We know you want to cultivate your little one’s inner Pollock or O’Keeffe, but if your house is like ours, the masterpieces are piling up. Here’s Yummy Mummy’s tips on how to curate and archive a budding collection.
1) Stuck for space? Stick all the best artwork on one wall and at the end of the month photograph the kids next to it and put the photo in a dedicated scrapbook. Smaller pieces of artwork can go in the scrapbook too which means some original work gets kept for posterity.
2) Already a collector of museum quality art? Place your kids’ art du jour in a clear acrylic box frame that hangs somewhere everyone can see it. Every month change out the artwork placing the old piece in a large flat storage box.
3) Keep their best work in an accordion file, labeled by year. With 3-D work that can’t be stored flat, take a photo of your child holding the piece and add it to the file.
4) Hang a string across your child’s room in a zig zag pattern from top to bottom, then use painted clothespins to hang the kids drawings. It’s a good way to display a lot of art and it decorates the room, too. Or try Ikea’s Dignitet curtain ‘rod’ cable system with its hanging clips that makes adding and swapping art a snap.
5) Buy archival storage boxes, one for each child and store their best work. At the end of the year pick one piece and have it framed or use the image the artwork for the family holiday season greeting card.
6) Table talk. To save artwork as well as your wallspace, laminate your favourite pieces and use them as place mats. Your kids will love choosing a new mat for each meal and you’ll love not having to throw away their treasures.
Yummy Mummy ultimate art keepsake: What could be cuter than your child’s drawing turned into a soft toy? Textile designer Lucy Moose does exactly that with your kids drawings. Send her your kids creative scribbles and you’ll receive a charming stuffed toy as closely matched to the original as possible.
We also love the GoVinci Backpack, an all-in-one backpack, drawing table, and art frame that lets kids place a piece of their own artwork on display for everyone to see. Not only does it give a child’s backpack some artistic flair, it also offers personalized identification, making it unlikely to be mistaken for another child’s pack. Available at a number of shops in HK, including Bumps to Babes, or directly through Bloom & Grow.