From ARTSONIA
Hayden Downing, a seventh-grade student at Otsego Junior High School, has been named “Artist of the Week” in a nationwide voting competition on Artsonia.com, the world’s largest collection of online student art portfolios, featuring over 125 million works of art.
Downing’s winning artwork, a mixed media depiction of a shoe titled “Nike Air Shoe,” captured the attention of voters nationwide, receiving over 500 online votes.
“My artwork was my shoe that I recently got for school,” Downing shared. “I learned how to shade lines, and I marbled-painted the background. I chose the paint colors because my shoe is really dark, so I thought if the colors contrasted, it would look good.”
When asked how it felt to be named “Artist of the Week,” Downing said, “It felt really cool because I put a lot of time and effort into it.”
Downing’s art teacher, Jennifer Rank, who has been teaching art for 18 years, said, “I love to see the creative ideas of students come to life and to watch their passion and confidence grow over time.”
Rank expressed pride in her student’s “Artist of the Week” achievement. “When the hard work pays off, it is great to see how they light up when they realize they are good and others recognize it too,” Rank said.
Rank is one of thousands of teachers who use Artsonia, which enables teachers to digitally showcase student art, organize and plan art lessons, and fundraise for their classrooms. Artsonia allows family and friends of student artists to view the art online and create custom keepsakes from the student art. Artsonia donates 20% of its revenue to local art classrooms.
“Artsonia has made my classroom more efficient by being the place where I can do it all. My classroom uses Artsonia to turn in projects, connect with parents, view work while grading, and write artist statements,” Rank shared.
Artsonia created the “Artist of the Week” program 25 years ago to highlight student creativity and engage schools and communities in celebrating young artists. Each week, 12 student submissions are randomly selected from artwork submitted the previous week in four different age groups (PreK-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12) for public voting. Winners receive both recognition and prizes.
As part of the award, Blick Art Materials provides a $100 gift certificate to the winning student’s art program and a $50 gift certificate to the student.
“Artsonia’s mission is to bring communities together to celebrate children’s creative expression,” said Jim Meyers, CEO and co-founder of Artsonia. “Artist of the Week encourages local schools, families, and friends to get involved in the process of creating and celebrating student art.”
For more information, visit artsonia.com.
