One question that I get asked a lot from parents in the studio is how to display their children's artwork. I thought it would be nice to share some ideas of how to show off art your children made. I have two children of my own thus have pondered the same question myself. They both have been creating artworks since they were about 18 months old. My daughter is now 12 and my son is 9, so I have years of beautiful works both on paper and sculptural ones. Many of the works on our studio wall were made by my children over the years.
Our salon wall is made up of frames I find in a thrift store. I remove the glass and hang both the frame and the artwork directly onto the wall. Here is a post on how to easily hang them. This wall is great because it grows and changes as new artworks get made. I also like how some of the artworks spill out beyond the frame.
I am lucky enough to have an entire studio space dedicated to displaying my children's artwork but we still have plenty works in our own home.
Shelves are a great place for small artworks. Through out our home we have our children's artworks dispersed amongst our art collection. Books and small sculptures is one of my favorite combinations.
My daughter loves cats and has made them the subject of many artworks. They sit nicely near a milk carton boat made by my son.
This is a drawing made by my daughter when she was 4 years old. We got an affordable frame from the art store. A good place for frames is Blick Art, Michaels or IKEA. They come in standard sizes of 8 X10 , 11 X14, 16 X 20 and sometimes 9 X 12. This one is hung in our small foyer next to our coat and hat rack.
I do so like the salon wall. On this wall in our dinning room we have hung our children's artworks among our Raymond Pettibon, Philip Pearlstein and Lecia Dole-Recio. The "G" print was made by our son at age 6. He also made the papier-mâché raccoon head at the top, left. I like adding some sculptural pieces to a salon style wall.
These two little ceramic animals, an owl and a squirrel, were made by my daughter when she was 7. I have them proudly displayed in our hall on a book shelf. The sit atop furniture legs that I found at a thrift store. I think you can also get these at home depot. You would just need to paint them first.
I also have plastic bins in our storage area filled with artworks. I love to see how their creativity has grown and shifted over the years, so every once in a while I spent some time going through the plastic bin gushing over artworks they have made over the years. It also allows for a rotation of the favorites that we have out. Clipboards are a great way to display those favorite drawings. Sadly one can't really have them professionally framed because the marker is not archival, thus over time the drawing will fade.
Shelves are another great way to enjoy those drawings, again these are cheap frames that sit upon a frame shelf. I also like the shelf because we can display those small artworks they have made, cork puppets, hoop paintings, and string art. On the table sits the ceramic coil pot my son made with some dried eucalyptus leaves in it.
In the studio we use a wire a lot to hang artworks to dry but also for display. One could also use this in their house to display all kinds of flat artworks from prints to drawings to paintings. This wire was originally meant to hang a curtain but I found this purpose more useful for us.
Some of our families that have been coming studio the studio for years sent me how they live with the art their children make as well.
This family, the Green family have been taking ceramic classes at Purple Twig for a few years. Here are some of the ways they enjoy those handmade ceramics.
A hand-built coil pot amongst the cookbooks in the kitchen
Some whimsical terra-cotta slab pieces from masks to mixed media works. Look at that one on the bottom left with some bright pink twine woven in.
A ceramic snail sits on some vintage cook books. Again what a great combination.
In the Wolan house they have framed all the colorful paintings their girls made and hung
them salon style.
The Porter family joined us for our parent/child toddler class a few years back. They have displayed this leaf print by framing it and hanging it alone.
In their entryway, greeting you as you come in are these two wooden sculptures, sitting below some treasures from Mexico.
And here are the ceramic knee bowls made in our toddler class holding some jewelry.
I so hope you have found some of these ideas helpful. I would also love to hear if you have any other ideas of hanging artworks your children have made.
I so hope you have found some of these ideas helpful. I would also love to hear if you have any other ideas of hanging artworks your children have made.
