I’m No Interior Designer…But I Am A Good Curator.
My Dad used to keep our “best” pieces of “art” growing up and either hang them on the fridge or would put them in these books/journals he kept. It always made me feel really accomplished when one of my creations was chosen. Like it had been selected for some exhibit somewhere. And it made me feel really confident in my skills as an “artist” so I kept doodling/drawing my entire life. I took art classes in high school and continued screwing around with various artistic endeavors even into adulthood.
Now, at some point along the way I realized my skills were limited. I would get ideas in my mind but they never turned out the way the looked in my head. In other words? The ideas were there, but not the talent. The creativity, but not the skill. Now, the drive still allowed me to make some cool things, and in school I had one or two things that actually did get put in student expos, but all-in-all? I was simply someone who liked to create but who wasn’t all that great at it.
BUT – the fact that I kept (and keep) going with it is something I owe to my Dad. And it’s something I swore I’d foster in my children as well.
I used to have a long empty wall in one of my apartments in college and I filled it floor to ceiling with LilZ’s artwork. Once we bought our house, my first mission was to actually frame some of it. And hang them in – what I call – the Art Hall. He currently has several pieces hanging there and they range from preschool to 5th Grade. 6th grade didn’t give us any art classes so nothing was created that year. This year, however, we had another art class and some of my favorite pieces have been done. Here are the two I matted yesterday.
I haven’t bought frames yet because I wait and do that when Hobby Lobby puts them on 50% off. But I’m looking forward to adding them to various empty walls around the house. I’m not going to put them in the Art Hall because I want to save room there for some of the other kid’s art someday. But, we have so much empty wall space, there will be plenty of choices. And I’ll hang them proudly knowing that my son is very talented. But that he also has his mother’s creative drive which means one thing: My walls will never be bare.
I was actually gonna say the same thing as Andrea. But also, that I think you are the coolest mom ever, and I wanna be more like you and less like me when it comes to parenting my kids.
love your blog!
magpie
LilZ’s Art rocks! I love it!!!! Theres something about children and young peoples art – it’s not “refined” – and thats what i love about it!
We have framed one piece of Fuller’s artwork and hung it up in the living room. It gets a ton of comments. Unfortunately Fuller isn’t that into the crafts and stuff. I hope that changes in the future.
Great art by LilZ. Really inspiring.
I really like that idea… mind if I borrow it for years down the road??
Lil Z has some talent!!
I sure would take some of those and show them off here in Tennessee. I love the things he does, and him..
Those are wonderful!!
What a great idea, I know you have mentioned doing this before. I love it. I can’t draw or be creative to save my life…..
he is so talented!!!
I just framed 3 pieces that Isaac did at school…little things…wish I had made them look more arty! maybe in the future!
Thanks for those of you pointing out LilZ’s name in that one photo. I don’t really mind so much as long as it’s not “Googleable” because I don’t hide my kid’s names that much, I just don’t want people being able to “Google” their (unique) names down the road and end up reading entries about potty training. Heh.
I took that photo down though, just so that no one types his name out in the comments thereby making it register with Google. So, THANKS!
LilZ is really quite talented, I’m very impressed.
Also? This kind of talent is EXACTLY WHY our children should have access to art (and music) classes throughout all of their education. Just sayin’.
I think having original art in the home makes it feel so much more…homier. Whether it’s from a professional “artist” or from your child. It’s such a wonderful feeling to look at something and remember when you acquired a piece. I try to get one piece of original art a year. This was our 2-year-old’s first art: a stunning piece of multimedia art, including a purple feather and glitter!
Those are amazing. I love that they seem to be all colour and fun. I remember dreading art in primary school (elementary school?) when we had to copy pictures from magazines in charcoal. I sucked at that. I rocked the butterfly paintings – where you fold a piece of paper over. Those I could do.
I didn’t see the photo you took down, but being a long-time reader of yours I once upon a time caught a glimpse of LilZ’s name. Now … whenever there’s a mention of his name I think *firstnameinitial* *firstletterofzoot*. Those are the real initials of my best friend from college and I teased her about them a lot. Was she? No way. She was a cute tease.
I have told a lot of other bloggers that I really don’t want to know their real names. Their pseudonyms are who they are.
And, seriously, it did burn my eyes out the first time I learned your real name.
Talented kiddo!!
Yay for art! And I really like LilZ’s stuff- especially that last one pictured. The colors and shapes are great!
I hope he keeps it up, just like his mom
I love your gallery. I have one in my dining room.
Very nice artwork, and a good eye from the curator. What a fun wall that is/will be!
I think the bottom two pieces are STUNNING especially considering the age of the artist. Truely. I would pay money for either of them.
That’s a really good idea! I am always wondering what to do with the art my oldest child brings home, and we do have lots of blank walls in our house. I may have to start an Art Hall myself.
What a wonderful legacy! He’s very talented.
That is a fabulous idea! LilZ’s work is just fabulous and matting and framing it makes it look even better.
Hmmm…. I’ll have to go through my boxes of stuff from my ‘kids’ (25&27) and see what I can find.
I *love* this idea.
Love your gallery! The art really looks like it could be from any fancy-pants artsy-fartsy place, too. I’m going to keep this idea in mind when I have kids with art projects one day.
talk about pimping out your son….He rocks! I love framing their art and hanging it….it makes a house all warm and cozy don’t you think
What a great idea
I’m gonna put this on my list of things to do when I have kids 
You’re the coolest mom evah.
Those are great. I really, really love that second one from the bottom and would hang it up in my place even if I wasn’t related to the artist.
Just thought I would let you know that HL frames are 50% off right NOW!
What a great idea! I really like the colorful one with the circles. I would totally hang that in my house.