Podcast
Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages
Hosted by Kyle Wood · EN
Who Arted is art history and art education for everyone. While most art history podcasts focus on the traditional "fine art" we see in museums around the world, Who ARTed celebrates art in all of its forms and in terms anyone can understand. Each episode tells the story of a different artist and artwork including the traditional big names like Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol along with lesser-known artists working in such diverse media as video game design, dance, the culinary arts, and more. Who Arted is written and produced by an art teacher with the goal of creating a classroom resource that makes art history fun and accessible to everyone. Whether you are cramming for your AP Art History exam, trying to learn a few facts so you can sound smart at fashionable dinner parties, or just looking to hear something with a more positive tone, we’ve got you covered with episodes every Monday and Friday.
61episodes
Episodes
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5 Artists Who Take Playing with Their Food to a Whole New Level (encore)
2d ago00:09:40Tap to summarizeToday I thought it would be fun to switch things up a little bit. Instead of focusing on just one artist and artwork, I’ve got 5 artists who work with food in ways most people would never consider. Jason Mecier creates mosaic portraits of celebrities using their favorite snacks, vices, and trash, making him a prominent figure in "junk art." Vik Muniz recreates famous paintings on a large scale using discarded materials, including garbage and chocolate syrup. Conrad Engelhardt crafts pointillist-style mosaics using wine corks, capitalizing on the various wine stains as his color palette. Jim Bachor fills city potholes with custom-made glass and marble tile mosaics, creating unexpected street art. Finally, Kristen Cumings uses thousands of Jelly Belly jelly beans to create vibrant mosaic masterpieces, including portraits and recreations of famous artworks. Cover art for this episode was Big Bird (breakfast cereal) by Jason Mecier. Image courtesy of the artist. I am taking some time off to rest over the summer. I will be putting encore presentations of previous episodes to make it easy for those who subscribe to the feed to discover or rediscover some great artists/works. I will be back with new episodes right around back to school season. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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TLDR Illuminated Manuscripts (encore)
5d ago00:12:09Tap to summarizeIlluminated manuscripts are the stunning, handcrafted books of the medieval world, created through a meticulous process in monastery workshops known as scriptoria. Scribes would copy text onto processed animal skin, or vellum, while artists known as illuminators added intricate illustrations and shimmering gold leaf. The term 'illuminated' comes from this dazzling use of gold and silver, which made the pages glitter like sacred objects. While gold provided the glimmer, the most precious material was often the brilliant blue pigment ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan. In addition to the sacred text, the margins of these books often contained whimsical and bizarre doodles, known as marginalia, featuring everything from knights battling snails to musical monkeys. A pinnacle of this art form is the Book of Kells, a masterpiece of Insular art created by Celtic monks around 800 CE. It is celebrated for its dense, complex Celtic knotwork and vibrant illustrations, most famously on its renowned Chi-Rho page (Folio 34r), a dizzying and meditative work of art that transforms the name of Christ into a sacred image filled with hidden figures and profound symbolism. I am taking some time off to rest over the summer. I will be putting encore presentations of previous episodes to make it easy for those who subscribe to the feed to discover or rediscover some great artists/works. I will be back with new episodes right around back to school season. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Joan Miró | The Farm (encore)
1w ago00:10:22Tap to summarizeJoan Miró, a renowned Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, was born in Barcelona on April 20, 1893. Initially steered towards business, Miró's true passion was art. He studied at Barcelona's La Llotja School of Fine Arts and later the Escola d'Art. A period of illness led him to Mont-roig del Camp, a pivotal experience that solidified his commitment to painting and connection to nature. Miró absorbed influences from Fauvism and Cubism, joining the Courbet Group. In 1920, he moved to Paris, befriending Picasso and experiencing poverty, which fueled his art. His work The Farm marked a shift away from realism, and he later embraced Surrealism, developing a unique symbolic language. I am taking some time off to rest over the summer. I will be putting encore presentations of previous episodes to make it easy for those who subscribe to the feed to discover or rediscover some great artists/works. I will be back with new episodes right around back to school season. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Alfred Stieglitz | The Steerage (encore)
