Since 2001, there have been more than 700 pieces of art, mostly crayon and colored pencil, posted by 325 artists from Murray Language Academy, an elementary school in Chicago.
Hinsdale’s Monroe Elementary School has posted more than 1,200 pieces from over 400 students since last year.
And Dryden Elementary of Arlington Heights has more than 2,000 works of art, created by about 340 kids since last year.
All of this is a drop in the art-class-output bucket since “there are almost 1 billion pieces of art produced by kids in public schools in America every year,” said Kishore Swaminathan.
Swaminathan is chairman of a Chicago company called Artsonia Inc. The company’s Web site (www.artsonia.com) is an online kids’ art museum and home to more than 600,000 doodles, drawings, paintings and linoleum block prints created by students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
There’s art from more than 10,000 schools from 105 countries.
It is, said Swaminathan, the largest single collection of art on the Web and growing wildly. He expects to add 500,000 works to the site this school year.
“For kids, it’s an interesting way to develop a very personal relationship with the Internet,” he said. “[The children think] `It’s not a place I go to see other people’s stuff. My own stuff is there.’ They’re very proud of this.”
There is no cost for art teachers, who have sole discretion over what gets posted, to add their students’ pieces to Artsonia. And viewing the art is free too. Parents, grandparents and extended family get access, too, and they can write feedback about their little ones’ work.
“Family can sign up to a student’s fan club, and they can leave comments about the art,” Swaminathan said. “This feedback is e-mailed to parents for approval before it’s added. They can approve it, disapprove it and even edit it.”
How does Artsonia make money?
By selling families a wide range of products emblazoned with students’ art.
There are mouse pads, coasters, T-shirts, mugs, magnets and penholders among others goodies available for parental (or grandparental) purchase.
And because 40 percent of registered parents order products featuring their children’s creations, this can be serious business for Artsonia. During the holiday shopping season alone, Swaminathan estimates the site generates about $300,000 in product sales.
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But the products are not available to the public at large.
“We ask that people certify they are the parents, or they have the parents’ permission to purchase these items,” said Swaminathan. “That’s because we don’t own the copyrights to these works. The kids own the copyright, and because they’re minors we need the parents’ permission.”
More than 160 Illinois-based schools are involved in the program, but Swaminathan hopes that more art teachers will discover Artsonia.
What does his having their artwork online mean to the students?
It depends on their age, said Swaminathan.
“For the youngest kids, it’s attention from family. They’ve drawn, and suddenly it’s on the computer, and mommy is buying coffee mugs with the drawing.
“For middle-school students, it’s about the comments. It’s validation. They created the art, and now grandma and grandpa are writing comments.
“And for high schoolers, for whom art is an optional subject, and the quality of work is high, these kids are at an awkward age where they want the recognition but not in person. They don’t want mommy coming and giving them a hug. This provides an interesting, private way they can receive acknowledgement and attention.”
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