Local Artist creates meaningful gifts for special occasions
By Laurie Atwater
How many years have you promised yourself that you’ll finally organize all those family photos? It’s on my list every year and quite frankly I haven’t gotten to it yet! One thing I do know—if my house was burning down I’d want to run in and save my photos! But organizing photos so that you can actually enjoy them—now that’s a daunting task.
And it’s weighing on me. We’re taking more pictures than ever before, but how long has it been since you actually took them out and looked at them? Now that we’re all going digital it seems crazy to have all of these photos around, but if you’ve ever seen someone’s face light up when they see their childhood photos or photos of their family members, it really isn’t crazy at all.
Amy Goolkasian wants everyone to be able to enjoy their photos. “It’s so much fun to look at your children at different ages,” she says. “It’s hard to do that on a computer or when your photos are thrown in a box.”
Native Lexingtonian Amy Goolkasian has a solution for that problem. Amy is the owner of Memories to Art in Lexington and she takes great pleasure in working with clients to make something very special from a stack of beloved, but disorganized, photographs.
Most of the books that Amy has produced for clients are theme-based to be given as gifts. It is meaningful at certain milestones in life to gather photos together in one place. HighSchool graduations, wedding anniversaries, birthdays, christenings and everything in between deserve special treatment. “One client wanted me to create a special book just to commemorate her son’s high school sports career and it was great to pick through lots of photos and choose only the very best to fit the narrative.” Amy advises that it’s wise to periodically take the time to go through photos with a critical eye and keep only the best. “Edit, edit,” she says. This allows you to let go of all the not so great shots that are taking up space in your house! 
“Eliminate photos that are similar and set a limit for yourself,” Amy says. You don’t need 10 shots of the same thing!” After the purge, you can choose the very best photos for a beautiful memory book. Amy typically meets with clients at their homes where it is easy for them to access their photos. “I usually ask that they sort through the photos and narrow the focus. If they are undecided about a theme we can work together to see what ideas emerge.”
Memory books make a unique gift that can really express how you feel. Amy started Memory Keepers when she was sidelined for awhile with an illness. She found the process of working with the photographs, papers and other material very therapeutic. Soon her little pieces of art were creating a buzz and she began to get requests from friends.
Amy has a degree from MassArt. “I approach each page as a separate canvas,” she says. “I like to incorporate quotes and other important elements. For example, a book that she did for her own daughter uses quotes and her daughter’s childhood drawings.
“I really wanted the book to be inspirational,” Amy says. Give some thought to things other than photographs you may have saved,” she says. If you have objects that you would love to incorporate into a memory gift, Amy can create shadowboxes that contain photos and memorabilia.
If you’re like me and your computer is full of digital pictures you never enjoy, Amy can help you with that as well. She’ll work with your most meaningful images and lay them out in an attractive memory book that you’ll enjoying sharing with family and friends. Whether using digital images or your treasured photos, let her design a memory book online that can be bound and produced in multiples. Great for holiday giving, a family reunion, or anytime you want share special memories with the people that matter!
It may seem like spring is far away, but it’s closer than you think. So take advantage of these cold winter nights – curl up with all those boxes of old pictures, enjoy the memories and pick out the very best. When that spring graduation, wedding or other special event occurs you’ll know just what pictures you’ll want to take to finish the story. Then, give Amy Goolkasian a call. She’ll pull all the pieces together, and you’ll be the star.
Memories to Art
Amy Galehouse Goolkasian
781-266-6584
Find us on Facebook!
