“That’s how you know if it’s art – if it’s good enough to hang on a wall.”
– Louise in Max and Ruby, “Max’s Work of Art”
I think Louise is on to something here. Don’t we all love to have our best work and most colorful accomplishments put on display for others to enjoy and appreciate?
I am not much of a decorator or designer. It seems that all of the good design sense in my family went to my sister (the artist). But one thing I do have in abundance is the the art work created by each of my children.
What began as a quick solution to distract the eye away from the ugly wood paneling featured in our 1930s-era house quickly became a permanent fixture in our home: the art wall.
Sometimes my husband or I will choose some of the week’s best creations to hang on the wall, but more often than not, each of the girls will choose a piece they are particularly proud of and with beaming smiles and much pride affix it to one of (now several) walls of art in our home:
As you can see, our art wall speaks of simplicity: rather than mattes and frames, we’ve gone with scotch tape. This way the collections can be ever-changing and ever-rotating with very little fuss. Some of our very favorite pieces have been put away to be framed – someday – but for now we are enjoying the minimalist approach.
Does your home display the artwork of children? Do you hang art on the walls or on the refrigerator? Does it decorate the bedrooms, the main rooms, or the kitchen? I would love to hear about the art walls in your homes!
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We have a wall in the kitchen that the kids have been hanging their art on. They found the scotch tape and just thought that was the best thing ever. We try to corral them all in one place so they don’t get scattered throughout the house but I find surprises from time to time. I love these little surprises though.
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Awwww! I bet that is neat to find little pieces of SURPRISE art hanging on a wall. Too fun.
I have a wall where I’ve been displaying the art work from the Sunday School lesson of the week. It’s really handy when I want to see if my oldest can remember the story and he is very proud to show everyone his hard work.
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I love that you’re quoting Max & Ruby! You are a parent of preschoolers for sure! =)
Love the art wall (& the wooden paneling, too!)
Jamie
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:09 am
@LaToya – many times, Sunday School art work makes it on the wall. Such a great idea to keep it displayed so you can revisit the story/lesson throughout the week.
@steadymom – Oh, I am SO not a fan of the paneling! We are renting or I would definitely have done something with it at this point. It’s just so DARK! That’s why we like to have the colorful artwork – it really brightens things up for us.
I hang it up on a string stretched out along the wall (think clothesline style) and use miniature clothes pins to attach each paper along the string. This way we don’t have to scrape tape off the wall and it’s super easy to switch them out. Love that creative art work.
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Our system is similar to Sarah’s–we have a wire (originally intended to hold a curtain from IKEA) hung high in our kitchen with clips to hold the art. I love that it keeps things rotating & limits what we have out at any one time. It’s strong enough to hold even gluey projects & it also saves on scotch tape!
Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:10 am
@Jennifer and Sarah – I LOVE this idea! Definitely something I will be looking into for our home!
I like how you make “art wall” sound so fancy. My son has had an artistic burst lately and knows full well how to work the scotch tape, hence the abundance of art walls in our house! http://familyblog.datdec.com/?p=1359 I’ve been thinking about how much to take down or leave up when it comes time to get out the holiday decorations.
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Oh, it is all very fancy, believe me! (snicker)
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This is a great idea, I love it! I can’t wait till we can start our art wall at our house!
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:14 am
You’ll have an artist on your hands in no time, mama!
Megan,
We display my 4 year old artwork in large cork board in the room and some “cool” art pieces are on fridge, door and wall and tables everywhere. Some we keep to send to grandparents etc. It is such a nice to display creative side of kids…it brings out kid in me as well
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Oh, you make such a great point. I am terribly embarrassed of my own “artistic skills,” so I rarely do any of the artwork. Hmmmmm. Maybe I need to pick up a crayon every now and again, too! Great insight.
You know what I love about your website – its not just all the interesting inspiring stuff you post, its the community you bring together. I love exploring all the blogs I find in your comments section! Yes – you guys are my ultimate time waster.
As for displaying artwork: we have scotch tape on the walls, magnets on the doors (I had no idea doors in Canada were magnetic! What a great discovery!), pegs on string, things on shelves, works in progress on the easel! Oh – and with two boys, its mostly “action” drawings, not pretty people and flowers! So there’s lots of energy on our walls!!
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Oh, thank you for the kind words, Bonnie! I hope that every person in this community knows SK is DEFINITELY not about me or any of my great ideas! I just have the wonderful honor of bringing together a community of like-minded parents.
Thanks for this – it made my day. ?
Thanks for all of these ideas. I had just posted on my blog about the healing power of children’s artwork and I’ve been looking for new ways to display my own 16-month old son’s beautiful drawings:) I posted a link to this post–always full of great ideas from you, Megan and all the wonderful mamas who follow this site!
Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Kelly – so beautiful and touching. Thank you for sharing that.
I’m all about kid-made art (and lots of words!) all over the walls. Love this post, Meg!
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We’ve got an art wall too, in our kitchen, right about our kid-sized table. My 2 year old son loves to look at all of his creations, and frequently points to the wall and says “I MADE that!” He is so proud to have his art displayed on our “art wall!”
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Thanks, Marla!
Cara – both of my girls (especially now my 2 year old) get such a thrill out of seeing what they made hanging up on the wall. I love it!
We have a metal front door which I didn’t realize until a year ago so we use locker magnets on that to hang up my daughter’s art. There are two frames in the family room with art that we rotate in and out when she makes another masterpiece.
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I love Max and Ruby! My son still loves the refrigerator for most of his projects. He loves magnets. I do like the clothesline idea though. Maybe I’ll try that one.
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Megan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Stacey and Amy – magnets on metal! Of course! Another great display option. Our fridge gets really crowded really quickly . . . we mostly post reminders and notes on the fridge, but the girls do have some art work at their level. They like to move it all over to different spots every now and again.
I love the look of kids’ art on the walls – I think it is so homey! I’m always looking for ways to honor my daughter’s artwork which is quickly overtaking our tiny home….
Kelly – Wellspring Community School´s last blog ..What’s for Lunch Wednesday – Play With Your Food!
We’ve gone with tacks around here.
But I saw a great set-up at a friend’s house that I want to copy! She used curtain wire from IKEA and mounted two or three parallel to each other at different heights. Then she used the clips (for the curtains) to hold the artwork. Prominent, simple, and easy to update!