and the passage is always named.
Why this exists
Why did you start making these?
Trevor Stuckless made the first of these for himself, not to sell. He wanted a prayer place: a wall he could look up at and be taken straight into the depth of a scene instead of working his way there. When he could not get that from words on a wall, he started designing the scenes.
I did not start these to sell them. I started them for myself.
I wanted a prayer place. Somewhere I could look up and be brought into the depth of it instantly, not have to climb my way there. So I designed and made the scenes myself.
Every piece here is my own reading of the moment. That is my belief and my taste of what I think is really accurate, and I would rather say that plainly than pretend it is settled for everybody. What I will stand on is the scene itself. Each one is the exact moment, and the exact moment is where the power is.
Amongst the Lampstands is my favourite of them.
That is also why nothing on this site claims to settle what these moments looked like. It claims something narrower and checkable: each picture is answerable to a named passage, the passage is linked in full so you can read it against the picture, and where the choice to depict a Bible scene at all is contested, the argument is made from the text rather than assumed.
The standard
What is each piece held to?
Named for its passage. Every piece carries the reference it pictures on its placard, and this site links each passage in full. Art that will not tell you where it came from in the text is decoration; these are signposts.
A scene inside the text. The pictures stay answerable to the words. If the passage puts four men on a roof, the picture does not add a fifth for composition's sake. Within that, what the moment looked like is the maker's own conviction, and this site says so rather than dressing it up as settled.
Two honest sizes. 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17, both standard frame sizes, chosen so a piece can be re-matted or re-framed years from now without custom work. Which size suits which wall, including the run of wall a triptych needs, is laid out in the sizing guide.
Sold plainly. $29.99 CAD a piece framed, or any three for $74.99, printed on the placards where you can see them. There is no cart: you email, you get a real answer about stock and delivery, and nothing is charged until it has been quoted to you. That is the whole transaction.
The family of work
Who is behind this?
Trevor Stuckless makes the work, in Hamilton, Ontario. The Framed Word is a Blue Crane Works property, from the same Hamilton studio family as the Sons of Scripture men's ministry, which gathers every Saturday in Hamilton and Grimsby for Scripture, prayer and accountability. That ministry is where the convictions behind this art get lived out week after week; the shop is those convictions put on walls.
That connection is also the honest answer to why this catalogue looks the way it does: scenes with weight in them, chosen for whoever they speak to, and an argument from the text itself for why picturing these moments is faithful work.
Practicalities
Common questions
Is the collection open?
It is open. Seven works are on the collection page now at $29.99 CAD each, or any three for $74.99, including the Even to Your Old Age triptych, which is three panels and so comes to $74.99 as the set. More are being framed.
How do I reach the studio?
Email [email protected]. It is the studio family's address, shared with the Sons of Scripture ministry, and it reaches a person. A dedicated studio address is coming; this one will keep working either way.
Will there be commissions or custom sizes?
Nothing is promised here that is not yet true. Everything on the collection page is two sizes, framed. If you want a scene that is not hanging yet, say so in an email: it may already exist unframed, or be worth making. Formal commissions are not open, and this page will say so plainly on the day they are.