About the Artists

About our Tournament

The idea behind the Arts Madness tournament, much like the idea behind the podcast, is to create a fun way of learning about some familiar artists and discovering new ones. Part of my mission is to recognize art in many different forms from the painting in a gallery to the performance in a music video or an exquisitely decorated cake. I try to include artists from different backgrounds and different stages of their careers all as equals. For this year's tournament, I started by making a list of the artists that have been discussed on the podcast so far. Then to get to 64 I needed to add about a dozen or so more. I pulled those from the list of topics I have prepared for future episodes. After compiling my list of 64 diverse artists, I used a spreadsheet to randomly sort everyone for their positions in the backets.

Each week, I will post the matchups and a form for participants to vote for their favorites. The voting form will simply ask "which is better?" Each voter must decide his or her own criteria for what makes one work of art better than another. Is it about the craftsmanship, the creativity, the expressive qualities? Part of the hope is that this tournament can spark some thoughtful discussions about what we appreciate in a work of art. I hope you enjoy it, maybe discover some new artists you like or would like to learn more about, and of course please tell your friends.

Arts Madness 2024

I am once again posting daily mini-episodes ahead of my annual Arts Madness Tournament. I planned this year's tournament to make it valuable as a classroom resource/activity. 60 of the artists/artworks in this year's tournament are from the list of required works for AP Art History courses in the US. The other 4 are wildcard artists chosen from my most popular episodes.

Beginning the week of February 26, listeners will be able to vote for their favorite artists in a series of head-to-head matchups. Every week half the artists will be eliminated and over 6 weeks, we will narrow the field from 64 down to just 1 ultimate artist/artwork. To make it a little more fun, I will be giving away some Amazon gift cards throughout the tournament.

Here are some of the ways you can win:

Fill out the prediction form stating which artist/artwork you think will win the tournament and why. At the end of February, I will send a $25 gift card to the person who makes the most interesting, unexpected, and compelling argument in favor of their chosen artist. At the end of the tournament, I will randomly select from those who correctly predicted the winning artist.
Leave a kind rating/review on your favorite podcast app. Email a screenshot of a kind rating/review you left on your favorite podcast app to whoartedpodcast@gmail.com using the subject line "Five Stars" At the end of February, I will send a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly selected listener as my way of saying thank you. (the review does not have to be recent, so if you left me a kind rating/review at any point, you can submit a screenshot for a chance to win).

I'll be using my ad money this month to buy gift cards, so the more you listen the more I can give away this spring.

Check out the brackets

Fill out the prediction form at www.whoartedpodcast.com/vote

Resources for Art Teachers:

Check out my Google folder with images of all 64 artworks and QR codes you can print to display in your school.

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