2w ago00:11:10Tap to summarizeI am taking some time off to rest over the summer. I will be putting encore presentations of previous episodes to make it easy for those who subscribe to the feed to discover or rediscover some great artists/works. I will be back with new episodes right around back to school season. Alfred Stieglitz is considered by many to be the father of modern photography. He looked at the camera as not simply a tool to document the world, but an artistic medium. His photograph The Steerage from 1907 is possibly his most famous work. As he set out on a European vacation, Alfred and his family were in first class, but he did not feel comfortable. He went out onto the deck and looked down at the people on the lower deck, the steerage. He said he wished he could mingle with them and he was struck by the lines and shapes on the ship as well as on the people's clothing. Everything about the scene laid out before him felt like a modern artwork and he sought to create a photograph using those lines and shapes to express his feeling in the moment. He ran back to his room and got his camera but only had one glass plate, one shot to capture the scene. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Possibilities
2w ago00:41:35Tap to summarizePossibilities is a groundbreaking documentary that explores the enduring legacy of Helen Keller and the contemporary experiences of individuals who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision. My guest this week is Tony Stevens, one of the producers of the film and Assistant Vice President of Communications at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). The film bridges historical achievements with modern accessibility advocacy. It captures the everyday lives of 33 diverse people challenging pervasive misconceptions about visual impairment. The narrative grounds Keller's monumental impact such as her travels to 39 countries as a goodwill ambassador and receiving an honorary doctorate from Harvard, in the present-day realities of the disability rights movement. The film pioneers an innovative, highly inclusive approach to cinematic storytelling by fully integrating open audio description for all audiences. Rather than treating accessibility as a post-production afterthought, the production team incorporated it early in the process to craft a universally shared viewing experience. The audio description, voiced by narrator Satana Howery, deliberately breaks the fourth wall to transform a traditionally functional accessibility feature into a vital, artistic storytelling element. On June 27, 2026, Helen Keller’s 146th birthday, AFB’s award-winning documentary Possibilities made its global streaming debut. Start watching today by searching for Possibilities on Apple TV, Prime Video, Tubi, Biblio+, and Kanopy Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Claes Oldenburg (encore)
3w ago00:08:16Tap to summarizeClaes 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. I am taking some time off to rest over the summer. I will be putting encore presentations of previous episodes to make it easy for those who subscribe to the feed to discover or rediscover some great artists/works. I will be back with new episodes right around back to school season. Related Episodes: Andy Warhol Roy Lichtenstein Yayoi Kusama Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jack Kirby (encore)
3w ago00:09:11Tap to summarizeJack Kirby created some of the biggest names in the golden age of comics including: Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk. He basically populated the Marvel Universe. In 1970 though he felt like he wasn't getting the credit he deserved there and left Marvel for DC. There he created a series, Fourth World which I imagine he thought would demonstrate his brilliance and make Marvel wish they hadn’t blown it with him. The series was a commercial flop so maybe not the great “I told you so” he likely envisioned as he left Marvel for their rival, but some of the New Gods from the series live on in the DC Universe. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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TLDR Sol LeWitt
4w ago00:13:48Tap to summarizeSol LeWitt was a pioneering American artist who played a crucial role in defining the Minimalist and Conceptual art movements. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1928 to Russian immigrant parents, LeWitt pursued his early education in fine arts at Syracuse University before serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Following his military service, he moved to New York City in 1953, where he immersed himself in the shifting art scene, studying at the School of Visual Arts and working as a graphic designer for the architect I.M. Pei. While working at the Museum of Modern Art in 1960 alongside other emerging artists like Dan Flavin and Robert Ryman, LeWitt began to actively reject the emotional subjectivity of Abstract Expressionism. His theories shifted the focus of artmaking from physical craftsmanship to intellectual concept, famously asserting that the idea behind a piece serves as a machine that generates the artwork itself. LeWitt’s revolutionary style took