Podcast appearances and mentions of james prosek

This is a special live episode that was recorded at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. The event was centered around the museum's ongoing exhibition titled Trespassers: James Prosek and the Texas Prairie, and the episode features a fascinating on-stage conversation with artist and past podcast guest James Prosek and art curator Spencer Wigmore. - Trespassers is an exhibit about grasslands– specifically, James examines how we think about and define America's imperiled prairie ecosystem. Over the course of more than two years, James traveled throughout Texas and the Southern Plains, visiting private ranches and urban restoration sites, and he was often accompanied by some of Texas's most well-renowned grasslands experts. He investigated ideas around how our man-made boundaries and concepts attempt to define grasslands, and how grasslands often do not conform to our desires to control them. He examines ideas around fire, species classification, conservation, and natural history, and the end result is a collection of more than 20 mind-blowing paintings and sculptures. - As the curator for this exhibit, Spencer played a very unique role throughout the entire project– he was the one who initially approached James with the idea, he accompanied James on many of his grasslands road trips, and he even arranged the exhibit in its stunning space within the museum. So I loved learning about the collaboration between artist and curator, how they complimented each other's personalities, and how they ultimately worked together to bring this spectacular collection of meaningful art into the world. - As you probably remember from my first podcast conversation with James, he's a deep thinker who has spent his entire career digging into the nuances of our natural world. And Spencer's depth of understanding of art history and the artistic process– as well as his ability to communicate his knowledge in a fun and engaging way– is second to none.  So I know you'll enjoy this conversation that covers everything from broad, big-picture ideas around the philosophies of defining species, all the way down to the details of how James created such intricate, delicate sculptures. Be sure to check out the episode notes for a full list of everything we discussed. - I'd encourage you to visit the episode webpage, as I have included a gallery of images of the exhibit that will serve as a great reference point for some of our discussions. And the nice folks at the Carter also recorded a video of the entire event, that is embedded on my webpage and available on Youtube.  Follow the link in the notes to access all of that. - The episode starts with a kind introduction from The Carter's Manager of Adult Programming, Madeleine Fitzgerald and then James, Spencer, and I begin our conversation.  I hope you enjoy! --- Amon Carter Museum of American Art Trespassers: James Prosek and the Texas Prairie James Prosek Spencer Wigmore Watch the YouTube video Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/carter/ --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:00 - Welcome statements 10:45 - How the Trespassers exhibition came about in Spencer's mind, and how it landed for James 19:15 - Comparing American grasslands to the Great Pyramids 23:45 - James' painting process 29:15 - Spencer's role as curator 34:00 - Discussing the work Fort Worth Composition No. 1 37:45 - Discussing James' interest in silhouettes  42:30 - James' use of bronze to depict burned logs 47:00 - James' clay flowers 50:15 - The biggest surprise in this project for Spencer 54:00  -What James has learned about grasslands since finishing the project 1:01:15 - James' read on the state of western grasslands conservation 1:06:15 - James' book recommendations  1:09:30 - How Spencer sets up the gallery space 1:14:00 - Audience questions begin 1:14:45 - Spencer's and James' relationship to Fort Worth, and whether or not they found remnant prairies there 1:20:00 - Where Spencer and James feel the anti-fire bias came from? 1:23:30 - Inquiring about the significance of a Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout in one of James' works 1:26:15 - Whether or not James or Spencer did some fly fishing as a part of their research for this project --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Support Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts

