Artsonia: A Virtual Art Museum

Anica Graney

     The Platteville School District art department has been setting the foundation for a new program that allows students to view their artwork online. This program is called Artsonia and is a virtual museum where students can take pictures of their artwork and upload it onto the site so they can view it any time they want. The goal is to have students upload art from the time they are in first grade through the time when they become seniors in high school so they may view their growth and access their art easily. Students can also buy prints, mugs, t-shirts, and many other keepsakes of their work. What’s more is twenty percent of whatever bought is given back to the art department which benefits the students even more. Pretty cool!
     Mr. Butcher, who is in his third year of teaching at Platteville High School, started this program for the entire district during his first year of teaching here. He comments as to why he began the program by saying, “I love the program because we keep getting compliments on it, and we get to see the kids artwork from first through twelfth grade.” The Voice would like to contribute to the growth of this program by selecting an artist every month and featuring his or her work in the newspaper, so be sure to watch out for this new segment in later editions!