CHS student named national ‘Artist of the Week’ by Artsonia

Calleigh Barrett, a talented sophomore at Columbus High School, has been named ‘Artist of the Week’ for Sept. 28 – Oct. 4 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.

Barrett’s winning artwork, titled ‘Magazine Portrait,’ captured the attention of voters nationwide, receiving over 700 online votes.

“My inspiration for the artwork was that monkeys are one of the animals that I wish to have, and it was more complicated to do and I wanted to challenge myself,” Barrett shared.

When asked how it felt to be named Artist of the Week, Barrett said, “I felt proud of myself, and I didn’t think that I could ever make it there. All the people congratulating and voting for me made me feel seen a lot more.”

Barrett’s art teacher, Jenna Leopold, who has been teaching art for thirteen years, said, “I love seeing students try something they may have never done before and make something they are proud of. It is fun when they surprise themselves with how well their work turns out.”

Leopold expressed pride in her student’s Artist of the Week achievement.

“When students are recognized for that talent and hard work I couldn’t be more proud,” Leopold said.

Leopold 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.

“Artsonia has been the best way for students to keep up with and build an art portfolio of their projects,” Leopold shared. “They can then even look back and reflect on how much they have grown as an artist over the years.”

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.”

Artsonia is the leading online platform for student art portfolios, featuring more than 125 million works of art from students in over 100 countries. The platform helps teachers showcase student art digitally, organize lessons, and fundraise for their classrooms. Families can view student art, leave comments, and order custom keepsakes featuring the artwork. Since 2000, Artsonia has donated nearly $17 million to school art programs through its 20% giveback program. To learn more, visit www.artsonia.com.

Danielle Matousek is the communications officer for Artsonia.