Podcasts about Sublette

I had artistic polymath Joel Oppenheimer on the podcast today who has recently retired from being an art dealer. He was the former president of Oppenheimer Gallery in Chicago, IL with his son David officially taking over last year. It's a wonderful gallery. There are many different components to Oppenheimer Gallery. One of them is art conservation, which is how I've gotten to know Joel over the years. Hands down the best paper conservator I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They also have a renowned art printing component. They make and sell prints of the works of ornithological artist J.J. Audubon. In fact, much like how I am known for my expertise on the artist Maynard Dixon, Joel is most likely the world's leading expert on Audubon and his prints. He's done a couple of different books on Audubon that showcase his knowledge as well as his commitment to achieving the highest quality reproductions possible.Anyhow, it was a long podcast, we talked for almost two hours, but it was very, very interesting. His life is definitely unique and he's a very wise individual.He's also an artist. Joel basically started as fine artist and navigated through the art world from expertise to expertise, and now with retirement, he's going back to his original love, painting and pastels. So this was very unique story of a very successful art dealer and I had a great time. This is Joel Oppenheimer part two.

I had artistic polymath Joel Oppenheimer on the podcast today who has recently retired from being an art dealer. He was the former president of Oppenheimer Gallery in Chicago, IL with his son David officially taking over last year. It's a wonderful gallery. There are many different components to Oppenheimer Gallery. One of them is art conservation, which is how I've gotten to know Joel over the years. Hands down the best paper conservator I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They also have a renowned art printing component. They make and sell prints of the works of ornithological artist J.J. Audubon. In fact, much like how I am known for my expertise on the artist Maynard Dixon, Joel is most likely the world's leading expert on Audubon and his prints. He's done a couple of different books on Audubon that showcase his knowledge as well as his commitment to achieving the highest quality reproductions possible.Anyhow, it was a long podcast, we talked for almost two hours, but it was very, very interesting. His life is definitely unique and he's a very wise individual.He's also an artist. Joel basically started as fine artist and navigated through the art world from expertise to expertise, and now with retirement, he's going back to his original love, painting and pastels. So this was very unique story of a very successful art dealer and I had a great time. This is Joel Oppenheimer part one.

So Billy Schenck and I have been working on a two year project. It's a retrospective, a 55-year retrospective, and we did a catalog. This podcast was filmed a year ago at Billy's studio where we talked about this project at length.Now, you get to actually see what we've been working on. To put all this effort in and to get to see them all together is exceptionally gratifying. I'm sure it's gratifying for Bill because this is a big deal, but it's a big deal for me too. On top of all of his important works that make up the museum show, Billy has has been putting away new works for two years for this show.  Large format photographic prints that have never been shown before, as well as some of his caption pieces and a beautiful group of his landscapes.It was quite interesting to try to set this up because we're looking at his life's work (his serigraphs and foundational paintings) in combination with the result of a life of working on art (his newest body of work). The museum show has a good portion of his serigraphs paired with his early paintings. Trying to figure out that balance from a curatorial standpoint was an interesting experience.If you're listening to the podcast, go to YouTube, go check out the show, not only the gallery show, but the museum show. We have included a preview of the show in this version of episode 377 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast. So this podcast that you're listening to is the culmination of all the work that we did over the last two years to get to this point. It was an exercise in storytelling, telling the Billy Schenck story, and I think we've done a beautiful job of it. 

I had a podcast today with Erika Victor, who's this just unique individual who I had originally met at the Far West show in Austin, Texas. I had followed her on her Instagram because I liked her work. I just thought it was very unique. It has a sensibility that's different from most other people, and that's what I'm looking for in an artist. Erika came by my gallery in Tucson to record this episode and I had no idea that by the end of the podcast I'd be showing her work. I truly didn't expect to have that happen. After seeing her work in person, getting to speak to her for an extended period of time, all of that really solidified my idea that this is a person that has what it takes to succeed as an artist and is committed to her craft. She's from Kansas, and she got her degree in photography, but nowadays she teaches art in Zuni, New Mexico. Not everybody can make the transition to a place like Zuni. It's beautiful, I love the place and the people, but it's very isolated. Erika moved there for her job, but picked Zuni specifically over a handful of other options because of the landscape (something she absolutely loves to paint). She loves painting people too and her paintings of Native American people exhibit a contemporary approach to a classic western art theme.Anyhow, I enjoyed this podcast a great deal and I hope you like this podcast as much as I did. This is our newest represented artist as of January 2026, Erika Victor.View available works by Erika Victor here: https://www.medicinemangallery.com/collections/victor-erika

