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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Art sale at son's school

145 replies

Bardette · 14/05/2014 22:23

Genuinely don't know if I'm being unreasonable but...
Next week is sports day at ds school. School have announced that there will be an Art display in the hall with one framed piece of work by each child. After perusing the display we can then buy our child's piece for £8. Ds knows about this and has told me I have to rush to make sure no one buys his picture before me! AIBU in being a bit cross at being forced to do this? It's not even a like they have chosen the children's best work, they all had to sit down and paint a tree over a couple of afternoons last week.

OP posts:
Nocomet · 14/05/2014 23:34

YANBU, DDs school did this once and only once, I assume people moaned.

The 'art work' has hung in the darkest corner of the hall for 10 years, it's frame is broken due to DD2 practicing handstands against the bathroom door and kicking it.

3bunnies · 14/05/2014 23:37

Our school had this but I resisted with the same line I use for the ice cream van - why pay all that money when we can make our own at home. The pictures were duly passed on to us at the end of term anyway. They did enjoy having their art in a 'gallery' and showing off their efforts.

TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain · 14/05/2014 23:38

Our school does this too. We made a lot lf money from it. Are you in the uk op? I thought it was an irish school thing!

2468Motorway · 14/05/2014 23:50

Our school did this. I do think its really cheeky.

However I know that the kids whose parents didn't buy the pics were given tem to take home unframed at the end of the week.

The frames were nice but at the price you could buy 4 equally nice frames at IKEA.

I was sucked in I'm afraid. It was a beautifully painted picture of our family and I'd recently had a baby, my heart melted. Also the ta had very carefully cut out the people and remounted them, it was clever.

SarahAndFuck · 15/05/2014 00:09

What happened to just sticking all artwork into a carrier bag at the end of each term and sending it home to be discretely chucked in the bin?

BackforGood · 15/05/2014 00:18

They did this at the Primary school when ds1 was in Yr6, only they wanted £15 (this was 7 yrs ago).

I didn't buy it. I explained to him that it was emotional blackmail and that if he would like to paint a picture for me at home I would happily display it.
He's (almost) 18 now and doesn't seem to have been emotionally scarred by it.
When my younger 2 got to Yr 6, they didn't try this scam fundraiser again, so I'm guessing it didn't go down too well with quite a few of the parents.

Viviennemary · 15/05/2014 00:25

It's a feeble lazy idea as fund raising goes. Too annoying. People should just refuse to buy the pictures.

TheIronGnome · 15/05/2014 07:47

Take a camera, take a picture, tell ds he can have his picture on a mug. Job done

TheOneWithTheHair · 15/05/2014 07:51

They did this at dd's school too. Her picture was awful, as was ds2's. I refused to buy them but went and bought them a new book each instead.

The dcs were happy, I was sort of happy.

Hoppinggreen · 15/05/2014 07:53

Our school did this it they got a semi famous artist to come in fir a week and work with each year in turn.
They held an exhibition where you could but the original for £5 framed and copies for £3 framed.
It was lovely

YeGodsAndLittleFishes · 15/05/2014 08:02

One school DCs went to did this. They all made mosaics over a pencil drawing of an animal they had drawn themselves. Every picture was lovely. I think thwre must have been an external company coming in to help. Each picture was in a plain real wood boxy frame.

All the families had the option of reserving their child's work. It was called an auction, rather than a sale, and that might have been how the school got around keeping the unsold pictures. (Or in some cases, covering the costs for the children who wanted their pictures but couldn't afford them). I think we paid £10 per picture.

vvviola · 15/05/2014 08:05

DD's school did a thing where you could order calendars or notebooks or diaries with your child's artwork on the front. Conveniently timed for Christmas. I was initially a bit skeptical but DD did a lovely collage, Granny and Nana both got calendars and I got my diary for the year. Both grandmothers were delighted to have something to show off, and part of their Christmas presents were taken care of at the same time as supporting the school.

