Gallery Wall

We have a local art museum that is near and dear to us.  It’s located right inside our house as a matter of fact.  

One wall of our TV/family room is covered with framed artwork created by all of our children.  

The kids have always loved drawing, painting, making collages, etc.  Our refrigerator used to be overrun and overstuffed with artwork. I would try to rotate it so that each person could see some of their own art.  But there were bits of colored, painted papers everywhere. And every time someone walked too close to the refrigerator some of it inevitably ended up on the floor.  And stepped on.  

I had friends that would put all their kids’ artwork in big boxes, one box for each child.  But you couldn’t really see it that way. I wanted to be able to easily see it without having it take up too much space in the house.  

And then there was a turning point.  As a first grader, Trevor had his drawing selected to be featured in the calendar for the local water company.  Because his drawing was selected, the company had it matted and framed for us. We hung it proudly on the wall for everyone to see.  I loved how it looked. More than that, I loved how proud Trevor was because his drawing was highlighted and hanging in a prominent place.  

And that started me thinking.  What if we made one wall the art wall?  A special space just for special pieces of art.  A gallery if you will. And our own personal art museum was born.  

I bought inexpensive black and white frames from Ikea, Target, and Fred Meyer.  I bought various sizes to give some variety to the look. I chose a few of my favorite pieces and they chose the rest.  Sometimes we just chose a corner or a part of a larger piece of art. And we hung them gallery style on the wall.  

As the kids bring home art, which admittedly isn’t very often these days as most are in college or high school, we decide if it’s a piece to frame (now replacing something else) or if it will be recycled.  Letting them choose what they want displayed has helped them continue to be proud and feelings don’t seem to get hurt over art that ends up in the recycle bin.  

It has cut down on the massive amounts of papers lying around our house while still giving  a homey, personalized feeling to our most used room. It is often a talking point point when people come to visit.  The kids smile and give some of the back stories to their art.  

It’s not really museum perfect.  And there are no price tags on the artwork in our house.  But it is perfect for us. Art unmastered.