James Prosek is an artist, writer, and naturalist whose work deeply examines our relationship with the natural world. Over the course of his career, he's focused his artist's eye and philosopher's mind on everything from trout to eels, from birds to ocean fishes. For the past two years, he's been focused on understanding and documenting the grasslands of Texas, and he's traveled the state examining the diverse plants and wildlife that call the prairie ecosystem home. Beginning on September 16, 2023, the results of his journey around Texas will be on display at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, in his new exhibition titled Trespassers: James Prosek and the Texas Prairie. - James was born in Connecticut and, as you'll hear in our conversation, much of his childhood was spent obsessed with birds, fish, and fishing. He attended Yale Univesity, where at age 19 he published his first book titled Trout: An Illustrated History, which featured seventy of his watercolor paintings of the trout of North America. From there, his curiosity about the natural world continued to intensify, as evidenced by his prolific production of art and writing for many renowned museums and publications. He has also lent his talents to a variety of conservation efforts, most notably his partnership with Yvon Chionard to protect coldwater fisheries habitat. - James and I share many mutual friends and interests, so it was wonderful to connect with him for this conversation. It'll only take you a few minutes of listening to realize that James is a deep thinker whose art is the manifestation of his extremely nuanced and fascinating ideas and philosophies. We started out talking about his first memory of interacting with nature, and how he has used drawing and journaling as tools to better understand plants, animals, and concepts. We discuss how the idea of naming plants and animals is an imperfect science, how drawing connects us with our evolutionary past, how philosophy and philosophical thinking inform all of his art, grasslands in Texas, the importance of understanding and respecting place, how James snaps out of creative slumps, his writing process, and he offers plenty of book recommendations. - As is the case with so many of my guests, I could've talked to James for many more hours. So thankfully, this conversation is part one of what will be a two-episode series with James. The second episode will be a live event at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, on Thursday, January 11, 2024. We'll be continuing this conversation, and we'll be focusing in more detail on his exploration of the Texas Prairie and his new exhibition, Trespassers. We'll be releasing more information about this event soon, but I'd love to see some of you at the event in Fort Worth on January 11. - A huge thank you to James for his inspiring art, to the Amon Carter Museum for the opportunity to chat with James, and to all of you for listening. Enjoy! --- James Prosek Trespassers: James Prosek and the Texas Prairie James on Instagram --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 3:15 - James' first memory of interacting with nature 7:00 - When journaling and drawing became standard practices for James 10:15 - James' view on drawing and its connection to our evolutionary past as hunters  15:15 - How drawing fish made James a better angler 20:45 - How names affect our thinking about other organisms 24:15 - The art that James engaged in parallel to fishing 28:00 - How James sharpens his philosophy  39:45 - James' writing process 43:00 - How James establishes connections with places 1:00:15 - Whether or not James has gone through an artistic slump 1:10:00 - James' parting words of wisdom --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Support Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts

Hello dear listeners!   In today's episode, I'm delighted to talk with Indian Jones of our time - James Prosek. We will explore how illustrations and paintings of nature contribute to preserve and inspire people to cherish wildlife. In recent months I've seen more and more art exhibitions related to nature, and today, I have the pleasure to chat with an artist who comes to art through his life-long love of nature. James is an American artist, famous for his detailed portrayal of natural creatures. His best-known work is Trout: An Illustrated History, published at the age of 19 when he was still studying English Literature at Yale.  Gifted with multifaceted talents, James has been capturing biodiversity of the natural world, not only by paintings but also by writing and filmmaking. He has written for The New York Times and National Geographic Magazine and won a Peabody Award in 2003 for his documentary about traveling through England in the footsteps of Izaak Walton.  We started our conversation from exploring James's past and his Indiana Jones-style trips across the entire world. We then explored his art techniques and unique materials he recently worked with. Last but not least, we talked about the long term problem with boundaries between our language and nature and why James is so passionate to change the way how we are classifying, collecting and naming natural creatures. Lastly, please forgive me for the background noise in the first 20 minutes of our discussion, we started our conversation at James's show opening and soon after it began to be very noisy, so we moved to one of the conference rooms which was much better for podcasting. Ps. If you are in Hong Kong between 6 July and 8 September 2019, you must see James's newest show "the Hidden Forests" the Asia Society. You can find more information about the exhibition on the show notes. James Prosek website: www.troutsite.com James IG:  @jamesprosek Arta website: www.artaapp.com Arta IG: @artaapps HIDDEN FORESTS SHOW Show dates: 6 July - 8 August 2019  Address: Asia Society, 9 Justice Drive Admiralty Hong Kong  Info: Asia Society Hong Kong Center presents Hidden Forests, a summer arts and culture project offering many events, programs and experiences for all ages. Focusing on local ecology, Hidden Forests celebrates Hong Kong’s trees and biodiversity and promotes the importance of caring for the environment. Inspired as a response to Hong Kong’s devastating loss of trees caused by the tropical cyclone Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018, Hidden Forests includes an art exhibition, a music series, community workshops and nature tours that explore the significance of trees to our local environment, culture and history. The cross-disciplinary program brings together local artistic talent and expert ecologists to strengthen public awareness about forestry and biodiversity in Hong Kong.

