BY SHALEEN DESTEFANO

Do you ever wonder what happens to those bold, eye-catching banners that line city streets to promote blockbuster museum exhibitions? In most cases, they’re discarded. But BetterWall gives them a second life. This unique company salvages authentic exhibition banners from top museums across the country—pieces that once adorned lampposts, facades and urban streetscapes, and makes them available as large-scale, collectible wall art. It’s a sustainable, story-rich way for art lovers to bring a piece of cultural history home. We sat down with Owner Amy Norton to learn more about the process of how these banners travel from the street to your home.

What sparked the idea for BetterWall? Was there a specific banner, moment, or museum that inspired the business?

BetterWall was started by Nick and Nora Weiser in 2004. Nora used to work at the Art Institute of Chicago, so they had a few promotional banners hanging as part of their décor in their former home in Washington Park. The couple was brainstorming ideas for a business and Nick asked what would normally happen to those banners. Nora explained that once they came down from the streetlight poles, they would linger in storage or go to a landfill. The idea was born from there to collect used exhibition street banners from museums and give them a valuable “after life”.

I met them around 2006 when they showed some of the banners in the gallery of an art community on Santa Fe drive, where I worked. Several years later, I became a freelancer and fulfilled orders for them as a side-gig while I built my marketing clientele. In 2017 I acquired the business as they moved on to other projects.

How do you select which museum banners to repurpose, and what’s the process like from exhibit wall to someone’s home?

When a museum sends us banners, the first and most important step is to obtain the proper rights and permissions. Each banner has images of artwork and ownership of those images may lie with an agency, a museum, a private collector, directly with a living artist or the estate of a deceased one. While the museum would have obtained rights for promotional purposes, we obtain rights to sell them on a retail level.

Images with brand ownership or strict licensing will never even be in our possession — think Dior, Star Wars or Wild Things—so those banners will never go up for sale through us.

Once we have permission, we sort through the banners to determine which ones and how many are in condition to sell. They previously lived outside on light poles, they do have some wear and tear, which lends to the authenticity—but we choose the ones with minimal flaws.

Can you walk us through how each banner is transformed into a finished piece? What materials or craftsmanship go into making them display-ready?

Presentation is very important to us. When a banner is sold it is pulled it from our warehouse and cleaned thoroughly to remove any semblance of dirt or street grime from its previous life outdoors. A custom hanging kit is included—dowels, hardware and instructions that allow for an easy installation. When hung, the banner appears to elegantly float off the wall with the hardware barely visible.

Thoughtful packaging design ensures the banner remains in top condition during shipping and adds flair to the unboxing experience.

What makes these banners so collectible? Is there a banner that has surprised you with how quickly it sold, or the story behind it?

The banners are limited edition. Only so many were printed for any given exhibition and depending on the museum, that number can vary quite a bit. For some banners we can offer several dozen, for others we may only have three. Either way, when they are gone, they are gone.

In general, well-known artwork is popular and will sell relatively fast. I am mostly surprised when a banner that features more obscure art or subject matter sells. We have something for everyone!

I did have a customer return a banner that featured a black and white photograph of a wrestler posed in full, masked lucha libre costume, because as she explained, “it scared her small grandkids.” I can’t say that I blame them as there was a painting at the top of my grandparent’s stairs that creeped me out as a kid and I don’t wish that kind of fear on any kid!

You’ve collaborated with some of the world’s top cultural institutions. Any memorable partnerships or standout exhibits?

These relationships were started by the founders. With Nora’s experience she was able to speak the language of the institutions and sell them on the idea. A portion of sales proceeds goes back to the museums to support their collections and operations.  We are lucky to have banners that were once displayed on cities streets across the country.

We carry a banner from SFMOMA that features self-portraits by the late artist Chuck Close. Through their contact in getting permission to sell the banners, Nick, Nora and their kids were able to meet and visit with him in his New York City studio.

Sustainability is a major throughline of BetterWall. How has the mission to reuse and repurpose shaped your business decisions?

The goal from the beginning was to provide recycle/reuse option for the museums to help them meet sustainability goals. We would receive pallets of banners from some museums, and those that we could not sell for condition issues or rights reasons would be stored for eventual recycling as the recycler had a minimum of two tons before they would pick up material.

The banners are made from a variety of vinyl materials. Over the years, the market for these raw materials changed dramatically and the types of vinyl we had stored were no longer viable to be recycled. Unfortunately, we had to suspend that portion of the business as storage costs were unsustainable. Until that point BetterWall did successfully keep100 tons of vinyl out of landfills. We now take only smaller batches from the museums that we can have for our inventory.

Many people bring up the fact that there are companies that upcycle vinyl into bags and other products. It’s a fantastic business model, but not one that we are involved in as they source their own material.

How has the Denver creative and collector community responded to what you’re doing?

The 2006 gallery showcase was a fun way for creatives, collectors and art lovers all kinds to see them up close and understand the scale of each banner—they range from 7 to 8 feet tall—and how they can make an impact in any space. They are step up from poster prints in size and quality but an entirely different animal than collecting original art. They stand on their own as unique way to support a favorite museum and enjoy large scale artwork with no extra expense for framing!

Have you ever had the opportunity to collaborate with a local artist?

We work only with art museums, so any contact with contemporary artists is to reach out for permissions if their artwork is on a banner. I don’t believe we have any banners that feature local contemporary artists at the moment.

Any upcoming releases or new museum collaborations we should keep an eye on?

I am in the process of obtaining permission for a banner that promoted the exhibition All Stars – American Artists from The Phillips Collection at the Denver Art Museum. It features Plumes, 1931 by Walt Kuhn which depicts a disillusioned showgirl wearing a headdress, So, if I am successful, watch for that banner to become available on the website!

What can we expect from BetterWall in the future?

You never know what to expect in terms of what we have on offer at any given time! New banners come in, others sell-out. Sign up at the website for new banner alerts! We are currently running a special offer of 15-25% off all banner orders! Our offers are usually exclusive to email subscribers, but this summer special is open to anyone visiting the website at www.betterwall.com.

We love that BetterWall rescues these banners from a 400-year sentence in landfills, where they’d otherwise leach toxins into the earth and transforms waste into art.