I had a wonderful podcast today with Sean Michael Chavez. If you are anywhere in the Western art world in 2026, you will have heard his name and more than likely seen his artwork. Chavez  really exploded onto the scene over the last eight years, but like everything good in this world, it took a long time to get there. It definitely didn't happen overnight, though sometimes it might seem that way. Sean will be the first to tell you that he's a 30 year overnight success. We talk about his journey of growing up in New Mexico and how he found his path in the arts through graphic design, evolving into a traditional artist after many lived experiences. To him, it was clear he was an artist from the get-go.Teasing out these little moments and stories from his life that show how he got to where he is today was a great experience for me. It's a real joy for me to listen to somebody and to be able to follow that journey in real time.  I think this was a beautiful interview. I enjoyed it and I think you will enjoy it as well. This is Sean Michael Chavez on episode 380 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

Got to meet with Len Chmiel today. He's one of my favorite artists. He's just incredibly gifted and I've always been a huge fan of his work. We were at the Coors Art show in Denver and we found a little hidden conference room, and we sat down and talked. In fact, at the end of the the show that we were doing, the music was playing and it was kind of beautiful.Len is just such a creative individual. There's people that you meet in this world who think very deeply about their craft. From the smallest details of lighting to the canvas and how he finds the inspiration. We talk about inspiration, the things that make you want to make a painting in the first place. Len and I agree, you can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it every day as a true artist, which he does.After the interview was over he said, "oh yeah, I lived in this place in Redondo for two years. I just kind of boarded up the windows and lived on a couch and did my artwork. That's just how I had to do it and just live there." He as barely making a living but for him it was just part of the road he was on. It was part of his journey. You know, the journey of an artist is one that is filled with struggle. That being said, there are great rewards if you can do it. Len has and I highly encourage you to go follow him on Facebook and see what he's done.If you're at any of the shows that he exhibits at, make sure you go and see his work. He's terrifically important and this was very fun and enlightening to speak with him. This is Len Chmiel on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 379.

In this episode of Fresh Tracks Weekly, we discuss a renewed threat to Wyoming's famous mule deer migration. New oil and gas leases on BLM land are near critical winter ranges and migration corridors for the Sublette mule deer and pronghorn herds. We discuss how the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan is being bypassed and why "energy independence" is no longer a valid excuse for poor conservation. We also cover several headlines from the week, including 2026 federal budget cuts, the reopening of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and the controversial "flooded corn" baiting debate in waterfowl hunting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a wonderful podcast I had with Marilou Schultz. She is a master weaver and a math teacher who grew up in Leupp, Arizona on the Navajo Nation.She has been teaching her entire life and is justs now going into weaving full-time. There's good reason for that too. You see, Marilou's weavings are very in demand. She has a waitlist that includes the Basel and MoMA collections. What she has done is interpreted various computer chips through the lens of a traditional Diné weaver. It's just an amazing story. She got a commissioned by Intel to do a rendition of the Pentium chip in 1994. She's a fourth generation Navajo Weaver and she uses her background in mathematics to create these incredible textiles. I was fortunate enough to get one of these ordered a year ago, and she brought it to me today. I got to see it for the first time during this podcast and you can see my eyes light up as she unravels this masterpiece.I highly recommend that you watch this on YouTube because you will be able to see her interact with the textile, as well see her tell her story, which is quite remarkable. This is one of my favorite podcasts that I've done. I hope you enjoy it. This is master Diné weaver, Marilou Schultz on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

This podcast is really a "part two" podcast in the sense that Billy Schenck and I have been working over two years on his 55-Year Retrospective show. We released a podcast that was recorded a year before this one, where we were discussing the planning process and that conversation continues in this episode as we approach the opening reception.It takes a lot of time and energy to pull off a show of this magnitude. The show opens February 6, 2026 and it was very interesting to attack it in this way, knowing we're in the process of making history. What we're talking about and how it's going to be looked at by future by historians, stuff like that.We filmed this at Billy's house which is a really beautiful place.  It is filled with all the things that creatives need to be inspired. You see, his entire house will ultimately become a museum (It's part of his nonprofit organization) so we're kind of living through real history. It's amazing.I fully expect that this podcast will be played in the museum sometime in the future, as a point of reference of this moment in time when he had this monumental retrospective featuring so much work.Anyways, it was a wonderful interview. Even if you can't make the retrospective, you can listen to this podcast and get a feel for the important contribution that Billy Schenck has made to the art world.There's a book that we  did on the this show as well, which is available on our website if you want to take the show home with you. I hope you enjoy. This is Pop Western art icon Billy Schenck on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

One of the things I love about doing this podcast is that I get a variety of people that come through my life. In this case it's Bill Healey, who I've known probably 25 plus years. His role, his part of the art ecosystem is different than many of the other people I've had on, and that is of a collector. He's a true collector who has this unique history, which I went into and I found very, interesting. How he went from economics, to commercial development, to then retiring and devoting his life to art. First Western art, Russells, Remingtons, etc., followed by an epiphany when he was at the Heard Museum, seeing images of the Native American boarding schools. I remember that exhibit very well. I have one of these images in my own collection hanging in my own office. I look at it all the time just to help keep me grounded. Well, that image really set him off on a new odyssey to understand Native art and  history in a different way. He then sold off the majority of this Western material, and focused on collecting Indigenous American art. Bill has built this huge collection, part of which he donated to the Saint Louis Art Museum. They did a beautiful book on the collection and he's going to continue to give away pieces that he's collected to museum institutions to help tell the story of indigenous artists ranging from 1920 to today. It's a fun ride of through his life and over 60 years of collecting. I think it's a real gift that Bill shared it with us.

