How to Preserve Children’s Art Projects – tips to make children’s artwork last through the years. How to organize, store, and preserve the memories and the art itself.
My daughter loves to draw. Just like many 5-year-old girls, she starts up Art Clubs with her friends and says she wants to be an artist when she grows up. She recently got this really cool large wooden case filled with art supplies as a gift from her grandmother. She loves to use all the supplies and has been producing numerous pieces of artwork using different mediums. I love it. So creative and so interesting. To store the pieces of work, we three hole punch these pieces of art and place them in a binder for easy viewing.
OAKLAND COUNTY MOMS EDUCATION ARTICLES & RESOURCES
But what about the really neat, oversized artwork that is meant more for a display? There are a certain few pieces that I want to last forever, but I have no idea of how to store them, until now that is.
I received an interesting email about how to preserve children’s art projects from Young Masters, an art-based fundraising projects that splashes children’s artwork on products.
How to Preserve Children’s Art Projects – Tips
Store children’s artwork at a comfortable temperature – While you might have free space in your garage or attic, high heat and moisture accelerate the chemical process that result in fading and discoloration of paper. Your child’s artwork will last longer if stored in a stable environment with a temperature in the range of 60-70 degrees.
Store children’s artwork in an opaque container – Transparent plastic containers might seem like a good place to store your child’s artwork, but the effects of light exposure are cumulative and irreversible. Light promotes chemical degradation in the paper and fades ink which will definitely ruin a masterpiece.
Use appropriate sized storage – A small drawing stored inside a large box translates to dust inside of the box and added clutter inside your home. To avoid any damage from light or dust, the enclosure itself should not be much larger than the actual masterpiece. The container itself should be acid-free as well.
Turn the Project into a product – Young Masters makes copies of your child’s art and transforms them into water bottles, travel mugs, totes, magnets, iPhone cases, aprons, and more. Check out all the different products you can have made using your child’s art.
Organize art in chronological order and by child – The handling of art with your hands should be kept at a minimum as this speeds up the process of deterioration. Oils from your hands are naturally damaging to paper. Storing your child’s art in different containers and labeling them by child’s name and year can help eliminates the likelihood that you will have to rummage through the art.
Check on the art regularly. Check the contents of stored boxes, at least annually, for signs of damage such as mold or pest activity.
About Young Masters
The Young Masters program was founded in 2005 and became a franchised business in late 2008. Currently, 23 Young Masters franchise owners across the country work with art educators in their communities to transform students’ artwork into lasting memorabilia and to help raise funds to support fine arts and other school programs endangered by budget cuts. For more information about the Young Masters franchise opportunity or to sign up for the program, please visit www.youngmastersart.com.
For more info on how to preserve children’s art projects, visit www.youngmastersart.com.
