You’ve invested a lot of time in creating your artwork and you’re looking for the right way to preserve and store them. In this post, we’ll take a look at what can damage your work and how to protect it from the elements and all the other things that could work against it.

What Can Damage The Art?

There are environmental elements such as UV light, moisture, dust, and other contaminants. It’s important to protect your artwork from these unknown variables.

Considerations for Storing Your Art

The way you store your art greatly depends on the medium that you used and the surface on which the art was created. You wouldn’t store an oil painting created on canvas in the same way that you would store a pen and ink drawing on paper.

The first thing is to make sure that the art you’re storing is clean. So break out that eraser and clean up your art before storing it.

Storage Option 1: Framing

Framing your art is probably the best option for protecting, preserving, and enjoying it. A lot of my artwork is framed and displayed on the walls.

Storage Option 2: Portfolios

Most manufactured portfolios are made of archival materials, so you can rest assured that your art won’t be destroyed.

Manufactured portfolios are inexpensive, but you can always make your own as well. Two large pieces of cardboard and some tape come in handy for creating a portfolio. But these materials obviously aren’t archival and are best suited for temporary portfolios or temporary storage.

Portfolios are really best for drawings that aren’t dusty or prone to smudging such as pencil drawings.

Storage Option 3: Drawers

For artworks made with a medium that is prone to smudging, a drawer is a much better option. It’s best to devote different drawers to different mediums. 

Lay down your artwork face up and place a sheet of acid-free paper on top. It will minimize the likelihood of your artwork getting marred by the cover sheets. You can also use glassine paper since it minimizes any smudging at all.