Art Effect

Living in the city, my friends and I are always discussing how we store the abundance of art projects that our kids bring home from camp/school each week. I love to display each new piece so my children can feel our pride in their hard work. But after a few weeks, they are replaced by the constant stream of collage, watercolor and finger paints.

I also love throwing things away. I am the first person to toss an important document, ‘by accident,’ or more likely ‘on purpose,’ and I take great pride in cleaning out the pantry shelves and reorganizing the fridge. However, with my children, the overwhelming sense of nostalgia and sentimentality that I feel when I look at their belongings prohibits me from throwing away anything. Instead, I have focused my energy on strict and tireless management of their keepsakes, including all this art.

I know there are a lot of apps that take pictures of each child’s art and turn them in to a beautiful coffee table book, and I am sure that I will jump on that bandwagon soon. But, right now, there is something about touching their art and preserving each painstaking glue dot that keeps me holding on to the originals. Maybe it is the fact that until this year, my mom showcased an alphabet of paper bag puppets that I had completed in first grade, in our basement playroom. I am not ready to let go of some of these pieces.

Instead, I use this portfolio which I have divided by each year of their artistic life, to store these works in a compact and easy to maneuver way. The folder is rather large, but also slim, so it sits neatly in our playroom closet. Each child’s picture is on the front so I know what goes where when organizing at my constantly frenetic pace.

I love that their art has a meticulously arranged place, yet also easily slips away after I have sifted through all the paint and glitter.