Without breaking their heart...

How do you get rid of all the art?!

DS LOVES doing art. He watches youtube videos of some british guy called Art Attack or Mr Maker and he's always drawing, coloring, cutting, etc.

Don't get me wrong... I love how creative he is and encourage it, but we have PILES and PILES of his stuff.

I take the old stuff on the bottom and toss it once in a while when he's not looking. I only keep the special projects and a few others. I also let him put a lot in his desk in his room.
I am too organized and neat to have his stuff all over. LOL!
I told him he can show his art in the basement and do a wall like at a museum.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

i use the playroom as an art gallery too. Another idea is to take pictures of the art and make a photo album with them. Then you can toss it and they still have their "art" in a nice neat little book.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

Years ago I saw on Oprah (I think) a segment on this topic. They showed taking digital pictures of all the art and then putting a photo book together. I thought it was so awesome. You are preserving the memories but also getting rid of things. They also said to keep the more important, sentimental pieces.

Maybe you can do something like this and group it by age or school year?

Re: Without breaking their heart...

I like the idea of taking the pics, but more for the school art pics. You don't understand... he cuts of papers, uses tons of glue and makes his own masterpieces. With paper he'll make a 3D racetrack or makes small, tiny things. It's not like nice pics to hang or take pics of. He makes calendars, but I have about 50. He gets his mind on something like a book we read, weather or seasons and makes tons of charts, books (which are a big mess using glue and tons of my tape). Not something I can just click and allowed to toss it. LOL

Re: Without breaking their heart...

Wow, your son sounds awesome! That's so cool he can do all of that. Can you "share" them with grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc?

Re: Without breaking their heart...

Re: Without breaking their heart...

I think you are already on the right track.

Display them in his bedroom, have a special place in the house that can rotate his work.

I think it is fine that you throw stuff out when he asleep. I do it all the time with my DD's work. The older stuff, I throw out every once in awhile.

I also send a bunch to family members and let them deal with it

Then there are portfolios you can buy that you can store stuff in. I would be honest with your son at that point. Say what do you want to keep in this and what do you want to recycle? Teach him about recycling so that if he recycles his old art, he will still have paper to do new projects with.

I also like the idea of taking pictures of things. Just because they are 3D or books, doesn't mean you can't take pictures of it for him to remember or look back at them for inspiration.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

I make shutterfly books for him.

I take pictures of all his projects, then I write down any fun or cute sayings he noted about that particular piece and put together a really nice book for him.

He loves seeing his art in a book and flipping through the pages. I include pictures of him while he's in the zone and just a few little fun facts about him at that age. It really is a cute way to keep it all.

I toss everything once I take the picture.

I just saw your other posts - my DS does the same thing. He will be watching something and out of nowhere he needs to draw what he is watching. So its sheets of papers, markers, scissors and scraps everywhere. I bought a clear container for him to store his drawings/creations in. I still take pictures of the good ones and include them in the book. Once the container is filled, I tell him he needs to go through and make room for some new creations. So he will sort them and get rid of the older ones that he feels are 'not really good'

A lot of them are hanging in my cubicle at work. I take a picture on my phone when he gives me one so he can see that I hung them up. He loves that.

Message edited 5/14/2015 10:01:36 AM.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

Scan them, save them to a flashdrive.

Scan them, save them to the computer in a "slideshow".

Scan them, save them to the computer and upload to a website (like a Shutterfly) and make albums.

Put them in albums.

Laminate them and 3-hole punch and put them in keepsake binders.

I *DO* toss anything that sheds, chips paint, comes apart, makes a mess, etc. But those are few and far between.

Every 8-12 months take a few special pieces and frame them and display them. Maybe three tops. And then switch them out as he progresses and as his artistic "taste" changes


VOILA!!!

Message edited 5/14/2015 9:57:38 AM.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

I throw a lot of it out. I used to save everything, but now only the special things. I have scanned in a special artwork and put it on a t-shirt before with heat transfers, made Shrinky Dink items (printable Shrinky Dinks are at Michael's)

Re: Without breaking their heart...

My DS is like that. He sits in his room and will draw all day and give it to me. He rips out pages of coloring books and staples them together, makes 3-D art things like Angels, cuts out hearts and little shapes. He even tapes his toys to them and gives it to me. It would be too much if I saved school plus everything he does for me at home.

I save the cool looking ones from school and toss the rest at night when he is asleep. It would be way to much. I'm talking about minimum 5 drawings a day. He loves to color and draw.

Message edited 5/14/2015 10:33:08 AM.

Re: Without breaking their heart...

I save the special ones and throw the rest out... I just can't keep everything. It seems he comes home with artwork every week.

ETA I think as a PP said maybe its a good idea to scan them and save them so its not totally lost if you don't want to throw it out

Message edited 5/14/2015 11:32:59 AM.