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For 17 years, Montreal artist Mimi Gravel has been turning children’s drawings and paintings into beautiful collages for families to cherish forever.

Her work has consistently been popular — “I’ve always had collages to make,” she said — but inquiries have skyrocketed recently following a post from a popular Instagram account and, subsequently, a request from Jerry Seinfeld’s daughter, who surprised her mother with one of Gravel’s creations.

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“Seinfeld — imagine,” Gravel said. “I was excited, you know, I grew up watching his show and always loved his humour about everyday life, random stuff, nothing. Brilliant.”

Gravel was first inspired by the artwork of her two young sons. With access to her studio — quality paper, canvases, paint — it wasn’t long before their creations piled up.

“One day I had the idea of … basically recycling all these papers with the scribbles,” Gravel said. “I made a collage and I had, I guess, a eureka moment.”

She knew that other parents cherished their children’s drawings too — “the way kids see the world is really unique and fantastic” — but that children don’t usually take their creations with them when they’re ready to move out of the family home.

“Inevitably, all these precious drawings will find their way to their recycling bin,” Gravel said. “So I kind of knew right then and there that it was … a cool idea — and I guess I was right.”

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Gravel makes about 40 collages per year. She describes the style as eclectic, modern, a little edgy and colourful. The creation process involves receiving a box of children’s art; consulting the family on what their preferences are, if any; creating the collage, and making sure the family approves of the final design before the finishing phase.

“I do this for them,” Gravel said. “I will work on their collage until they’re totally in love with it, and it will not leave my studio unless they are totally in love with it.”

This month, seemingly out of nowhere, the Instagram account @Upworthy — it describes itself as “sharing the best of humanity with the world” — posted an old tweet by retired politician Marc Garneau containing one of Gravel’s collages.

“I made a collage for Marc Garneau years ago, and they picked up on it and they reposted it, but they have five million followers,” Gravel said. “It just took off — it was totally crazy.”

Then came Sascha Seinfeld, who sent her and her siblings’ childhood creations to Gravel as a surprise for her mother’s birthday. Jessica Seinfeld posted a photo of herself with Jerry and their new Gravel original on Instagram this week.

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“Our brilliant daughter found @artcollage_mimigravel, who took our children’s artwork (from when they were little) and made it into a collage for my birthday,” she wrote. “@saschaseinfeld you are the greatest.”

There are now hundreds of emails sitting in Gravel’s inbox waiting to be answered, but she intends to maintain her pace of 40 collages per year, given how much attention she devotes to each piece.

“It’s important for me to enjoy what I do,” Gravel said. “I love what I do. I feel very, very, very blessed and fortunate, because in 17 years … the reaction when parents receive their collage has always been so positive.”

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