Priceless Art: What to Do With Your Child’s "Masterpiece Du Jour"
Going through the heaping pile, my husband pulled out a piece of paper, and asked why on earth I was saving it? By the neatness of coloring in the lines, and the earth-tone color scheme (my favorite colors) he said, “The kids didn’t color this, you did!” Sure, my son was “eating” the crayons that day, and I colored for him, “But look,” I said, “he drew that squiggly line.” So in my mind, that squiggly little line meant it was a keeper. Along with a zillion other things I just don’t have the heart to part with. Ok, Ok-- maybe he didn’t color on the page at all, but I just have a tough time throwing anything away. I’ll admit it, I’m a hoarder. I save everything. From my children’s first boo-boo band-aids to old amusement ride tickets; I just have a tough time throwing away certain “special” paper. But it can’t ALL be special, is what my husband argues. He’s right. I can’t save everything. Even if I do bring myself to throw something away my child “created”, I land out fishing it out from the trash, and stashing it away. And I’m quickly running out of storage space. I don’t even have a proper place for all the stuff. Instead, I just jam it—in boxes, drawers, closet shelves. Another confession: I'm a jammer. Now, as the kids grow older and their creative juices are really flowing, I'm beginning to run out of room to house their masterpieces. And my husband (who’s very organized) is going to run out of patience when the drawers runneth over with all the art. Half of which I created, when the kids were infant and only drooled on the coloring books. (Not quite the artistic achievement I had in mind., but creative juices nonetheless.) This brings me to another problem. My son is now approaching elementary school age, and I know the arts and crafts will be plentiful. It dawned on me that while our refrigerator is big, there is no way I’ll be able to display and keep it all. I need to come up with a plan. A creative way to get a handle on the (soon-to-be) steady flow of cards, drawings, sculptures, jewelry, paintings, and what-on-earth-is that’s? Here’s another admission. I’m not crafty. Some mothers go to a store, see something great, and say: “Hey, I can make that!” I, on the other hand, pick up an item and say: “Do you accept VISA?” I’m somehow missing that crafty-mommy gene, so I know I must borrow ideas and do some homework. In my hunt to find some solid advice about what to do with all that artwork, I found some priceless advice. Author Carmella Van Vleet offers some excellent suggestions in her book: “Yikes! It’s due tomorrow?” How to Handle School Snafus (Nomad Press, 2004). She advises the best way to stay ahead of an art avalanche is to face it head on. As soon as the art comes home, try to determine its sentimental value. Not that easy, if you’re a sentimental-stasher like myself, but I am determined to follow her advice on how to do it: “The easiest way to determine what to do with the art is to ask questions” she says. “Often, just saying, "Tell me more about this picture,” or asking, “What inspired this sculpture?” will get a child talking. Listen to the story of how the piece came to be or how much time went into it. If your child lights up or talks a good deal about it, it’s probably something you should save. If your child shrugs and doesn’t have much to say, you’re probably safe tossing it out in a day or two.” Did she suggest I actually toss something out? Yes she did—and I promised myself, I’ll do my best to part with the art—pinky-swear. But the good news is, I don’t have to go fishing through the trash to retrieve my child’s creations. Here's why: “How to Handle School Snafus” is a humorous and practical guide to addressing all kinds of elementary school issues. In it, Carmella Van Vleet (www.carmellavanvleet.com ) serves up these crafty artwork solutions: For recycling the artwork:
For places to display work (besides the fridge!):
These are all great ideas, but my favorite is her idea to create a “mini-museum”. I think that’s brilliant! She suggests, along with your child, to designate how long you want to keep the art displayed, explaining that even large museums have to rotate their exhibits! Her idea actually sparked one of my own: to hold an “art auction”, and give the priceless pieces to the highest bidder. Oh wait---that would be me and back in a big brown box it would go. You see, not a crafty bone in my body. I better stick to the book! Janene Mascarella
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When we moved into our new home, my husband and I came across a big brown box labeled: ARTWORK. We tore open the box and merrily took a trip down memory lane. It was filled to the brim with torn, crinkled pages of coloring books and scrap paper from our son and daughter-- the blossoming artists. 