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast - One more dip in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie pool, are we reaching a saturation of superhero movies, San Diego sues Salt Lake City, Rodrigo is angry at eels, Imperial #1, Midnight Tiger, and the Legendary Star-Lord #2. Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers VIP. It will help ensure The Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets a sequel LINK Too many comic book movies or not enough? LINK REVIEWS STEPHEN Imperial #1 Story By: Steven T. Seagle Art By: Marc Dos Santos Mark is two weeks out from making the biggest decision of his life. But which big decision will it be? Taking the ring of the woman of his dreams and becoming a married man? Or taking the crown of the world's only superhero and becoming the next Imperial? STEVEN T. SEAGLE (THE RED DIARY/ THE RE[A]D DIARY, Genius, it's a bird…) teams with MARK DOS SANTOS for a buddy book with commitment issues. [rating:3/5] MATTHEW MIDNIGHT TIGER #1
 Writer(s): DeWayne Feenstra, Ray-Anthony Height
 Artist Name(s): Ray-Anthony Height
 Cover Artist(s): Ray-Anthony Height (reg). Jerry Gaylord (v)
  
  Having lost all hope in the heroes of his world, fate steps in and gives young Gavin Shaw the power to do the things they have not. Only as the teenage hero Midnight Tiger does his city have a chance at redemption. Retailer incentive cover by Jerry Gaylord! [rating:4/5] RODRIGO MYSTERY OF EELS Eels can be found all over the globe, in fresh and salt water ecosystems alike. But today, risk of over-fishing and the presence of dams and other obstacles that prevent eels from reaching their oceanic spawning grounds pose new threats to an animal that once roamed the planet alongside the dinosaurs. Artist, writer, and naturalist James Prosek explores the mysterious world of the eel. Buy the film. The Mystery of Eels premiered April 17, 2013. [rating:2.5/5] ZACH Legendary Star-Lord #2 Writer: Samuel Ryan Humphries Artist: Paco Medina Publisher: Marvel Peter’s captured by a bounty hunter—who may have a strange connection to his past! • Can Peter and the bounty hunter make amends before he’s fed to a giant alien? • And who is the mysterious Mr. Knife--and why is he so interested in Star-Lord? [rating:4/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: #WhoCoveredItUp For the last couple of weeks, BOOM! Studios teased us with conspiracy theory teasers for its upcoming Deep State series. As a younger man, I devoured everything Art Bell served up, and wild tales of Bigfoot, Area 51, and the Illuminati holding secret meetings at Old Navy had me enthralled with the mystery of the unknown. VOTE! Do you believe there are secret groups controlling the world (i.e. The Illuminati)? Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast - One more dip in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie pool, are we reaching a saturation of superhero movies, San Diego sues Salt Lake City, Rodrigo is angry at eels, Imperial #1, Midnight Tiger, and the Legendary Star-Lord #2. Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers VIP. It will help ensure The Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets a sequel LINK Too many comic book movies or not enough? LINK REVIEWS STEPHEN Imperial #1 Story By: Steven T. Seagle Art By: Marc Dos Santos Mark is two weeks out from making the biggest decision of his life. But which big decision will it be? Taking the ring of the woman of his dreams and becoming a married man? Or taking the crown of the world's only superhero and becoming the next Imperial? STEVEN T. SEAGLE (THE RED DIARY/ THE RE[A]D DIARY, Genius, it's a bird…) teams with MARK DOS SANTOS for a buddy book with commitment issues. [rating:3/5] MATTHEW MIDNIGHT TIGER #1
Writer(s): DeWayne Feenstra, Ray-Anthony Height
Artist Name(s): Ray-Anthony Height
Cover Artist(s): Ray-Anthony Height (reg). Jerry Gaylord (v)
 
