Our Story
Overview
Art Wars are live events, held in different cities throughout the United States. Our goal is to provide a live entertainment experience by getting artists out of the studio and sharing their creative workflow with an audience.
This is a round robin type tournament where four artists compete, two artists from each battle move on to the next round. Sixteen artists are narrowed down to eight, to four and to one winner.
Throw Down - # of artists varies
Round 1 - 16 artists
Round 2 - 8 artists
Round 3 - 4 artists
At each battle, the artists have two hours to create their piece of work based on a theme provided. The artwork is then voted on by a combination of the audience and a jury. Two artists move on from each battle until the third round when a single Art Wars Champion is crowned and awarded the grand prize of at least $1,000!
Events are free to attend, and open to all ages, but a voting ticket costs $5. The money goes back to the artists as well as the running grand prize pot. After the Throw Down the competing artists will make money each round they participate in, regardless if they win or lose!
For even more detail on how Art Wars works, please visit our website!
www.idreammachine.com/art-wars
History
Founded in 2011 by Zeke Zelker and Steven Leibensperger, Lehigh Valley Art Wars has become an extremely popular event and something that the arts community looks forward to. “For there to be lines out the door of various establishments to watch artists create is extraordinarily gratifying. The goal is for artists to gain exposure and earn income,” states Zelker. The winning artist Alex Clare, last year made enough money to put a down payment on a house. Stephanie Smith credits the Lehigh Valley Art Wars as being the catalyst to open her own studio and Matt Nixon has had numerous gallery showings since his participation in the Lehigh Valley Art Wars. “What we’re doing, is working, and it’s really exciting to see.” Thousands of people attended the events and the artists all made money.
