JACKSON — Artsonia, an Illinois-based art education app company, announced recently that Jackson Elementary School art teacher Angela Schlitt is a recipient of its 2025 Art Education Leadership Award.
“Receiving this award was an incredibly emotional moment for me,” Schlitt said in the release. “I couldn’t help but tear up as I thought of all the students who have touched my heart throughout my teaching career.”
According to the release, Schlitt is one of 15 educators across the country to receive the award, which honors pioneers in the art education community who inspire their peers and engage their students in art.
“Artsonia’s 2025 Art Education Leadership Award serves to honor the passionate, dedicated instructors who teach their students to create and value art, produce innovative lessons, and perpetually motivate their peers on Artsonia,” the release said.
As an art teacher, Schlitt motivates her students to engage in the projects they are working on in class, just like her high school art teacher inspired her passion for art, according to the release.
“The most rewarding part of teaching is seeing that moment when a student discovers their own creativity. It’s when they realize that they are worthy of expressing themselves through art and that someone believes in their ability to create,” Schlitt said in the release.
Schlitt is one of thousands of art teachers from across the world who uses the Artsonia App, which allows students to showcase their art, teachers to crowdsource lesson plans and schools to fundraise for their art classrooms. It is the largest online collection of student artwork, with over 100 million pieces available to view, and allows friends and family to create and purchase organic keepsakes from the students’ art, with 20% of the revenue benefitting local art classrooms.
“One of the tools that has made a significant impact in my classroom is Artsonia,” Schlitt said in the release. “Artsonia gives my students a platform to showcase their artwork, and the feedback they receive from their families boosts their confidence and self-esteem.”
“Artsonia strives to offer art educators a platform to inspire one another,” Jim Meyers, CEO and cofounder of the company, said in the release. “We could not thrive without the dedication and creativity of teachers like Angela who use their online gallery and lesson plans to motivate others. This Art Education Leadership Award is a way for us to honor the hardworking, passionate people who help our children cherish art and develop their creative side.”