You know, one of the great things about going to an artist's studio is you get an inside look at how they make art, how they create, how they see their world. With Maeve's work in her studio, you really get a glimpse of that process. If you ever get the opportunity to go to an artist's studio, take it for sure, because it allows you to feel that what they feel, how they get to where they get artistically. Maeve's studio is quite remarkable. The way that she has things set up, and  how she visually transfers things from paper to the acrylic that she works on. It's just so complex and impressive to see in person.So I highly recommend this podcast if you can watch it on YouTube, just because you'll get to live inside the studio for 40 or so minutes. It's brings it all to life. How she creates, how her world comes to be. For me, that's a real gift.

With so many of these individuals I interview, art is really the only thing they see themselves doing in life. Oil painter Raj Chaudhuri on the other hand was a very successful software engineer before committing to art. He could have gone that route and been hugely successful, especially considering the timeframe he was doing it. But no, he HAD to be an artist.You see, Raj has been drawing since he was a little boy. He'd even won contests in school and at his university when he wasn't even an art major. He grew up in, India, and we get to talk about that whole component of his life. Eventually he moves to the United States from India and goes to Ole Miss to become an economist of all things. He was actually working on a PhD when he finally said "I've got to do what I love." Thankfully he did because he's an excellent artist. We met in Denver during for an event put on by the Coors Western Art Show, a special kind of summer preview with lectures, all getting ready for their January exhibition. They have some lovely art, and it's really just a fun time. One of the highlights for me was speaking with Raj. One thing led to another and next thing you know Raj was on a flight to Tucson to see my gallery and record this podcast.What makes an excellent podcast to me is when I come away learning things and getting a new sense of what it means to be an artist. This was very easy in talking to someone like Raj. It was very insightful and fun. So I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I did.

I had the great pleasure of going to Ezra Tucker's studio and doing a podcast with him. It's so interesting to go in these sacred places that artists create, and it changes your perspective. To just feel the intimacy and the importance of these spaces... It really can't be overemphasized. What happens in these areas of creation, and how somebody like Ezra spent the time, the thought, the energy, and the money to make it a place that really works for him. I think a great takeaway from any artist that's listening to this is that your space is important. Don't underestimate the importance of having a place that you can create and feel comfortable doing so. For Ezra, this truly is a space that he's developed, much like a piece of art.It's a real gift to me to be able to go in and for him to share something like this, because it is such an intimate thing. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This is Ezra Tucker's studio on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 373.

The best kind of podcasts sometimes are the ones that you weren't planning, and that's the one I had today with Ernie Lister. He is a silversmith and is an incredible master of his craft. There's no doubt about that.I've known about Ernie for a very long time. I've talked to him, but only at Santa Fe during Indian market. Things move very fast at that event and you can't really have this sort of conversation. So he came into the gallery today and I said, hey, how about a podcast? And he goes, sure, I'd be happy to. And it's a very interesting podcast. You get the sense of what it means to take your art form seriously, which he does. For him, It comes from a different place. A place of heritage. If you really want to understand what it means to be a master Diné silversmith, then look no further. I mean, this is a guy who shows his work around the world. He has a huge following in Japan.This podcast was to me a really a gift from the gods to be able to spend time with this man and hear about what he does and how he does it. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun doing it. 

Today on the show, a woman's experience after ICE detained her husband. Wyoming has submitted some novel ideas to try to get a slice of 50 billion in federal dollars to transform healthcare. We hear more details. And what happened during the arraignment of the man who brought a wolf into a bar. Those stories and more.

I had Steve Weil on the podcast today. It was a really a fun, interesting interview because it wasn't done in the studio. It was actually done at Rockmount Ranch Wear Headquarters in Denver.  I highly encourage you go to this store (and bring your wallet) because there's some really great things inside. I definitely walked away with a few Western and Hawaiian shirts.You see, Steve is the third generation owner of this company. That's a really, really rare thing these days. His brand has been a staple in the realm of Western fashion for 80 years. His grandfather started it 1946 and he was the first guy to do a "snap" western shirt. Not to mention that everyone has worn this brand. Elvis, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant, and more. I found it all absolutely fascinating. I knew the store was there, and I had been in it before, but to actually get to hear the man himself speak about how it all came to be was awesome. We get a behind the scene tour of the building, the museum area showing the history of these shirts and his family, and even a look at the garage where he keeps his vintage automobile collection.It a very interesting podcast and I hope you can take the time to watch it. If you find yourself in Denver do yourself a favor and visit Steve's store. I think you'll find it just as cool as I did.

