Hawthorne Student Named National ‘Artist of the Week’ by Artsonia

Creed Cross, a talented second-grade student at Hawthorne Elementary 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.

Cross’ winning artwork, titled ‘A Very Blue Park,’ captured the attention of voters nationwide, receiving over 500 online votes.

“What inspired me is the playground downtown in my city,” Cross shared about his winning artwork. “I thought of the playground and started cutting the shapes.”

When asked how it felt to be named Artist of the Week, Cross said, “I felt pretty nice.”

Cross’ art teacher, Shelly Dunn, who has been teaching art for four years, said, “I love the discovery process with the students when they realize that they can create amazing art.”

Dunn 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.

“Students are now excited to put their artwork on Artsonia for their parents and extended family to see,” Dunn shared.

The Artist of the Week program was created by Artsonia 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, 10-12) for public voting. Winners receive both recognition and prizes.

As part of the award, Blick Art Materials generously 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.”

KPGZ News - Danielle Matousek contributed to this story.