Art Madness 2025: The Finalists

Art Madness 2025: The Finalists

Let’s meet SAMA’s 2025 Art Madness Top Four! After many close matches, here is what made it to the final rounds. 🏀

Make sure to participate in the final round of voting on Friday, April 4th. *Polls will be available on Facebook and Instagram!

*Polls are now closed.

Lioness-headed Goddess, Egyptian, ca. 664-332 B.C., Bronze, h. 25 1/2 in. (64.8 cm); w. 5 in. (12.7 cm); d. 5 in. (12.7 cm), Museum Purchase: Stark-Willson Collection, 86.138.223

Lioness-headed Goddess 

Date: 664–332 B.C | Origin: Egypt 
Height: 25 1/2 inches 

This statuette is of Wadjet, patron goddess of Lower Egypt. It may have had an ichneumon a type of mongoose native to Egypt, inside its hollow throne. 

Vessel in the Form of a Dog, Mexico, Colima, ca. 200 B.C.-1500 A.D., Earthenware with slip, height: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm), width: 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm), depth: 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm), Gift of Ira and Leah Franklin, 99.7

Vessel in the form of a Dog

Date: ca. 200 B. C.–A.D. 1500 | Origin: Mexico 
Height: 9 1/2 inches 

Dogs served as pets, guards, bed-warmers, and as a source of nutrition for the Colima. They also play a spiritual role as guides through the underworld and were important actors in the creation of the world. 

Tree of Life, Mexico, ca. 1968, Painted ceramic, height: 69 in. (175.3 cm), width: 61 in. (154.9 cm), Gift of Mexican Government (Hemisfair Confluence Museum, 1968), 69.13.43

Tree of Life 🏆

Date: ca. 1968 | Origin: Mexico 
Height: 69 inches 

Trees of life are a standard of Mexican popular art. Typically handmade from clay, they have a tree-like structure. The limbs may be decorated with flowers, angels, animals, or other items to convey different themes. 

🏆 The Tree of Life is our 2025 Art Madness Champion! 🏆

Julian Onderdonk, American, 1882 – 1922, Near San Antonio, ca. 1918, Oil on canvas, 30 3/4 × 41 in. (78.1 × 104.1 cm.), Gift of Mr. and Mrs. I.L. Ellwood, 84.103

Near San Antonio 

Date: ca. 1918 | Artist: Julian Onderdonk 
Origin: Texas | Height: 30 3/4 inches 

Julian was trained by his father, Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, as well as by William Merritt Chase, the legendary American Impressionist. One of his most popular subjects was the explosion of wildflowers, especially the bluebonnet.