I love spontaneous podcasts. That's what happened today with Randy Barton. He's a Diné (Navajo) artist and is just a very interesting man and a very unique and important artistic voice. He has a great story. He moves from the reservation to Winslow, AZ and gets into  hip hop culture and graffiti at a very young age. He runs with this, and it becomes the story of his life. Randy lays it all out in our conversation.This is one of those that you should watch on YouTube. Granted, this is an ART podcast, so they're all better with added visuals, but also because he's just such an animated individual. It's fun to be in his presence. He has a magnetism that you just can't put into words, but you know it when you feel it.I got to watch Randy do a live painting this summer and it was amazing to see. He's just so multi-dimensional in his creativity, from traditional art, to graphic design, to fashion, to dance, to music, to filmmaking. It was a really fun, interesting, and overall dynamic podcast that just happened out of thin air. After speaking with him for an hour or so, I like to think that's how Randy's life is. Things are naturally spontaneous for him and he's the type of person that - when he feels something, he just does it. So anyway, I had a great time, and I think you will too. This is Randy Barton on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 370.

Our city's 1830 Chophouse is celebrating five years in business. Shawn Sublette and Brady Martin join us to recap the journey. What began during downtown renovation is now a downtown Lebanon destination!  What does the future hold...and how can you get your tastebuds around some of the Chophouse's famous bread pudding.  The answer lies in Episode 235 of the #LovinLebanon Podcast! 1830 Chophouse Website: https://1830chophouse.com/ Scotch 4 Dummies YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ZL5bS6kkNVdxcnGf8NVLg  

I had the very dynamic Knox Kronenberg on today. He's a fine art photographer and he's got a really interesting story. He's pushing the envelope and he's only 27, but it feels like he's 40. Knox has really found his niche. We're talking about major endeavors. It's like doing directing a movie. I mean, he can spend up to $70,000 on a single shot. He has a  clear vision, especially for as young as he is. It's really interesting to see how utterly and completely focused a guy like Knox can be. He sees who he is and what he wants to forge his legacy. I think when you're that driven at that age you're going to be successful.Looking at some of the shots that he shared with me, it's just beautiful, amazing work. He's a classic artist in that he lives to create. He is a storyteller who also happens to be a fine artist with a camera. So yeah, I like Knox. He's a very nice, animated, gifted individual. I genuinely think he's one of those that you'll look back at this podcast and go, oh, yeah, that was an important guy and he was young when he did that. That's how it felt for me at least and I'm glad I get to be a part of that history.Anyhow, this is storyteller Knox Kronenberg on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 369. I hope you enjoy.

Today's podcast is a little different because it's a panel that was done at the Coors Western Art Show Collectors Roundup in September 2025. They have a show that's in January 2026 and this is kind of a preview get together with collectors, artists, and other key figures in the Western art world. This particular event was a panel that was part of the programming for this preview event. The panel featured Kevin Doyle, the Director of the Jackson Hole Art Auction, Josh Warren, who's the Associate Publisher of Western Art & Architecture Magazine and myself. Joshua Rose was the moderator and asked us questions about Western Art and what to expect in the future of the genre. I think it's a fun and interesting discussion and there were some things that came out and you go "yeah, I agree with that," and other stuff where you're saying "maybe I don't agree with that."  Regardless, it was a fun and unique conversation and I thought you might enjoy it as an episode of the podcast.

My favorite podcasts are the ones where I get to go to the person's studio and/or house, sit in their environment, and talk to them. It gives me such a deeper understanding of that person and where their creative juices come from.I got to do that with renown sculptor Star York. We've been working on a 50 year retrospective, and this was part of that project. We recorded this interview in August in preparation for her Retrospective show here in Tucson on October 24th. It's a two part podcast. The first part is us sitting and talking on her front porch and part two is the two of us going into her studio and doing a deep dive on what she does, how she does it, and why she does it. Part one and part two are very different types of podcasts. One is more from the personal background standpoint. The other one, really more of what's happening today. Anyhow, this is Star York part two on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast. I hope you enjoy.

My favorite podcasts are the ones where I get to go to the person's studio and/or house, sit in their environment, and talk to them. It gives me such a deeper understanding of that person and where their creative juices come from.I got to do that with renown sculptor Star York. We've been working on a 50 year retrospective, and this was part of that project. We recorded this interview in August in preparation for her Retrospective show here in Tucson on October 24th. It's a two part podcast. The first part is us sitting and talking on her front porch and part two is the two of us going into her studio and doing a deep dive on what she does, how she does it, and why she does it. Part one and part two are very different types of podcasts. One is more from the personal background standpoint. The other one, really more of what's happening today. This is Star York part one on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast. I hope you enjoy.

