Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott High Students Art Available On The Internet

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Anyone interested in art can check it out on the Internet at www.hugginghands.org to see for yourself.

Sandra Anderson Shope, Prescott High School art teacher, teamed up with Hugging Hands to display her students' artwork on the Hugging Hands Website for the entire world to view and appreciate. Hugging Hands is a non-profit kids art museum that features art from young people all over the world.

Prescott High School was one of hundreds from around the world that participated in the Art Around the World program, sponsored by Hugging Hands, and is the second school from Arkansas to have artworks displayed.

"I learned about the site at my Arkansas Art Educators fall conference in November and came back eager to get my students' artwork online," explained Shope. The work was photographed with the school digital camera and then e-mailed to Hugging Hands International.

Visit the Hugging Hands museum to see thousands of pieces of art from kids age two to 18. The museum consists of many galleries organized by the artists' age, school and country. The website provides a way for all visitors to express their opinions and appreciation by writing a comment or giving the artwork a 'virtual' hug.

Hugging Hands International, a non-profit organization started by employees of Andersen Consulting, plans to create the world's largest kids art museum on the Internet and use it as a means of helping less fortunate kids in the world. As Hugging Hands art museum grows, it raises funds through corporate sponsorships and donates these funds to children's charities throughout the world.

At present there are 25 pieces of artwork from PHS and more are to be added in the next few weeks. They have been viewed 812 times and received a total of 186 'hugs.'

To quickly find the artwork of the Prescott High students, go to http://www.hugginghands.org/aatw and then click on Prescott High School. "And don't forget to give the young artists a 'virtual' hug," Shope said.