{"id":6795,"date":"2013-08-12T19:25:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T17:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/responsive.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents\/?p=6795"},"modified":"2022-06-22T09:47:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T07:47:05","slug":"kiddie-art-display-or-chuck-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/activities-and-outings\/crafts-for-festivals\/kiddie-art-display-or-chuck-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiddie art: display or chuck away?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I type this, I notice that three of the five nails on my right hand have badly chipped polish. Not because I\u2019m so busy I can\u2019t groom (although, now that I think about it\u2026), but because we\u2019re in the process of moving house.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been packing boxes for three days. Not<\/i> a fun activity for a kugel.<\/p>\n

My husband and I have been on an unrelenting auditing campaign, with my fighting to keep things and his insisting on binning them. You see, I\u2019m a hoarder \u2013 but mostly of sentimental items. They needn\u2019t be valuable\u2026<\/p>\n

A hideous vase given as a wedding gift by someone I was once fond of but no longer\u00a0see? Keep. A ratty old love letter from a Grade 9 admirer? Keep. The first picture my daughter ever \u2018drew\u2019, aged 18 months? Keep. Of course.<\/p>\n

But we haven\u2019t done the play-school art yet\u2026<\/p>\n

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Photo by Erika Fletcher on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If I\u2019m being honest, some of my daughter\u2019s less magnificent, less meaningful art will not survive the audit process. I won\u2019t even fight for all of it. I don\u2019t feel bad \u2013 mostly. I\u2019ll keep most of it \u2013 probably. And she won\u2019t notice \u2013 certainly.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re only 7 months into 16 years of school. And the art I will<\/i> be keeping (openly or secretly; it\u2019s hard to tell at this point) needs a BIG box. So how the hell are we going to store what\u2019s coming? And please don\u2019t suggest the fridge. I\u2019m totally over having a fridge that looks like it has Tourette\u2019s Syndrome.<\/p>\n

I asked around. Here\u2019s what some people do:<\/p>\n

1. They store selectively<\/strong>: keeping stuff that is truly awesome, that shows a developmental leap or that says \u2018I love you Mom\/Dad\u2019. Okay. I get that, since the preciousness of the art decreases as its volume grows. But how do you secretly trash art? At night? (If you don\u2019t, this might happen<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

2. They take photos of it<\/strong>, either consigning it to the depths of a hard drive or sharing it on Facebook, Instagram or Picasa. A friend of mine uses her photos to make amazing framed \u2018galleries\u2019 of her kids\u2019 art, with post-card sized images of each picture displayed like tiles on a white background.<\/p>\n

3. They scan it<\/strong>, using an A3 colour scanner and photo book software to create books of their kids\u2019 creations. I love this idea, but it reminds me of scrapbooking. I\u2019m not one of those crafty people who crochet stuff. Also, what happens to the photo books? Do you keep them on your coffee table and make guests admire them? In 16 years that\u2019s a lot<\/i> of books.<\/p>\n

4. They have empty picture frames on the wall<\/strong>, and rotate the art as it comes home from school, so that it\u2019s always displayed with importance. We already do this in our toddler\u2019s room, with three mounted clipboards. But they\u2019re stuffed to the gills. And what happens to stuff that\u2019s rotated out?<\/p>\n

5. They share the love<\/strong>, giving pictures, paintings and \u2018sculptures\u2019 to grannies, aunties and whoever else will take it. I\u2019ve tried this, but it only works up to a point. (Bizarrely, my mother irons the art before displaying it in pride of place on the Moet et Chandon board in her kitchen, in case it\u2019s \u2018wrinkly\u2019.)<\/p>\n

6. They recycle them<\/strong>, using paintings as gift wrap or to customise birthday cards. Again, this solution requires craftiness \u2013 the Pinterest kind, not the foxy kind. And I\u2019m short on craftiness. When that particular skill was being doled out at birth, I was probably in a corner being quietly massaged.<\/p>\n

7. They use cool apps<\/strong> like ArtKive<\/a> and Keepy<\/a>, both of which I\u2019m going to try.<\/p>\n

Turns out, there\u2019s a lot of options. And you\u2019ve probably got your own to share with me, right? In the interim, the hub has wrapped all of our audited kiddie art in cardboard and we\u2019ll use some mix of these and other ideas on the other side. Except, of course, the scrapbooking. My nails are in enough of a state.<\/p>\n

This article was originally written for Jozikids by Tiffany Markman in 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

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