I had Jeremy Lipking on today and he is such a wonderful artist. I've always been a fan of his work. You know, it's not a far stretch to compare him to somebody like John Singer Sergeant or Joaquín Sorolla. He has this strong sense for posing figures, highlighting their emotions and body language. The way he sees these images in his head and then is somehow able to translate them to the viewer is quite remarkable.In early September  2025 our schedules lined up and I finally had the opportunity to record a podcast with him. We had been talking about doing this for quite a few years, but I wanted to do it in person as opposed to recording over Zoom.  We actually got together during the Far West Show here in Austin and recorded on the balcony of my hotel room with the beautiful backdrop of the Austin skyline in the background. Like all these podcasts, I came away with something unique. In this case, it was the essence of who this individual is and his humbleness, quite frankly. I found out something unique that I had never even considered. You see, Jeremy is a quarter Native American, and it's not something that he's really spent time talking about or exploring so much. So for me, that was quite interesting, to say the least, to hear about that component of his life. That's the thing. You have to take your time when interviewing people so you can hear their story in full. Jeremy was very generous and let everybody get to hear about his world. So I had a great time with this really important artist. He's got a retrospective that's going to come up in April 2026 at the Booth Museum that you don't want to miss. This is Jeremy Lipking on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 365.

I had a great interview with Starr Hardridge and he's just  an incredible artist. He's Muskogee (Creek) and is known for his pointillism paintings that he does primarily of Native imagery. He also does some abstract artwork, which I really like as well.It's a very unique style and takes an insane amount of time to do it. We even talk about how he does it, which usually I get more into the story of the person rather than the process. His style is just so unique and it's worth listening or watching this deep dive into it to find out how he does it.He has this incredible journey like so many artists that I've interviewed. It is not an easy path to get to the promised land, and I do believe Starr is at that point. In fact, I ended up winning a draw to buy a piece of his art from the Eiteljorg because I really wanted one for my collection. I had a great time talking to Starr. We did this at the Eiteljorg Museum and we got a room setup and just podcasted. I learned a lot about him and that's the great thing about this podcast, and not just for me, but other people that get to hear this, you get to get this inside view of the individual.So this is Starr Hardridge on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 364.

Doing podcasts can be such a joy and it was with Jordan Sprigg. This is the beauty of social media and the internet. My son and I found images of Jordan's sculptures online and we both gravitated to the man's work. It's just so interesting. He uses found material to build these beautiful sculptures of wildlife. Fish, ibex, rhinoceroses horses, etc.He seemed like a really creative and genuine person on his Instagram account so we reached out to him in Australia to do the podcast. He lives over by in Perth (Or at least not too far from Perth) and he said, sure, I'll do a podcast with you.You can feel the joy in this man's work. I recommend  watching it on YouTube, just because you can see the smiles and the wonderment of how he became the artist that he is today.He was a kid that drew and played with Legos, but he went to university for psychology and that's where he thought he was going end up. You see, he's a fourth generation farmer, in Australia. Then one day he art world  finally opened up to him when he visited a sculpture exhibit on a beach in Australia.He was able to show his work through Instagram, and his account blew up to over a million followers. So and we talk about that, what is that like to have so many followers and how he deals with all of the attention. Jordan even had one video that had over 50 million views. So I had to ask him what's it like to go viral, you know? You might be  surprised about his thoughts on something like that. I know I was.That's what this whole podcast is about. Identifying those unique voices in the world. In this case, it's an artist who creates because he must create. So I hope you enjoy. This is Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 363 featuring Jordan Sprigg.

Barry Walsh, who's a specialist in Hopi Kachina, did a lovely presentation talking about different types of the kachinas and, as he refers to them, as katsinam. It was uniquely interesting because he's got, you know, decades of research and understanding of the kachinas themselves and has close ties to the Hopi. He says in his lectures, he's not a expert. That 'an expert' could only be one of the Hopi carvers. That being said, Walsh has interviewed countless Hopi kachina artists and scribed numerous books on the topic.This is a good podcast to watch on YouTube because we use all his slides from his presentation. If you ever wanted to really get a good sense about kachinas, the different types, and where it all began, this is a very good lecture. 

Today on the show, the man who allegedly ran down a wolf on a snowmobile last year has been indicted. We get updated on the case. The number of rural hospitals delivering babies is dwindling. So midwives are stepping up to help low-risk women. And, towns and cities in the state have made over 12 million dollars so far this year from historic horse racing machines. Those stories and more.

