Our Family Art Gallery

It all started with a set of four frames that open to allow you to swap out art quickly and easily. And I just had to have them, even though my only child at the time was barely old enough to create anything resembling "art". But still. So cute! My husband hung them on the wall of our upstairs hallway, where mostly only our family would see them. We proudly displayed scribbles and shapes drawn by our young son Chris.

Eventually, after the addition of Rose, the gallery evolved to include all four of us, each of us displaying one project per frame. From there, we decided to do a monthly project together, so the gallery would never become stale. Since it's not in a very public area of the house, we never feel self-conscious about our art. We've used the frames to celebrate birthdays and holidays, to set goals for the school year, to reflect on family trips, and to just be silly sometimes. For my husband's birthday, I used photos of him but added various silly hats to his head that we could decorate and color. We've used all types of art supplies including paints, crayons, colored pencils, sand, stickers, leaves, and markers. We've done quick little projects that take a few minutes and some more complex ones that have taken a few days to finish. For the months in which time is very limited, we will do a photography assignment. One year, we each took photos of our favorite light displays at a local Christmas festival and I printed those and added them to the frames.

Most months, everyone is excited to participate. As the kids get a bit older, they have been offering suggestions for possible projects. There are months here and there, when everyone is busy or sick or whatever, when the gallery feels like just one more thing to do, almost a chore. But we push on even in those moments because once we get our art in the frames, we always all agree it was worth it. You know that feeling when you rearrange a room or just really clean it and then whenever you walk into that room you get a little dose of joy? Changing out the art in our gallery always gives us that same little dose of joy when we walk by. And as soon as that feeling wears off, it's usually time to make and showcase a new project!

When the old month's projects come down, we put them in sleeves in a binder. Of course, we don't have to keep them, but I figure one day the kids will be too old to want to do them every month and then I'll be able to go into the "archives" and put up some nostalgic masterpieces from their little kid days.

For November, we are displaying our Thanksgiving Gratitudes on the feathers of a turkey. Everyone was invited to write or draw on each of the feathers, then color it in.

If you're interested in seeing more about our projects, I have started doing monthly reels on my Instagram account. We'd love for you to join us!

You can download the free printable for November here:

Confetti Launch's November Gallery Project Printable.pdf

Download PDF • 1.50MB

The type of frame we use can be found here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!