Dynamic Frames: review of Lil' Davinci Art Gallery

I’ve been on a quest to find an easy attractive way to display my kid’s artwork.  I’ve used a clothes line and clothes pins, which was cute in their toy room, but it didn’t give the clean look I wanted.  I tried putting up traditional frames and changing their artwork in them as they came home from school, but messing with traditional frames and glass was so cumbersome that I never ended up changing the artwork.  Last year I took a tour of Hershey Medical Center with the coordinator of artistic improvement.  Part of her job is to enhance the environment in the hospital.  She does this by painting murals and hanging artwork.  In some of the patient rooms they had built frames that they could easily switch out the artwork.  They even had a collection of art prints and patients were able to look through the collection on an ipad and choose the picture that would hang at the foot of their bed.  They got to choose what they looked at during their hospital stay!  She painted ceiling tiles with whimsical outdoor themes in the children’s hospital to give bed ridden young patients something to look at.  In one hallway she showed me some frames from Dynamic Frames that were hinged on one side.  They swing open allowing you to press in a new piece of art and store old pieces.  It was so easy and the spring loaded mechanism kept the image pressed neatly to the mat and glass.  It was neat, clean and easy. Plus it can hold up to 50 pieces of art!  It was the solution I had been looking for in my home!  I asked for a set of these last Christmas and love them!  They were easy to hang and can be hung horizontally or vertically.  Adding new artwork literally takes seconds and doesn't require any tools.   I wish I had these in the school office when I was an art teacher.  It would be an ideal way to change out seasonal art throughout the year at a school or office!

Note: Do be careful when the frame on a vertically hung art cabinet is open all the way the weight of it can tip the whole thing off it's hanger.

The Paper Bag Art Gallery

Ideas for displaying, preserving and honoring your child's artwork

A dilemma most parents of preschoolers and young grade school students face is: what to do with the influx of artwork done at school?  There are also worksheets that mark their progress, sentimental samplings of early handwriting, and the responses to questions like what they want to be when they grow up and how to make their favorite meal.  Well these papers, too precious to part with, sat broken and sad in a torn paper grocery bag at our house.  Keeping every paper felt like a heavy burden and this storage disaster was no solution.  So I’ve come up with a few creative remedies for this problem. 

1.       You know the sheets of paper that come home where the teacher asks each student a question and then records each child’s answer?  I started a word document where I record all the questions and dictated responses.  They are fun to read through and don’t take up additional physical space in my house!

2.       Establish a folder on your computer where you can keep digital copies of artwork and projects.  Scan flat pieces that are small enough to fit on your scanner or take a digital picture of larger works.  Take a picture of your child with items that they made to wear or use (like masks, headpieces, hats, puppets etc)  Most of these projects are cuter on your child than on their own.



Clothes Line Art Gallery



3.       Hang a clothes line and clip seasonal works of art that you can change up as new works arrive.  Scan or photograph items as they are hung for your digital collection.

4.       Paint unfinished wood picture frames and hang them in your family room or toy room.  You can change these masterpieces out periodically without too much fuss.

5.       Design and print blank greeting cards on card stock (2 cards per 8.5 x 11 sheet).  Be sure to include your child’s name and the date/age they created the pictured work of art on the back of the card.   Pair them with invitation sized envelopes and give them as gifts for Grandparents that enjoy writing letters or as a teacher gift at the end of the school year.



Use children's original artwork on blank greeting cards



Please be sure to back up any digital files in the event that your hard drive crashes.  Keep a few treasured pieces of artwork that were created with their little hands and let the rest go!  I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for how to honor your child’s creative little hearts without cluttering your home with piles of paper to precious to simply throw in the trash or recycle bin.

How do you honor the artwork that comes from your little creative hearts?