Oasis Middle school artist recognized
Dominic Maldonado’s earns most on-line votes, Artsonia.com 'Artist of the week'
A sixth grade student from Oasis Middle School has been recognized as “Artist of the Week” through Artsonia.com for his piece, “Half Draw.”
Dominic Maldonado’s piece received more than 1,300 online votes through Artsonia, which features more than 125 million pieces of student art.
Maldonado said he feels good and amazed about being recognized as Artist of the Week.
“I never drew something that good,” he said about surprising himself.
His dog, Coco, inspired the drawing.
Oasis Middle School art teacher April Gibson said Artsonia is an artwork website where student’s pieces can be uploaded. She said it’s a great way for parents, and family members, to see the artwork digitally before bringing it home. The website is also used for education purposes.
The students can “sign in and complete artist statements and titles. It wraps in some writing standards into it as well,” Gibson said.
The website is free to use, which she said is a huge win for teachers.
Artist of the Week was developed 20 years ago to encourage teachers to submit student artwork to Artsonia, as well as engage schools and communities to vote and recognize creative students. Each week there are 12 submissions from four age groups – prek-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12 that are randomly selected for public voting.
The winning school receives $100 gift certificate from Blick Art Materials, and the student receives a $50 gift certificate.
“Artsonia’s mission is to bring communities together to celebrate children’s creative expression,” Artsonia Co-Founder and CEO Jim Meyers said in a prepared statement. “Artist of the Week encourages local schools, families, and friends to get involved in the process of creating and celebrating student art.”
Maldonado’s category was fourth, fifth and sixth grade.
“For my sixth graders, they could choose from several photos of either cats or dogs. I had two of each,” Gibson said.
The student glued down the copied photo on one side of paper, while trying to match it through their sketching skills on the other half of the photo. She said this skill is “definitely harder than it looks.”
“He didn’t trace. He looked at the photo and drew it the best he could,” Gibson said, adding that she thinks he did a fabulous job.
Maldonado said he is now working on a painting that has a background of warm colors – red, orange and yellow. He said he enjoys both painting and drawing.
Gibson said she really appreciates how much Oasis Middle School fosters the student’s love for different electives – art, dance and band.
“Our school and our administration really prioritizes it. I really love that,” she said.