Artsonia Kids Art Museum

Artsonia Kids Art Museum is an art sharing site where teachers, students, and parents can upload original works of art and then give and receive feedback or purchase items featuring the artwork. Students can join classes by scanning a teacher-generated QR code and begin uploading their work immediately. Teachers can view individual works or see multiple projects at a glance.  Parents can use the app or website to easily upload their kids' artwork as well, with options to crop, adjust, or edit the photo as well as blur areas of the image, such as personal information. If teachers need any help using Artsonia, there are videos, webinars, and other help options; however, it's fairly intuitive.

From within the teacher section of Artsonia, teachers can download high-resolution images of their students' work for use on a class website or in a slideshow. Adding an artist statement to each piece offers cross-curricular connections, by inviting students to explain their art and talk a bit about their artistic process. This can be fairly short and simple for young students, but older students can take advantage of this as an ELA or research-driven exercise. Family members can order reasonably priced memorabilia with the students' artwork on them; the school gets 20% of each sale to put toward art supplies.

The platform has many purposes: media creation, publishing, presenting, and creating portfolios, to name a few. Teachers can create a school page on Artsonia and use it to share what their students have created via galleries, which include a description of the project, materials used, and national standards addressed. Projects may include drawings, paintings, ceramics, photographs, writings, yarn art, 3D paper crafts, and other media. This unique approach encourages students to create not only for themselves, but for an audience as well, and because the platform is cumulative, kids can use it to track their progress and see their work mature over time. Having students complete artist statements helps them develop metacognitive and analytical skills, especially if they're encouraged to reflect on their inspiration for a particular piece.

Using Artsonia can validate students of all ages by helping them see their own potential as artists and showcasing their creations. Positive experiences with the arts can not only build confidence and self-esteem, but also help kids develop social and emotional skills like perseverance and self-awareness. And, hopefully, these experiences will inspire them to keep creating.