the form of three-dimensional "structures" often utilizing open geometric progressions based on the cube and his famous, large-scale wall drawings. Beginning in 1968, he stopped executing these wall drawings himself, instead authoring sets of instructions and diagrams for assistants or gallery technicians to follow. A prime example of this methodology is Wall Drawing #118, first executed in 1971, which relies on a strict instruction to place 50 random points on a wall and connect them all with straight lines, mathematically yielding exactly 1,225 lines regardless of who installs it. Beyond his independent creative output, LeWitt was deeply integrated into the artistic community as an avid collector, amassing thousands of pieces primarily by trading his own work with contemporaries. He continued his influential practice in Connecticut until his death in 2007 at the age of 78. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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TLDR Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple
Jun 2200:15:51Tap to summarizeQueen Hatshepsut reigned as the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty during Egypt’s New Kingdom period. Initially occupying the traditional role of queen consort to her half-brother Thutmose II, she assumed the regency for her infant stepson, Thutmose III, following her husband's death around 1479 BCE. By the seventh year of her regency, she broke with Egyptian tradition by officially crowning herself pharaoh and establishing a co-regency that lasted for two decades. To legitimize her authority within a political theology historically tied to male deities and the preservation of cosmic order (ma'at), Hatshepsut utilized art as a powerful tool of political propaganda. She commissioned hundreds of statues depicting her with masculine physical traits including a muscular torso, traditional royal kilt, and ceremonial false beard, while intentionally maintaining feminine titles, pronouns, and grammatical endings in accompanying written inscriptions. Her reign prioritized domestic stability, international trade revitalization, and an extensive monumental building campaign over military expansion. The crowning achievement of her building campaign is her mortuary temple, Djeser-Djeseru ("Holy of Holies"), located on the west bank of the Nile River across from the ancient religious capital of Thebes. Designed by her chief architect and closest advisor, Senenmut, this multi-tiered complex rises 80 feet high and features three broad, stacked terraces connected by central ramps that integrate seamlessly into the surrounding limestone cliffs. The temple walls are adorned with detailed relief carvings documenting her divine birth narrative which claimed she was the biological daughter of the supreme god Amun-Re, as well as her famous Year 9 maritime expedition to the Land of Punt, which returned with luxury goods and 31 live myrrh trees. Late in his independent reign, roughly 20 years after her death, her successor Thutmose III enacted a systematic campaign of damnatio memoriae, defacing her monuments and smashing her statues to preserve a strict line of male succession. This targeted vandalism successfully obscured her legacy for millennia until late 19th and early 20th-century archaeological excavations uncovered the fragments, allowing modern scholars to learn more about her true significance. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Check out my other podcasts Fun Facts Daily | 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 megaphone.fm/adchoices
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James McNeill Whistler | Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Encore)
Jun 1900:16:03Tap to summarizeJames Abbott McNeill Whistler was a prominent figure in the Aesthetic Movement focusing on "Art for art's sake." One of Whistler's most renowned works is "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1," widely known as "Whistler's Mother," painted in 1871. This oil on canvas depicts his mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, seated in profile. Despite Whistler's insistence that the painting be appreciated for its formal qualities, its subtle harmonies of grey and black and balanced composition, it has garnered widespread sentimental appeal as a profound depiction of maternal dignity and old age. The painting, initially met with mixed reviews in London, achieved masterpiece status in Paris and was acquired by the French state. Its enduring presence in popular culture, including its use as a symbol of American motherhood during the Great Depression, showcases its unique blend of artistic innovation and emotional resonance, continuing to captivate audiences over a century and a half after its creation. Listen Ad-Free on Patreon. For just $3 per month, you can get ad-free versions of Fun Facts Daily, Who ARTed and Art Smart. Head over to https://www.patreon.com/cw/FunFactsDailyPod if you are interested. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab The image used in the episode cover art came from Adobe's stock photos. Fun Facts Daily 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
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