Charlotte Mason Homeschool: How to Display Picture Study Art

I receive quite a few questions related to picture study in my inbox, including why it’s important, how to do it, and how to print art. One that has been coming up more and more recently is how to display picture study art. So today, I’m tackling this question with a few ideas for ways you can add the beauty of fine art to your homeschool area.

Easels

One of the simplest ways to display your picture study prints is with a tabletop easel. When we first began homeschooling and my son was my only student, I had one of these propped up on our school table, where I displayed whatever piece of art we had most recently studied. I liked this option because the art was always available for him to see. If he wanted to spontaneously study it or if he happened to glance at it while he was doing copywork, it was another chance for it to be hung in the halls of his imagination.

Several options for tabletop easels are available, ranging from artist stands to simple display stands. I prefer the latter because they’re usually more affordable and they take up less space. I have several of these throughout our school area, including one on our school table for each child. I do display our current picture study art on the wall near our couch (more on that below), but if they choose, they can also display their copies on their easels, which they have done on occasion.

These easels are also great for other subjects as well. I have one on the coffee table in our school area for extra whiteboards, maps, our school calendar, and more (you can see a tour of our homeschool room here to find out more).

Wood Board Picture Display

When I decided to move our homeschool area up to our living room from our basement, I wanted a way to display our picture study prints for the entire term so we had more chances to see the art before putting it away in binders or books. I looked around on Pinterest and Instagram and got some ideas before taking the plunge and putting together my own little display apparatus. I’m not a particularly crafty or handy person, so the fact that this turned out at all is something of a miracle.

To make one similar to the one I have, you will need:

• 1 board (I picked mine up from Home Depot in a bin full of distressed/weathered/reclaimed wood that was already “finished,” so I didn”t need to do any painting. You could also do this with a regular piece of lumber and paint it to your liking.)
• 1 picture hanging kit with a wire, two D-rings, and screws (Choose a metal finish that you think will go well with the finish of your wood. I got this one from Michael’s.)
• 3 sawtooth picture hangers
• Clips or clothespins for hanging the prints. I used small clothespins when I first put it up and later got metal clips.
• Optional: if you don’t like the finish of the wire that comes in the picture hanging kit, you can find a variety of them at most hardware stores.

And here is how I put it together:

1. Cut the board to the length you’ll want, if necessary. I wanted mine to match the width of the things hanging above it, so we had to cut off a few feet. If you cut it, you will have an unfinished edge which you may want to re-finish. (I didn’t want to buy wood finish just for this, so I chose to hang this edge away from the rest of the room on the side where it wouldn’t be noticed.)
2. Attach the D-rings to either side of the front of the board. I made slight indentations for the screws about halfway down the board and about an inch away from the edge. The wood was soft enough that I could screw them in with a screwdriver, and they’ve been very secure.
3. String the wire through the loops and trim with enough leftover to wrap it around itself a few times. I left enough wire to wrap the ends around the main part of the wire twice next to each D-ring. You’ll want to keep this pretty taut as the wire will sag over time.
4. Attach the sawtooth hangers to the back. I have one on either side and one in the middle near the top of the board.

And that’s it! It has stayed very securely on our wall and displays our prints beautifully.

I usually put the most recent piece we’ve studied up right after we look at it and then remove the oldest piece on the wire. This means that sometimes I have a mixture of artists up there (as in this term when we’ve had Katsushika Hokusai transitioning into Winslow Homer). Still, I like how this allows us to see differences and similarities between our recent artists.

If you’d rather not mess with making your own, there are wire display kits that seem very simple to hang up as well.

Clipboards

Another simple option is clipboards! I have a few friends who have hung clipboards on the walls of their homeschool area, with each piece from that term being on its own clipboard. One of them also painted her clipboards with chalkboard paint so she could write the name of the artist, the title, and the date of the piece on the clipboard in chalk, which I thought was a great idea.

Frames

Of course, basic picture frames are always an option as well. You can find a set of matching frames for uniformity or mix it up with frames and mattes of different sizes and types (we have a few of these magnetic frames displaying art in our school area) to create a gallery wall. Either of these options can be artfully arranged, and I have seen several families do this successfully. The frames add a refined and finished look to their school area.

These are just a few ways of displaying picture study prints in your homeschool. I think what I feel is the most important aspect is that they are being displayed so that your students can come back and look at them whenever they’d like. Please share in the comments below how you display your picture study pieces!

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