Friday, October 2, 2009

displaying kids' art: part 1

My girls are art prolific.
I am a saver.
We're drowning.

One wall upstairs in the wide hall that will (soon!) be their very cool creative space is devoted to displaying their art. I have clips and a long ledge, but I'd like a couple of these:
Clear and excellent instructions here at Bloesem Kids.

And maybe one downstairs. A very clever idea--the sort that seems obvious in its clear brilliance.

How do you manage the mass of art projects? Save? Archive? Record? Display?

10 comments:

Snippety Gibbet said...

I'm wondering about how they would react to one of those digital picture frames. The ones with the rotating slideshow? Photograph as many pieces as you like and keep them on digital display, but only keep those few that are really the best.

Now........if only I could apply that to my own work.....
jan

Paul said...

Send some of them to their uncle.

vfg said...

See, both of those are really great. I've been meaning to digitally photograph for years (and the boxes are in the garage...at least I have a garage now! They used to be in the hall...). Jan--at least you have photo-ed much of your good work: I see it on your blog!

And mailing off originals to relatives whom I want to send mail to (but my kids are always unenthusiastic about commanded art).

Maybe I will...

sallyavena said...

I saw one that I would like to try. They photographed (maybe scanned in) the art and made a poster with little (2 inch) thumb nails of all of the art. One big poster with tons of art on it, plus I think it would make a neat looking piece of framed wall art.

christine ~ ourdayourjourney said...

we put all the art up on one smaller wall in our house and when the wall gets full we take a digital pic of our little one in from of the wall. then I'll take digital pics of the ones that have a special meaning, like the first time she drew a heart or wrote her name. and then we send some off to relatives.

knittingwoman said...

My boys are older and grown now and my daughter is 12 and rarely makes art she lets me display anymore. I used to display a lot. My boys were little before the age of digital cameras and personally, I don't want to photograph and record their art, I wanted to see it and enjoy it when it was fresh and beautiful and they were proud of it:) In the long run, I recycled most of it, keeping just a few precious pieces that especially stood out. I have a few in a file in my filing cabinet.

Kathi D said...

Thank you, thank you for that link! I don't have kids' artwork to display, but I have tons of recipes and sewing ideas printed from the internet that I "file" away and never find again. I made a recipe file box with plastic to protect the recipe in use. And I decorated mine with little hedgehog stamps . . . from guess who?

Kathi D said...

Also, as an auntie and great-auntie and pretend grandma to a few little ones, there is nothing I love more than receiving artworks in the mail! I save every one--and now I have to go make another art box.

Kathi D said...

One more thing and then I'll shut up! One way to display the kids' art and make it look like an installation would be to nail up big binder clips on the wall in a pleasing arrangement, and then clip on the ever-changing display. Also, I have used an Avery brand "job ticket holder" from the office supply store to hold instructions for power tools in the garage, etc. They are sturdy plastic, hold several pages, and have holes punched on top to hang on a nail. I used one inside my new art box to hold the art in front and protect the page, but they could also be used by themselves for quick displays. (the end!)

mo said...

For a time I got three ring notebooks and tried to store them in there but my kids are so prolific I couldn't keep on top of it. I think it is important to edit regularly so you can be sure to keep the really great stuff.