Plus we got the artwork back afterwards. And it was all done by notices in school bags etc so there were no obvious signs of who did or didn't contribute

much better than the Easter fundraiser where we had to sell multiple chocolate eggs, when all the schools in the area were trying to do the same

ProfessorBranestawm · 15/05/2014 08:08

Our school did it. They do it once every four years so each child only does it once. They made sure the children did a really lovely picture as opposed to a slapdash scribble, mounted and framed the picture. They set the hall up as an art gallery with their names and picture titles so you could browse at gallery 'opening times' (before and after school for a week). Obviously you could only buy your own child's work and there was no bidding etc.

I thought it was lovely. It wasn't an external company (nothing like those awful vanity publishing things I've read about) just the PTA doing it and using the profit which I was more than happy with. The picture is still on our wall.

It would get to me if it was a frequent thing though and I agree it's an awful price if you are struggling.

LocalEditorWiganandSalford · 15/05/2014 08:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lagoonablue · 15/05/2014 08:17

Yes our school do this. It's a joke. They all do the same picture too. My DD is pretty good at art and we have some nice stuff already so a picture she has been told to draw isn't the best work she can do. Still you feel obliged to buy it. It's a real rip off.

Fullpleatherjacket · 15/05/2014 08:34

This has been going on a few years.

I got arm twisted into buying three of the things over the years despite two of mine being unable to tell the arse end of a pencil from it's point Angry

I also remember having to buy three lots of Christmas cards for about six quid a throw. I wasn't going to buy ds2's as he had apparently scribbled the design in the last five minutes of the lesson and didn't it show but he made me Hmm

Original poster
Bardette · 15/05/2014 09:28

I haven't seen the artwork in question but it sounds like they all painted trees. I'm going to e-mail the head and ask what commission the company make and what they do with the unsold paintings.

OP posts:
MrsWinnibago · 15/05/2014 09:35

Our old school did this and tbh I didn't ACTUALLY mind that much as I got a well framed piece of DDs art to hang up...BUT what I DID mind was that the "art" was a totally managed thing...she had stuck some pre cut shapes on a board, in the shape of a butterfly....it was so neat that it had none of her work or personality in it...she was 4 ffs!

I wanted a lovely messy painting! Not some bland, IKEA like piece of stuff whcih the teacher had designed!

MrsWinnibago · 15/05/2014 09:36

Lagoon exactly! It was the same with the Christmas cards...all the kids did the same bloody design! If there are any teachers out there...please don't let this happen! It's shite!

Freckletoes · 15/05/2014 10:08

Our school did this, but not framed just canvases and displayed in a local gallery! £10 each! All 3 of my DCs are useless at art so I felt obliged to fork out £30 for 3 pieces of tat! No been done since....

hardbeingme · 15/05/2014 10:13

our school does this at xmas, but we're talking 50p/1 however what they tend to do is take photos of the dcs, laminate them on some sort of backing and put a bit of thread on - so i'm thinking the kids are only actually involved at the photo taking stage and l'm basically buying a piece of the teachers craftwork! The pictures are usually awful for some reason and i bet the whole process takes ages - seems like such a pointless exercise, i would rather it was something the kids had made, sans photo.
8 is ridiculous though, especially as you're going to feel guilty for not buying it.

SisterMoonshine · 15/05/2014 10:15

The unsold paintings came home at the end of term with all the other stuff anyway.
Don't worry about looking like a mum who doesn't care - it was more that the mum's who bought into it looked like mugs.
The percentage the school get isn't that great either, was it £1 out of the £7?

DamnBamboo · 15/05/2014 10:17

If the price is too high, then fair enough.

But god, what a bunch of whingers!

If you don't like it, get involved in the PTA and come up with other suggestions. You've gotta love parents that moan about fundraising efforts, with many doing bog-all to try and help, or even bother suggesting alternatives.

LtGreggs · 15/05/2014 10:17

Our school did this - they were there for sale at £8 each on open evening. We had been given no warning.

Dubjackeen · 15/05/2014 10:27

and then you paid £8 for a cheaply framed scribble by your DC - the type that you already have so many of that you slip them into recycling while no-one's looking

This made me smile. It does sound a big of a swizz though, buying your own kid's artwork!

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