Santa Fe Indian Market is such an interesting event and should be on every art lover's bucket list. This is the 103rd market and it's always the third week in August. They have a big ceremony to kick the weekend off and it's when they judge all the different art that comes in from all the artists.Medicine Man Gallery and the Sublette Family Foundation for the Arts provide the funds for the Best of Show award, so we get to attend this exclusive event. I wanted you to be able to experience the event and if you watch it on YouTube, you can actually see the artist win and the pieces that won them the awards. For these artists, winning can be such a life changing event. The winners have their name called up as the best of their respective classification, whether it's pottery, jewelry, weaving etc. then they allow the judges to decide who is the best of all. Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Show is an extremely rare accolade to have as an artist. This year is no different than any other. I am soooo happy I was not a judge. It would have been very difficult to determine who was the best of the best. I was a surprised when they announced the winner and was somebody who was participating in Santa Fe Indian Market for the very first time. To be honest, it was a remarkable piece that won and there's no question it was among some of the toughest competition in years.It's so much fun to hear and to see the artists and their families and how they react to winning. The joy you can see on their faces is second to none and well deserved. So I hope you enjoy this podcast. This is the Best of Show award ceremony for the 2025 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market.

Billy Schenck's 55 Year Retrospective will open February 6, 2026 at Medicine Gallery, and over a year ago, I came out to Billy's studio to talk to him about what we're planning to do. It's been a year since then, and with the show coming up next year, that makes it a two year project. So you get to see Billy's studio (if you're watching on YouTube) and be able to hear the thought process behind what's required to do such a comprehensive show.I mean, it's going to be his life's work, from his serigraphs to his older paintings to new paintings as well. We'll be using the entire gallery, as well as the Maynard Dixon & Native American Art Museum for this exhibition. This podcast will give you a taste of what's coming and the explain the basic requirements for an artist and a dealer to pull off a show of this magnitude.There's a lot of moving parts, two years worth, for that matter, and there's a companion art book that Billy put together and I had the privilege to write the introduction for itSo I hope that you enjoy the podcast, but I also hope that you put into your databases the February 6th, 2026 date for this show. It's going to be important and it's going to be a party. There's going to be a lot of work there spanning the entire career of the legend, Billy Schenck.

I had Daniel Gerhartz on today. What a pleasant, lovely human being that he is. I've always been a fan of his work. It's emotionally driven. For me, when I see it, I feel things.This is a man who has taken his work seriously since really junior high and started  showing when he was 25 years old. In fact this year was his 35th Prix de West. He's 60 now and he's had quite the journey.I think for artists, especially the end of the the part of the podcast is very helpful. Dan gives some really helpful tips and shares his perspective on on the art world. This information is really helpful if you're a young artist, trying to break into the business, and trying to be that person who maybe follows in the same footsteps as Dan.This was a really enjoyable conversation and it's really why I do these podcasts. Getting to spend an hour with somebody who's a remarkable artist that you respect and really get to talk about what makes them tick. For me, it was a gift and I'm grateful. This is Daniel Gerhartz on episode 359 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.You can see work by Daniel on his website:www.danielgerhartz.com

I had Marc Sternberg on today, and it was a very interesting podcast, a little different than what I normally do. Marc contacted me, wanting to interview me for the documentary he's working on titled "Cowgirls: The Women of Western Art."Marc had seen a show that was about cowgirl art at Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, and he was wondering why an exhibit focusing on women was separated from everything else. He just didn't understand why it had to be an entirely separate exhibit. That experience led him down this rabbit hole of women in Western art and he jumped in head first as any inquisitive creative person does when they get that nugget of information that really makes them invested in something new.  Marc goes "Well, I think maybe I should do a documentary on it." So he's working on this film now and he's interviewing some of the top women in the Western art space.Like I said, it's a little different because he wanted to interview me and I wanted to interview him. So we just kind of interviewed each other. You get this great talk about the film and what he's doing and what he's hoping to accomplish. Then I flip it on it's side and let him interview me on questions that he has that are pertinent to his documentary.So it's an interesting podcast that covers a lot of ground. Not only cowgirl art, but women artists in general. But I had a great time, very fun and, you know, I think if you are interested in this dialog, you will find it fascinating.Watch the trailer for "Cowgirls: The Women of Western Art" here:https://vimeo.com/1100188514

I recently visited the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for the 2025 Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale. They have this event every year in June and it's a wonderful gathering of some of the very finest Western and Native American Artists. It's basically all sculpture and paintings, and you have very traditional art, but you also have very contemporary art as well.I interviewed five different individuals for the podcast while I was there. They were all very gracious to give me their time to talk about their paintings and what they're currently doing. So it's a little less in-depth on the journey, but much more heavy on the process, which I like. It's interesting for me because that's usually not my thing as much as trying to figure out why individuals create art the way they do.So there's, a group of these podcasts and I'm going to have them come out once a week. This is the final episode in the series and it features a true master of contemporary portraiture, Scott Burdick.

I recently visited the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for the 2025 Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale. They have this event every year in June and it's a wonderful gathering of some of the very finest Western and Native American Artists. It's basically all sculpture and paintings, and you have very traditional art, but you also have very contemporary art as well.I interviewed five different individuals for the podcast while I was there. They were all very gracious to give me their time to talk about their paintings and what they're currently doing. So it's a little less in-depth on the journey, but much more heavy on the process, which I like. It's interesting for me because that's usually not my thing as much as trying to figure out why individuals create art the way they do.So there's, a group of these podcasts and I'm going to have them come out once a week. This episode features Montana-based landscape painter, Josh Elliott.

