Northridge High Art Instructor Earns National Honor

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Northridge High School art instructor Richard Nowell was announced this week as one of 15 national recipients of Artsonia’s 2022 Art Education Leadership Award.

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Nowell was selected for the award by Artsonia and his peers, with the honor spotlighting pioneers in the art education community who continuously inspire their peers and engage students.

“I am honored to be recognized as an art educator,” Nowell said. “I am inspired by my friends and fine arts colleagues, Suzette Puzinauskas, John Cain, and Beth McGuire,”

Artsonia says Nowell is in his 25th year as an art instructor and one of thousands of art teachers from over 100 countries around the world who use Artsonia to showcase their student art, crowdsource lesson plans and help fundraise for their classrooms.

Artsonia is the world’s largest online student art museum, which features more than 90 million pieces of art, while also allowing family and friends of student artists create, and purchase organic keepsakes from the student art, and then gives back 20 percent of all revenue to the local art classroom.

“Artsonia helps me share my students' art with their families,” Nowell said. “It is invaluable. I cannot tell you how many compliments I get each year for making Artsonia available to my students.”

Jim Meyers, CEO and co-founder of Artsonia, praised Nowell and others for their contributions to education.

“We could not thrive without the commitment and ingenuity of teachers like Richard who use their online gallery and lesson plans to motivate others," he said. "This Art Education Leadership Award is a way for us to recognize the hard-working, passionate people who help our children cherish art and cultivate their creative side.”

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