Special to The TIMES
The Pea Ridge elementary online art gallery passed a major milestone when the site hosted its 500,000th visitor earlier this month.
Displaying art created by Primary and Intermediate School students, the milestone was accomplished on the heels of the school gallery being named as the No. 1 school art gallery in the United States last fall. Already having posted more than 12,000 works of art this school year, the school is maintaining their top ranked status on the Artsonia website, an entity involving more than 8,000 American schools along with thousands of foreign schools from around the globe.
Art teacher John McGee said: "We first signed onto this website a little over seven years ago and the effect has been nothing short of marvelous. A lot of the student art got pitched into trash cans in the hallways until parents gained the ability to see their childrens' work online. With students that have registered parents and family that view their art online, the problem of thrown away work has largely disappeared."
Pea Ridge has nearly 140,000 artworks on display in the gallery, works that will remain on display in perpetuity. The online collection is the largest one of its type in America. The number of people who have viewed it and have commented and made supportive remarks also ranks among national bests.
Parents who have registered and have monitored the artwork have been enthusiastic in their appreciation of the gallery.
"I love that I am able to see my child's artwork online and am able to to share her art artwork with friend's and co-workers at the touch of a button," wrote Tina Johnson. "Our family uses this tool as a way to motivate her to do a good job. She knows her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are going to see."
Kerry Peal, a parent whose kids who transferred to the Pea Ridge District wrote: "we have family in other states. It makes me smile when I see an aunt encourage them on their art skills online. My children used to attend an 'art' school (art was in the name of the school) but they had nothing like this."
"The website is a wonderful place to go and see their loved one's art" wrote Christina Morales.
Steven Morcus added: "We get to see and talk about our daughter's art even before she gets it home. It's just plain awesome."
"I love this website! It allows family from out of state to enjoy Kenlee's artwork as much as we do," said Casey McLeod.
Ryann Cline said: "My daughters' grandparents can see all her artwork and progression online and we don't have to worry about misplacing a valued piece of artwork."
"I love having the ability to see my son's artwork. It keeps me updated with things he is doing at school that I might not have known about without Artsonia," Hope White said.
"My fourth-grade son has been a student of Pea Ridge since kindergarten. Without this site, I wouldn't be able to share with friends and family my son's amazing artwork. We love looking at his artwork form earlier years and love comparing to his work now. It's not only something I love but it's also something my son loves. Artsonia is making memories for me and my son," said Nicole Marheineke.
The school website is available online at www.artsonia.com/pearidge2.
Community on 01/13/2016