Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Bosko Hrnjak is a multidisciplinary artist best known for his tiki inspired wood carvings and ceramics. In this episode, he was kind enough to sit down and share a bit about his artistic journey. We talked about his inspiration growing up in California surrounded by mid century modern tiki. He also shared a lot of the history and development from Polynesian roots to pop culture. Bosko also shared...

Shigeru Miyamoto has developed some of the most popular games of all time including Mario which is the most successful game franchise ever. Mario has actually been in 250 videogames and The Super Mario Brothers movie was the first major motion picture ever made based on a videogame. Well maybe that one was a little regrettable, but I’m sure the next Mario movie will be great.  Interestingly though...

Today, Renoir is remembered as one of the greatest painters of the Impressionist movement. His paintings are soft and delicate, but his life and his work was a painful struggle. Most painters pride themselves on their ability to work with their hands. They spend years practicing, developing fine motor skills and muscle memory to easily render a beautiful image, but Renoir’s hands weren’t on board...

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, k...

In LaGrange Illinois just a bit West of the city of Chicago, The Nettie J McKinnon Art Collection consists of around 120 artworks and today it is valued in the millions of dollars. From 1929 to 1960, students would raise money to buy artworks including pieces by big names like John Singer Sargent. The collection was created by and for the benefit of the students so classes can tour the gallery loc...

Diego Velazques was one of the most significant painters of Spain's Golden Age in the 17th century. He was a master of both portraiture and genre painting, Las Meninas is a sort of mix of both. We see people who seem rather formally dressed by today’s standards, but the subject is also, it was a peak behind the curtain of royal life. Withing the work, the first focal point would be the little girl...

June is pride month and I thought it might be nice to make a little episode covering some fun facts about rainbows and different colors. Links to related episodes Henri Matisse | The Desert: Harmony in Red Killer Wallpaper The Primary Colors DayGlo Colors Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on...

Amedeo Modigliani, a rebellious Italian painter, left a lasting mark on the art world with his distinctive style and captivating portraits. Born in Livorno in 1884, his early life was marked by illness and a dramatic incident that saved his family from financial ruin. Modigliani's art, influenced by diverse sources like Cezanne, Brancusi, and African sculpture, is characterized by elongated figure...

Amrita Sher-Gil, born in 1913 to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian-Jewish opera singer, was a trailblazing artist who blended European and Indian influences. After studying art in Paris and achieving early success at the Grand Salon, she returned to India in 1934. Though initially met with resistance due to her modern style, Sher-Gil's evocative portrayals of Indian life and her unique fusion of c...

Heinrich Campendonk may not be a household name, but he was a part of some of the most influential groups of 20th century modernism. He was a part of The Blue Rider Group then a teacher at The Bauhaus. A few years ago, he grabbed headlines as Wolfgang Betracchi was caught trying to forge a Campendonk painting. Related episodes: Wolfgang Beltracchi | The Art of Fraud Bauhaus Parties Wassily Kandins...

Wolfgang Beltracchi is possibly the most artful forgers ever to have gotten into the game. While most would create a forgery by meticulously copying every line, shape and color in a known masterpiece, Beltracchi studied the artist then made his own original compositions imagining what the artist would have painted. In this episode, I talked to my fellow art teacher and art crime enthusiast, Emily...

Kawaii is a Japanese word translating to something like "cute" or "adorable" but it is much more than that. While kawaii figures tug at the heartstrings with their big eyes and baby-like proportions making them seem helpless and vulnerable, kawaii can also represent a rebellious spirit. Check out my other podcast Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you a...

This is an encore presentation of my episode about Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield. My guest for this episode was Lindsey Little, creator of the Oni Girl comic. Here is her link tree for all the places to find her and her work https://linktr.ee/OniGirl Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on...

It was early evening just a few minutes from closing time at the National Museum when suddenly the normally peaceful museum took on the aesthetic of an action movie. An armed intruder walked in yelling at the guards and patrons to be still and calm which I have to assume had the exact opposite effect. He had two accomplices already in the space and they apparently were trained on the guards. Meanw...

Sandro Botticelli, born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, was a renowned Florentine painter during the Renaissance. By the 1470s, Botticelli established his own workshop and gained recognition for his unique style. He received commissions from wealthy patrons, including the powerful Medici family. For the Medici, Botticelli painted portraits and created allegorical and mythological works th...

Walt Disney started making silly fun cartoon shorts, but he had a vision to elevate animation to the status of a feature film capturing the full scope of human emotions in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Nobody believed he could do it. While there had been some feature length animations in other countries, they flopped. Disney pioneered new techniques to draw audiences into his fairy tale world....

Berthe Morisot was among the most successful French Impressionist painters during her lifetime. Today she is less well known than her peers like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, but in the 19th century, she was the more bankable artist. She was accepted in the Paris Salon, but ultimately she left the salon to participate in the first exhibition of the Impressionists. In this episode we disc...

Origami is the Japanese art of folded paper sculpture. It is a tradition that is basically as old as paper. In the 6th century CE, Buddhist monks brought paper from China to Japan. While origami has been practiced for hundreds of years, it has gone through some drastic changes in the way it was perceived by people. Early on when paper was really expensive and labor intensive to produce, origami wa...

Frank Stella first rose to prominence with his black paintings in 1959. He was a leader of the minimalist movement and at the age of just 23, Stella showed his work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. While he was first known for his minimalist work, Stella reinvented himself throughout his career. His constant experimentation with form, color, and materials continues to inspire generations o...

Neil Harbisson is a contemporary artist who hears colors. He deliberately chose to hear colors and to make that happen, he underwent surgery which has caused him to become the first person ever to be issued a government ID recognizing him as a cyborg. Harbisson has a condition known as achromatopsia. For him and others with complete achromatopsia, all three types of cones in the retina are nonfunc...

Michelangelo Merisi, born in 1571 amidst the darkness of the plague, would come to be known not by his christened name but by the name of his birthplace – Caravaggio. Orphaned young, the specter of loss would forever paint itself onto the canvas of his life. Yet, from this darkness, a genius of light and shadow would emerge, revolutionizing the art world with his raw and dramatic style. While cont...

This is an encore presentation of my episode about how DayGlo colors work and how they were developed by a pair of brothers in the 1930s. Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who 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 me...

Steven Seidenberg is an incredible photographer and in this episode, I spoke with Steven Seidenberg and the writer, Carolyn White about a little-known bit of history in Post World War 2 Italy. His latest book The Architecture of Silence: Abandoned Lives of the Italian South documents the ruins of a failed policy that gave impoverished people a bit of land and housing without the infrastructure nee...

Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022), the Swedish-born American sculptor, wasn't your typical artist. He wasn't interested in grand figures or historical scenes. Instead, he found inspiration in the most unexpected places: the everyday objects that cluttered our lives. His art, a blend of Pop Art and gigantic whimsy, continues to transform cityscapes around the world. Related Episodes: Andy Warhol Roy Lich...

Jess Phoenix is a designer based out of Seattle, Washington. She is known for making bright, bold floral patterns. She was nice enough to sit down with me to share her history, her influences and her process. Find Jess Phoenix online: Website: www.jessphoenix.com Instagram: @Jessraephoenix Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If y...