Elmwood Elementary Student Dominic Casamassimo Wins Artsonia Artist of the Week

Mer Fenton
Dec 12 2024

Elmwood Elementary 3rd grade student Dominic Casamassimo has won the Artsonia Artist of the Week in the PreK-3rd category for December 08 - December 14. 

Dominic Casamassimo and his teacher Lauren Guenther pose with awards from Artsonia

With the title, Casamassimo was awarded a $50 Blick art supplies gift card. Elmwood Park was also awarded a $100 Blick card and the school will honor him at the December 18th school board meeting. Additionally, Elmwood Parks Public Works is using his winning piece to wrap parts of the seasonal ice rink in Central Park.

Artsonia is an online art portfolio where students can upload and store their work throughout their educational careers. Elmwood art teacher Lauren Guenther maintains Artsonia profiles for all of her students, uploading the work as they complete it. For students who are interested in pursuing visual art, the ability to maintain a collection of their work can greatly streamline the application process for programs that require portfolios. 

Dominic's art decorating the Central Park ice rink barrels

“It's so nice because the kids I've had for the past four years now have four years of a portfolio”, she said. “My daughter's 21. I have all her work from kindergarten through high school.”

Each week, Artsonia runs their Artist of the Week award, where they select ten pieces from across the country for each age group. Daily public online voting is open for five days, and the piece with the most votes wins. Guenther has maintained portfolios at every school she has taught at in her career, and Casamassimo is her first student to win the award. 

LEFT: Casamassimo's Artist of the Week Snowman,

Right: Casamassimo's Sugar Skull that won Artist of the Year last year

Painting is Casamassimo's favorite medium, which was incorporated into his winning piece. The assignment was centered around a lesson on perspective, shading, and form, where students were challenged to create art of a snowman from a “worm’s-eye-view” This is not his first honor. Last year, he was one of five 2nd grade students recognized for outstanding achievement in art. Guenther was able to order prints of his and other students' work through Artsonia to display around the school.  

“It felt good to win!” he said. He looks forward to entering more competitions in the future.