I recently visited the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for the 2025 Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale. They have this event every year in June and it's a wonderful gathering of some of the very finest Western and Native American Artists. It's basically all sculpture and paintings, and you have very traditional art, but you also have very contemporary art as well.I interviewed five different individuals for the podcast while I was there. They were all very gracious to give me their time to talk about their paintings and what they're currently doing. So it's a little less in-depth on the journey, but much more heavy on the process, which I like. It's interesting for me because that's usually not my thing as much as trying to figure out why individuals create art the way they do.So there's, a group of these podcasts and I'm going to have them come out once a week. This episode features legendary cowboy artist, Howard Post. 

I recently visited the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for the 2025 Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale. They have this event every year in June and it's a wonderful gathering of some of the very finest Western and Native American Artists. It's basically all sculpture and paintings, and you have very traditional art, but you also have very contemporary art as well.I interviewed five different individuals for the podcast while I was there. They were all very gracious to give me their time to talk about their paintings and what they're currently doing. So it's a little less in-depth on the journey, but much more heavy on the process, which I like. It's interesting for me because that's usually not my thing as much as trying to figure out why individuals create art the way they do.So there's, a group of these podcasts and I'm going to have them come out once a week. The first episode in the series features Eric Bowman and Brett Allen Johnson. I hope you enjoy.

Saturday Night Live head writers Alison Gates, Streeter Seidell and Kent Sublette join Greg Iwinski to talk about the process of writing for a different host every week, how giving notes to writers differs from giving notes to the cast, what writing for SNL teaches you about rejection, and much more. Alison Gates, Streeter Seidell and Kent Sublette are the current head writers of Saturday Night Live. Kent has been a head writer for the show since 2016, and Alison and Streeter have been head writers since 2022. Greg Iwinski is an Emmy-winning comedy writer whose credits include Last Week Tonight, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Game Theory with Bomani Jones. --- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: wgaeast.org/onwriting Follow the Guild on social media: @WGAEast OnWriting is a production of the Writers Guild of America East. The show is produced by WGA East staff members Jason Gordon, Tiana Timmerberg, and Molly Beer. Production, editing, and mix by Giulia Hjort. Original music is by Taylor Bradshaw. Artwork is designed by Molly Beer.

It's fun sometimes to get out of my studio and actually go to the place of work of the people that I interview, and in this case, I was able to do that with Jack Becker who is the Executive Director and CEO of the Joslyn Museum in Omaha. He's been there since 2010 and he's a very interesting man.I love the fact that at every point really, he points out that it is an effort by not just himself. In fact, he emphasizes that the staff really makes things happen. I think that's always a sign of a great leader.Jack also has a very interesting background. He has an incredible resumé of working with so many incredible institutions but he also goes to Alaska and works in a fish processing facility for a year. I had a great time talking with Jack, but I also to had the opportunity to look around and see the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum. It's such a beautiful museum. They recently opened a  42,000 square foot expansion in 2024 and it has put this museum on top of many lists as one of the top museums in America. Personally? I couldn't agree more. You should go see this museum if you have a chance. It might seem like it's a little bit off the beaten path, but I fell in love with Omaha, and I fell in love with the Joslyn Art Museum, and I think you will too.

This episode features (in order of appearance) artists Amery Bohling, Barbara Van Cleve, Donna Howell-Sickles, and a lecture snippet from Maynard Dixon's American West by Dr. Mark Sublette.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••I'm going to be doing some podcasts on the road and I thought that for the next couple of weeks I'd republish parts of some of the favorite podcasts that I've done over the last eight years.With 351 podcasts so far, I have plenty of individuals to choose from. These people that have come into my life that I find interesting, those that are really important to what I do, and to how I see the world. So I hope you enjoy these next few highlight episodes of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

This episode features (in order of appearance) artists William Haskell, Whitney Gardner, Mathieu Nozieres, and Jon Flaming.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••I'm going to be doing some podcasts on the road and I thought that for the next couple of weeks I'd republish parts of some of the favorite podcasts that I've done over the last eight years.With 350 podcasts so far, I have plenty of individuals to choose from. These people that have come into my life that I find interesting, those that are really important to what I do, and to how I see the world. So I hope you enjoy these next few highlight episodes of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

Every once in a while, you get the honor of doing a podcast with someone who you know is an important part of history. That's what I got to do today with Abe Jacob. Now, Abe is a sound designer. If you don't know what that is, well, I didn't really know either, but he's actually known as "The Godfather of Sound."He's had this remarkable life and career starting with his first gig that he did when he's right out of college at 22 years old in that 1966-1967 timeframe. This job ends up being The Beatles' last live concert. Shortly after he gets a job working with a band called The Mamas and the Papas. He tours with them and Peter, Paul and Mary, even winding up at the Capitol during a huge Vietnam protest concert. His list of accomplishments just goes on and on and on, having worked intimately with Jimi Hendrix until his death.What's so interesting is that Abe works with all of these legends, but he doesn't earn his nickname until he moves to theater. He is critically important to all the major plays of this time, including  Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin', and he does A Chorus Line and Chicago at the same time. I mean, he works with legendary choreographer Bob Fosse. He becomes great friends with legendary actress Lauren Bacall. He has had an amazing and very interesting life. You can see why I'm excited having Abe do my podcast. It's exactly what I'm looking to accomplish. To document these important voices in art and Abe is most definitely an artist. Quite frankly, I would pay to interview Abe. He was that good. So I hope you enjoy. This is the Godfather of Sound, Abe Jacob, on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 350.

