Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a Nigerian-born artist who moved to America as a teen and her work Predecessors looks at how her family has changed over generations. She uses painting and collage techniques to share her memories and connect different aspects of her identity as she has roots in both Nigeria and America.If you want to learn more, check out the full episode I recorded with Janet Taylor, an artist, art teacher, and writer for The Art of Education University.Njideka Akunyili Crosby (full episode)Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Rothko is one of the most famous painters of the Abstract Expressionist movement. While many look at his paintings as simple rectangles of various colors, he sought to express much deeper ideas and emotions in the most simple and direct way possible. He meticulously layered washes of oil paint to achieve deep, rich colors on massive canvases that overwhelm the viewer. The Seagram Murals were initially commissioned for an upscale restaurant in the building designed by Mies van der Rohe, but after eating there and seeing the space, Rothko returned the money and kept his paintings in storage because he felt the patrons would not understand and appreciate his work. Check out my Spotify playlist of artists who started in a field other than art.Mark Rothko is one of the artists on the AP Art History list. Check out my AP Art History Cram Session playlist to learn about other artists/works from AP Art History.If you are struggling or in crisis, https://988lifeline.org/ or phone 988 can help. It is free and confidential. Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Fallen Astronaut" is a 3.5-inch aluminum sculpture created by Belgian artist Paul van Hoeydonck and placed on the moon in 1971 by astronaut David Scott to commemorate fallen astronauts and cosmonauts. The sculpture, depicting a stylized human figure, was secretly brought aboard Apollo 15 and has remained on the moon since. While Van Hoeydonck intended to sell replicas, NASA's policy against commercial exploitation prevented this. This artwork, while not the first in space, represents a significant artistic and cultural achievement, symbolizing humanity's exploration of space and honoring those who lost their lives in the pursuit. Van Hoeydonck's artistic career was marked by experimentation and innovation, with the "Fallen Astronaut" reflecting his minimalist aesthetic and fascination with space and technology.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist known for his innovative style and contributions to the Op Art movement. One of Vasarely's most famous works is "Zebra," created in 1937. This painting showcases his ability to create optical illusions through the use of black and white stripes. When viewed from a distance, the stripes appear to vibrate and create a sense of movement. This technique, known as the "Vasarely effect," became a hallmark of his style. The Zebra painting is considered to be the first Op Art painting.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charuvi Agrawal made a name for herself with a stunning computer-animated film about Hanuman. In 2014, she grabbed more headlines as she created a record-setting 25-foot tall monumental work comprised of 26,000 bells. Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alma Woodsey Thomas was an African American artist who lived from 1891 to 1978. Her family moved from Columbus, Georgia to Washington, DC in 1907 to escape segregation and seek better opportunities. Thomas graduated from Howard University with a degree in art and later received a Master's in Art from Columbia University. Although she worked as a teacher for many years, she continued to pursue art and eventually became known for her abstract works characterized by mosaic-like splashes of color. Thomas found inspiration in nature and focused on expressing beauty and happiness through her art. Despite facing challenges as a Black woman, she achieved recognition and success, including a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By the 1960s Roy Lichtenstein was intrigued by the ideas of pop art and began dabbling in the style. Of course, if you want fresh new ideas, the best source is often the younger generation. Roy Lichtenstein was pushed by his young son. One day in 1961, the younger Lichtenstein taunted his father holding up his copy of the Disney book Donald Duck: Lost and Found. He pointed to an illustration and said, “I bet you can’t draw something as good as that?” In what can only be described as one of the greatest “so there’s” of all time Roy Lichtenstein made a direct copy of the illustration painting onto a canvas four feet tall and almost six feet wide. In doing so, he was not only successful in sticking it to his son, Roy Lichtenstein became a tremendous success in the art world.Episodes to check out for further learning: Who ARTed - Roy Lichtenstein Art Smart - Pop Art Art Smart - Abstract Expressionism Who ARTed - Zaria Forman Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, Banksy's painting, Girl with Balloon went up for auction. As the gavel sounded to announce a winning bid of about $1 million, everyone in the room was stunned to see the painting begin to self-destruct. Banksy had concealed a shredder in the bottom of the gold frame. Interestingly, the shredding only increased the value of the piece. When it went up for auction again in 2021, the shredded painting sold for over $20 million. Banksy has become a polarizing figure in the art world. Some dismiss him as a petty vandal seeking publicity with cheap gimmicks and pranks. Others see him as a significant figure elevating street art with pieces that are thoughtful and subversive mixing political statements with humor to make them more palatable.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular contemporary artists with her infinity rooms drawing massive crowds wherever they are installed. In the infinity rooms, the walls are covered in mirrors creating reflections of reflections that seem to go on forever. This idea of playing with reflections was a fixture in Kusama’s work pretty much from the start. As I covered in my previous episode about Yayoi Kusama, she grew up in Japan where her family owned a nursery. She was surrounded by plans and looked at nature around her imagining not only what was beyond the mountains in the landscape, but what was inside the plants, the rocks, the dirt. This is where we get her signature polka dots. She refers to the repeated dots as Infiniti nets, a visualization of the structures that make up all of the things in our world and even our universe. It seems fitting that in 1966, she created Narcissus Garden to catapult her career to the next level. The piece consisted of an installation of 1,500 reflective spheres. It feels both personal to Kusama and simultaneously generic as the woman who grew up at her family's garden nursery installed a garden of mass-produced mirrored spheres. In 1966, she accompanied the installation with a performance as she dressed in a gold kimono and sold the mirrored balls for $2 each.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bridget Riley, born in London in 1931, is a prominent figure in the Op Art movement. Early life experiences, including wartime evacuation to Cornwall and exposure to nature's patterns, influenced her artistic sensibilities. Her style evolved with influences from Seurat, Pollock, and Balla. Riley's breakthrough came in the 1960s with black and white geometric paintings like "Fall" and "Current," which created illusions of movement and depth. Her work gained international recognition through exhibitions like "The Responsive Eye" at MoMA. Riley's exploration of color and form continues to challenge viewers' perceptions and solidify her place in art history. A key work, "Movement in Squares" (1961), exemplifies her innovative use of simple elements to produce dynamic optical effects, marking a pivotal moment in Op Art and influencing various fields beyond fine art.Arts Madness 2025Season 11 is all about my Arts Madness Tournament. Once again, I hope you will weigh in on your favorite artists/artworks as we go from 64 down to 1. For this year’s tournament, I put 32 works from the AP Art History list in one bracket, and on the other side, I have 32 artists/works from my personal “Salon des Refusés” that were not included in the curriculum. Voting for Round 1 will begin Monday, February 24. In the meantime, learn about all the different artists/artworks. I will be posting daily mini episodes for 64 days (mostly encore presentations with some updates and new episodes most Mondays).Arts Madness 2025 links: The Brackets Vote in the Current Round Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices