I need help. My girls love to create- pictures, paintings, anything that involves gluing. Mostly drawings- they both love to color. So now we are overflowing with art. How do you figure out how much to keep, what to keep and most importantly how do you organize it? I’ve got to get a grip on this now! Thanks!
11 comments:
No idea :) We're just getting started... right now we just kinda hang on to one thing a month... but that is going to add up fast... so I don't know :)
My parents kept a box for each kid(a cardboard box that used to hold copy paper) and put our special art in it... if it got full then they would get rid of some things. They never kept more than the box full...
Not sure what to tell you about the pottery things that are coming... haha! my parent's house still has tons of them :)
With Micah, I had a 11x14 frame that had a mat in it (also giving the option of 8x10) that I would put her newest art work in. The bottom drawer of our filing cabinet has a folder in it for each year/grade and I place everything in the folder throughout the year and then widdle it down to my favorites at the end of the year. I used to have a limit of 10 when she was younger but now it's five.
Deidre Henecy, a graduate of MOPS,who is one of the most organized people I know, had a system. Art would hang in the "gallery" ( fridge, and a "clothesline" in their room on the wall.) After a week or month on display, she would lay a grouping on the couch or floor and take a picture of the "collection" then file the art in file 13. :) Keeping only 1 piece, per child, per month, for the box.
Personally, I throw LOTS away each day. Out with the old to make room for the new. :)
I got a 12x12 scrapbook plastic container. I have been putting stuff in there. You could label them by child/year and can stack nicely. They are about 5-6 inches thick.
I like Jennifer's idea. I have seen a clothesline type display for recent artwork, and then maybe at the end of the year pick your favorite to keep. In the one education class I took in college, the professor told us to have one piece of artwork per year from each child professionally framed, and then you will end up with a wall of "gallery" artwork that they will be special over the years. But with 4 kids that might get a little overwhelming!
I made a bullitin board for Benjamin and he gets to put his art on it... I hung it in the playroom. We will just rotate pictures as he makes them. The ones that are really special I keep and put into his "special box" my mom did a box like this for me and it is very special and I have fun looking at the things she saved. I don't save everything, but I save a lot of "firsts" or ones that are just special for different reasons.
In terms of display: We have bulletin board strips down the hallway and we hang up our artwork there, rotating in new for old. We also have things hanging on the *inside* of kitchen cabinets. We don't have a garage, but I've heard of people decorating the garage walls with kids' art.
In terms of storage... I'm trying to just keep "important" pieces that show some sort of new stage or something. Or because I just really like it. :o) I also have started taking pictures of some art that I'm not going to keep, but I figure this way we could even print out the pictures and put them in a little album that the boys could flip through...
I also reuse art that I'm not keeping to write thank you notes on the back (either for something the boys got or to anyone else who needs a thank you note).
And while we're on the art theme, for Christmas two years ago, I had Isaiah paint on file folders (everyone needs file folders, right??) and we gave them as gifts to our family. This year I'm planning on having the boys decorate some blank notecards to give as gifts.
so far, we do fridge and his room display and then rotate things out...we keep a few and have a file box with each year/month that I put stuff in.
But recently, i saw the idea of taking good quality pictures of your favorite work( of course, still rotating and displaying some) and then making a yearly shutterfly book of it. If i can get organized I am totally going to do this.
I also have turned my hallway into an art gallery instead of picutres...simple black frames and I hang certain pieces of their art in it. Cort loves that!!
if glitter is involved, you toss it immediately. when they are not looking of course. that stuff breeds... and gets everywhere. :)
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