I try not to save ALL my son's art projects. I frame some, and have a shelf in the closet for all the normal paintings and pictures from school. But the ones I don't know what to do with are the ones that don't fit on the fridge. Large, 3-D projects my son makes at home. This might be a chain of fabric, paper, and yarn sewn together 10 feet long. Pistachio shells with pictures colored on them. Snakes made out of glitter and hot glue. Or today's project- a four foot tall board with metal scraps, a log, and a face carved in it.
Do your kids make huge or odd art projects? What do you do with them? How many art projects do you save?
*I have sent some of the smaller projects to my parents. My mom knows how to ooh and ah over them- but her house is still full of a lot of my projects from when I was a kid!
Mary L.- We have taken him to a few art museums, but we try to go on days when they have activities for kids so he doesn't get bored. On our trip to D.C. we skipped the art museum, but did see the small art exhibit that was part of the Air & Space museum. The best experience we had was a couple of years ago when we went on a local tour of artists studios.
My favorite trick is to take photos from various angles, so the full 3D effect can be savored, then box up the original along with a note about its priceless origin, and ship it off to the grandparents. The photos remain, so my budding artist can savor his work later, while knowing that it's being cherished and exhibited widely in far-away lands by devoted fans.
I take photos of them all thoughout the year and when I load them on the computer I save them with the date as it's name. Then every year I make a snapfish photo book with all the creations of that year. Kids love looking through them and I have a lot less clutter. Of course some of the really special ones we save.
I have an art cabinet where all the color books and art work go, then once a year my son and I pull them all out together and HE picks his favorites, we make 3 piles: favorite, kind of favorite and ones he doesn't like so much. Then we get rid of pile three and narrow down the other two piles, but I let him do most of the choosing, then we take photos of them and make a photo book out of it, I sign up with kodak, snapfish, shutterfly, picaboo, and sites like that to get special deals and take advantage when a great one comes along. Snapfish just had a buy one get two free deal and then extended it, you might still be able to do that one!
the metal art or some other art could hang on the back yard fence. if you had a six foot privacy fence.
rubbermaid under-the-bed storage tub.
When it's full, my son & I go thru it & decide what to keep/what to eliminate. It's amazing how waiting a few years....gives you the peace & frame of mind to actually let go!
Our garage was our art gallery. Plenty of wall space and we drove into it everyday so got to admire all the great artwork. We made sure to show it off to others as well so our kids never felt like it was hidden away.
I used to hang things up in the hallway, where there was enough wall space.
However, our "museum" had to have revolving exhibits.
You could decide with your son how long the work of art stays on the wall (a week? Two? Until the next one?). Then take some really good pictures of it before it is removed. Even real museums and galleries have to remove exhibits.
And your resident genius might be able to recycle some of the materials from, say, last month's project to use in one of September's creations. I hope he has a place in the basement or garage to store this basic material.
Keep the photographs of past projects in a scrapbook for you all to look at together, and perhaps he'll get ideas in the future from what he's done in the past.
Wow! A creative son! I'm so glad you're encouraging this. Maybe you want to take him on a short jaunt to an art museum some time, so he can see what other artists make and hang up on their walls.
my boys were involved with Abrakadoodle - LOVED the art program...
The ones that I LOVED?! they are on my wall like art work - cuz that's what they are!!!
The one's I'm not so impressed with? I have them in a box and have gone through them periodically to see if my mind has changed...if they haven't - and I show the boys and they shrug their shoulders - then its out they go!!!
I don't know how to answer your question but you sound like an unbelievable mother!
I am an older mother and I saved a bunch under beds, etc., and then every few years I weeded them out while he was not home and kept the very best.
A FEW I have put into his scrapbooks, incorporated next to his photos when he was that age. Handprints, his writings, etc.
Again, you sound like an unbelievable mother.
Be sure to put his age on the back because we think we will remember and then we do not!! ;-)
Blessings to you!
In addition to all the other great ideas, challenge your son to recycle the use of some of the materials if he can to make other projects - that way he can be "green" and also maybe cut down on some of the volume. Take photos of each one and that way you'll always have the memory of it.
photos, not organized enough for photobook, but i love love love s's idea to ship off to grandparents. oh and some of mine just dissappear after a while.
Hubby and i have a shelf in our room in our bookcase that we have the really special ones.
I take pics of the rest, keep them for a week or so, then bye bye. all the pics are in a scrapbook.
good luck!
I've pondered the same thing. I have decided to start taking pictures of them and filing them away in a folder on my computer (labeling with the age of the child). Someday, I'll have a bound book made of them for my children to keep forever.
My kids each have a rubber storage container. I tell them that when it is full they have to go through it. So far that has helped. Also, once they get past kindergarten the projects become less and less. I have a 12 year old and a 6 year old.
Take pics of his artwork-make an album of the pics.
If they are wonderful, frame them beautifully. I have kid art hanging in my dining room with other real art. A good mat and frame works wonders for making anything look professional.
Once they are out of elementary school you will be looking for things to save!
I do find going back and reviewing things after a year or so helps. Things that seemed astounding at first are so-so in retrospect. A little time makes it easier to toss stuff...
