17 different women, 36 crazy children, 0 babies in utero
Adventures, Advice and Questions from a group of Mormon women who met in Queens, NY and have now scattered all over the place.
 

Monday, November 13, 2006

art, Art, ART!


I recently read a little gem of an editorial in Time Out New York KIDS. I SO wish it had been me to write it. I will quote my fave parts below:

OUT THERE
Out take
By Christopher Healy:

"Dear teacher: Destroy my child's artwork. This is an open letter to all New York City preschool and kindergarten teachers. On behalf of crayon-weary parents in all five boroughs, I impore you: Stop sending our children's art home. Not all of it, of course--when my four-year-old daughter, Bryn, draws a portrait of our family as giant-eared, skinny-legged Muppet people, that sketch is earmakred for posterity. But do I really need to receive every scrap of paper on which she's placed a haphazard marker scribble or a random splotch of paint?"

He goes on to describe some hilarious examples of his daughter's "art"work including a giraffe riding a unicorn and a piece of yellow cardboard with EEDEAEO written on it with yellow crayon.

"You are our only hope. Please do some editing back in the classroom--perhaps while the unsuspecting artists are napping--and spare us the guilt and turmoil that comes with having to dispose of our own child's artwork. If you don't, we'll be sure to send you a nice homemade greeting card for every holiday on the school calender. And we won't be stingy with the glitter..."

THANK YOU Christopher for this hilarious letter and telling the world how I feel. I am anxious to read your book.

Seriously though, what do you do with the art? I have shared one solution that was recently taken away from us because of a nice new paint job in the stairwell of my apartment building, but I have some new ideas to share.

Kid's art poster. I LOVE this idea, especially if your child is really into art, and identifies with being an artist. I especially like the posters that have multiple works of art on them.

Flipbook. Everytime a piece of my child's art really spoke to me, I took a photo of it with my digital camera. Then at the end of the year, I collected them all into an online photo sharing site...my favorite is snapfish, but there are a lot out there, and then made a flipbook. Now she has a little book that she can flip through and see all of her creations in a clean, organized 4 x 6 size.

This also makes a great gift for grandparents, and is a nice little book you can throw in the Keepsake Box for when she gets older.

You could also save all the smaller art projects up throughout the year, and use them to make customized Christmas cards, by cutting them up. This might be hard to explain to some children, but others might really get a kick out of it.

I am sure there are many other fabulous ideas, but these are the favorite of a mom with a refrigerator that is not magnetic (stainless steel), walls that were recently painted, and no room for storage of ALL those art projects.



5 Comments:

  • My parents would, from time to time, make a calendar for our grandparents out of artwork we had done (and sometimes including pictures of us). Our grandparents loved it. Also, my parents kept portfolios of some of our gems of artwork (and stories) from when we were little. Now that we are grown up, we all have our old artwork and I love it.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 11/13/2006 01:37:00 PM  



  • Love all the ideas and I love the letter. So funny. I trash a lot of it when Princess isn't looking, I take pictures of the big ones that are worth saving an image of and I do like keeping a few actual pieces of artwork (the real gems) in a "treasure box".

    Sometimes we fold up the art, stick it in an envelope and mail it to a grandma and/or grandpa. Then they have to throw it away!
    posted by Blogger This is Carrie at 11/13/2006 02:38:00 PM  



  • I must have a heart of stone! I have no issue with tossing artwork- of COURSE I keep the really cool stuff, but every scrap? Nah. And they never notice.

    But then, I toss a lot of my own artwork, too, so maybe that's my problem.
    posted by Blogger tracy m at 11/13/2006 03:57:00 PM  



  • Tracy M,

    I have no problem throwing stuff away either, but I do have to be careful to do it when Princess is not looking. So that is why I relate to the guy wanting to have the teachers do a little edit before they send stuff home. The art just ends up littering my car or my counters until I am alone and can throw it in the outside trash because there is nothing worse than having your 4 year old look up at you with that hurt look in her eye and say "Mom, why did you throw my beautiful picture away? It's not trash."
    posted by Blogger This is Carrie at 11/13/2006 07:51:00 PM  



  • Carrie- you are so totally right. I never toss stuff whent he kids can see.
    posted by Blogger tracy m at 11/13/2006 10:38:00 PM  



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