Mona Lisa’s smile inspires young artists

The Olympian's art page showcases artwork from students across all grades and schools in the districts we cover. Look for the weekly feature each Friday on the education page.

Fourth-graders in Jill Giudice's art class at Seven Oaks Elementary School learned about Leonardo da Vinci and his famous 16th century portrait, "Mona Lisa." Students used oil pastels to draw their own portraits and answer the question, "Why is Mona Lisa smiling?"

Go to www.theolympian.com/education to view submissions in full color.

Here are the guidelines:

• We prefer scanned JPG copies of any size artwork. Olympia and Tumwater districts can e-mail artwork to vbuhain@ theolympian.com; North Thurston Public Schools and all other districts can e-mail submissions to dhuber@theolympian.com.

• Teachers also can burn the JPG copies to a compact disc and mail the disc or drop it off at The Olympian, 111 Bethel St. N.E., Olympia, WA 98506.

• Submissions of original artwork must be 81/2 by 11 inches. They can be submitted in person or mailed to P.O. Box 1219, Olympia, WA 98507. They may also be submitted electronically. Include in the heading: "Artwork" and the student's name.

• Please include the student's first and last names, age, grade, school and a contact telephone number. We would also like a school photo via e-mail, if possible, so we can run students' pictures alongside their artwork.

• We will keep original submissions for one month for pickup on request. Parents can pick up artwork at the front desk Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. except holidays. Please call a day ahead so we know to bring the artwork to the front.

• The Olympian cannot guarantee all submissions will run and will choose art based on a cross-section of grades and schools. Some artwork does not reproduce well.

Please direct questions to education reporters Diane Huber, 360-357-0204, and Venice Buhain, 360-754-5445.