Artsonia: Commonly Asked Questions — Teachers

Q&A General Information and Security:

Who owns the copyright of the artwork submitted?

Artists retain ownership of their artwork. However, when the parent registers on our website, they grant Artsonia the right and license to, among other things, publish the artwork in the museum, on merchandise, and on Artsonia promotional material. Artsonia will always remove any artwork from its website upon request. For full details, see our Terms and Conditions of Use at www.artsonia.com/terms.asp

Do I need to get parental permission to publish my students' artwork?

Many school policies already allow the publishing of artwork online, and if that is the case, then you can get started right away. However, if that is not the case, or if you are unsure, we strongly encourage teachers to send home parental permission forms prior to publishing the artwork. An Artsonia parental permission form can be found at www.artsonia.com/teachers/docs. Note: this permission form is good for the student for the tenure of their attendance at the school, so the teacher only needs to get the permission one time for each student.

How do you ensure privacy for my students?

On the Artsonia website, each student is identified only by a “screenname” which is usually the student's first name and number (e.g., Sarah22). Last names are never publicly posted on the website. Additionally, all comments are pre-approved by the registered parent before being posted for the artist. Teachers can either pre-register the parent directly if they have access and permission to use the parents’ contact information, or they can distribute "security keys" to the parents for use when they register online. (A security key is a special code that ensures only the parent or legal guardian can register online for their child.)

Are there any banner ads?

As an educational website, we do not accept any banner advertising nor any solicitation of students by any third parties though our website. We do accept sponsorships of specific educational programs on our website from reputed, educationally-oriented companies.

Q&A Submitting Artwork:

OK, I am now a registered member. What do I do now? How do I publish my first project?

Parent permission forms as well as other helpful resource documents are available by clicking here. Once you have permission from parents, then you can begin to photograph your student artwork, saving it to a disk or on your computer. Once the files are saved, you can login to Artsonia and begin to submit artwork to your school gallery.

What kind of artwork can I submit? What if I have 3-D art?

You can display any type of art that reproduces well as a two-dimensional image. This includes (images of) drawings, paintings, any type of three-dimensional craftwork, computer drawings (i.e., artwork created through computer software like Photoshop or Illustrator) etc.

We do impose some restrictions on photographs though: we disallow photographs that contain identifiable human subjects, especially children.

Since the age range of our students is very wide (2 to 18), we disallow artwork that is inappropriate for young audiences. Specifically, we disallow any artwork that depicts nudity or violence.

What size artwork do you accept?

When you are submitting artwork electronically, we recommend a resolution of about 2000 x 2000 pixels. If you use a digital camera, usually this is the "middle" (of low, middle, high) or "better" (of good, better, best) setting in your camera menu. If you use a scanner, set the resolution to about 150 dpi for an 8x11 sheet.

What if I don't have a computer in my classroom?

Artwork can be submitted to Artsonia via any Internet connection. So, if your school has a computer lab or if you have an Internet connection at home, you can download the images from your camera to a computer, then begin the process of adding them to your Artsonia School gallery.

What if I don't have an email address?

If you do not have an email address there are a number of free email services that you can subscribe to. The most popular ones are Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and G-Mail (www.gmail.com). Since much of our communication with parents is through email, we strongly recommend that you obtain an email address in order to work effectively with Artsonia.

How long will the artwork be published?

Artwork may remain published on the website indefinitely.

Q&A Benefits to Participating in Artsonia:

I already have some artwork on my school website. Is there any advantage to publishing my student artwork on Artsonia?

Our participating teachers tell us that displaying their students' artwork on Artsonia is drastically different from displaying them on their school website for the following reasons:

(a) Most school websites are programmed to display a few pieces of artwork in one or two pages, whereas, on Artsonia, you can display hundreds of pieces of artwork with little or no additional effort.

(b) On Artsonia, your students' work is displayed side by side with the work of students their own age from thousands of schools in over 100 countries. This enables you, your students and your visitors to see your students' artwork in the context of the creative work by a global community of students.

(c) Artsonia enables visitors to leave comments for young artists. Our participating teachers tell us that this feature provides tremendous motivation and excitement for their students to display their artwork on Artsonia. Note: These comments are parent approved BEFORE being published on the website.

(d) Compared to a typical school website, Artsonia attracts considerably more visitors, so your students' artwork gets to be seen by more people from around the world. Artsonia's website shows how many times each piece has been seen - another source of motivation and excitement for your students.

(e) On Artsonia, each of your students gets a unique screenname and web address (URL) that enables a visitor (such as a parent or relative) to easily locate the students' artwork (e.g., www.artsonia.com/chandler1). Further, all artwork by the same student are linked together via the screenname, creating an online portfolio for each student. This means that, as a student adds more artwork to Artsonia over a period of time, it creates a memory album for the student and parents as well as a means of tracking the students' artistic progress over his or her lifetime.

(f) As an online art museum, Artsonia is frequently visited by talent scouts, museum personnel, publishing personnel, scholars and so forth. As a result, your students, (particularly your artistically inclined students) gain valuable exposure at a young age.

(g) As a participating teacher in Artsonia, you join a community of teachers like you all over the world. This enables you to see what other teachers are doing and what types of new teaching techniques they are using.

As explained above, publishing your student projects on Artsonia is drastically different from publishing them on your school website. We encourage you to join Artsonia and give your students a chance to join a global community of young people.

Where do I go to view project lesson plans?

Click here to view our lesson plan archive, containing thousands of lesson plan starters for students of all grades and skill levels. You may also find a link to the lesson plan starters in your teacher login area.

I know other art teachers who would love Artsonia, how can I get them involved?

If you are enjoying your experience with Artsonia, please tell other teachers. Depending on your time and interest, you could do the following: (a) consider requesting Artsonia brochures and distributing them among teachers in your school district or in any teacher conference that you may be attending, (b) consider giving a talk or in-service at a teacher meeting or at an art teacher conference (if you need our help, write to us at info@artsonia.com), or (c) consider authoring an article on your Artsonia experience for newsletters and/or magazines aimed at art teachers (again, contact Artsonia for help).

When parents order merchandise, does the school get any money?

Yes! If you are a US School you get 15% of the order revenue from parents. For example, if a parent orders $100 in merchandise with their child's artwork on it, you get $15 for your arts program.

Throughout the year, teachers can request a payout of their funds in the form of a check, Artsonia Gift Certificate or Dick Blick Art Materials Gift Certificate. Fundraising requests can be completed through a teacher's secured login section.