 Having lost all hope in the heroes of his world, fate steps in and gives young Gavin Shaw the power to do the things they have not. Only as the teenage hero Midnight Tiger does his city have a chance at redemption. Retailer incentive cover by Jerry Gaylord! [rating:4/5] RODRIGO MYSTERY OF EELS Eels can be found all over the globe, in fresh and salt water ecosystems alike. But today, risk of over-fishing and the presence of dams and other obstacles that prevent eels from reaching their oceanic spawning grounds pose new threats to an animal that once roamed the planet alongside the dinosaurs. Artist, writer, and naturalist James Prosek explores the mysterious world of the eel. Buy the film. The Mystery of Eels premiered April 17, 2013. [rating:2.5/5] ZACH Legendary Star-Lord #2 Writer: Samuel Ryan Humphries Artist: Paco Medina Publisher: Marvel Peter’s captured by a bounty hunter—who may have a strange connection to his past! • Can Peter and the bounty hunter make amends before he’s fed to a giant alien? • And who is the mysterious Mr. Knife--and why is he so interested in Star-Lord? [rating:4/5] Major Spoilers Poll of the Week: #WhoCoveredItUp For the last couple of weeks, BOOM! Studios teased us with conspiracy theory teasers for its upcoming Deep State series. As a younger man, I devoured everything Art Bell served up, and wild tales of Bigfoot, Area 51, and the Illuminati holding secret meetings at Old Navy had me enthralled with the mystery of the unknown. VOTE! Do you believe there are secret groups controlling the world (i.e. The Illuminati)? Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site and forums.

James Prosek: national bestselling author at 19, publisher of more than ten acclaimed works of art and fiction, on success, working in the publishing industry, and the passions of a unique mind.

James Prosek is an artist, fly-fisher, author, and environmental activist who has always, as he puts it, found God “through the theater of nature.” From a young age he has been fascinated by trout and now eel – which he sees as “mystical creatures” – and he’s captured them literally and artistically, by way of both angling and paint. We explore the sense of meaning and mystery he has developed along the way, including his concern with how we humans limit our sense of other creatures by the names we give them.

This unedited conversation is part of the radio program, “James Prosek on Fishing with Mystery.” James Prosek is an artist, fly-fisher, author, and environmental activist who has always, as he puts it, found God “through the theater of nature.” From a young age he has been fascinated by trout and now eel — which he sees as “mystical creatures” — and he’s captured them literally and artistically, by way of both angling and paint. We explore the sense of meaning and mystery he has developed along the way, including his concern with how we humans limit our sense of other creatures by the names we give them. See more at onbeing.org/program/fishing-mystery/100

In Episode 9, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Trita Parsi about his behind-the scenes revelations about events in the Middle East and the geopolitical competition between Israel, Iran, and the United States, and with (2) James Prosek, author, watercolorist, and musician about the Yale Anglers' Journal tenth anniversary as well as its rise as one of world's premier literary journals devoted to the sport.

In Episode 9, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Trita Parsi about his behind-the scenes revelations about events in the Middle East and the geopolitical competition between Israel, Iran, and the United States, and with (2) James Prosek, author, watercolorist, and musician about the Yale Anglers' Journal tenth anniversary as well as its rise as one … Continue reading A conversation with Chris Gondek, Trita Parsi and James Prosek →