I had Thomas "Breeze" Marcus on the podcast today. He goes by Breeze and in fact, his name is really kind of synonymous to the type of imagery that he does in his fine art paintings. This guy is just so unique. I had such a fun time with this podcast because it was one of those where it's a full conversation, not just an artist's biography. It made me think about where we're going and about things that I may never have even thought about in regard to art and when that happens I find it extremely enjoyable.It just scratches that itch, you know? The itch that I get when trying to understand someone as complex as Breeze. From being a graffiti artist and what that entails and where that world catapulted him, to doing murals for big cities and big museums. He did one for Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West that is tremendous. I recommend people go and visit this mural as its an ode to his people (O'odham) but also a tribute to Ed Mell, who he respected and was mentored by. This podcast that might change the way you look at graffiti art and murals and even Native art as a whole. Breeze is a very unique person, an important artist, and you'll be hearing a lot more about his work in the future.

I had Susan Tarman on today and it was just a joyful conversation. I've known Susan professionally for 30 years, going into her galleries and getting appraisals from her. She's very, very smart and her story is all about what Santa Fe was like in the early 80s all the way through today.She talks about a guy named Vic Hansen who was this very interesting character that  I never had the chance to meet, but keep hearing stories about him even today. So she goes into detail about how instrumental that man was in her life and ultimately how she bought his gallery and made it her own.Fast forward to today and, though her gallery closed, Susan is still one of the best appraisers in the business. So if you want to get a great sense of what the Santa Fe art world was like in the 80s, who the players were, and what her role was and is in our field, than this is an excellent podcast to listen to. 

Once in a while you come across somebody and you realize in that moment they're an important figure in art history, and maybe their story hasn't been told yet. In this case, I don't think it really has.You see, my guest today is Shahrokh Rezvani and he's a very interesting man to say the least. What makes him so interesting is this journey that he's had with people like Fritz Scholder and Dale Chihuly and working with them to create monotypes, cyanotypes, and all sorts of different kinds of prints.He came to my booth at Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week and I could see him looking at the work by Fritz Scholder that I was showing. I could tell there was a connection, and not a connection in the way you might see with a collector or an acolyte even... but a different kind of connection.I approached him and asked if he knew Scholder personally. He said back to me: ”oh, yeah, he was a great person. I knew Fritz and I knew him well." I said “okay, well, tell me about it.” After that he spoke to me all about Fritz and their working relationship from 1977 to 1993. Fast forward to today and Shahrokh is at that age where health can be a problem. I said, well, I want to come up to your house and I want to hear the rest of the story, hence this podcast. Now you'll get to hear the story of this wonderful journey of this man's life as an artist and as a master printmaker.He makes wonderful art himself and I hope that this podcast is as intriguing for you as it was for me. I think this is the type of interview that's going to be used when people tell the story of Fritz Scholder and that connection and collaboration, that he had with Shahrokh. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Shahrokh Rezvani on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 344.

I had Ray Dewey on my podcast today. I had him on a couple of years ago (episode 259) and we went through his life story, from his childhood up until he closed his gallery in Santa Fe, which was one of the best Southwest art galleries of all time.Well, he happened to be in Tucson today so I asked him if he'd do another podcast and he obliged. Ray loves Maynard Dixon just like I do so we always have plenty to talk about. In fact, he had a Maynard Dixon and Ed Mell show in 1985. Really the first Dixon/Mell show that was ever done like that. He was a great friend of Ed's and had represented Ed for years. So in this podcast we talked about the people that have come in and out of Ray's life. There's a variety of interesting people and artists from R.C. Gorman to Allan Houser to Louise Nevelson to Charles Loloma.  We also spoke about his relationship with Nat Owings, who was one of these great art dealers of Santa Fe and someone that we hope to have on the podcast sometime soon.I can't not mention Ray's wife, Judy, who worked in the gallery for 20+ years running the backend of the business (just like my lovely wife Kathleen does for Medicine Man Gallery) which is so immensely important. We don't succeed without the Judys and Kathleens in our lives. So, you know, if you really want to know the backstory of the Santa Fe art scene and the players that made it happen, then you have to listen to Ray Dewey on episode 343 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

When people that I'm interested in talking to come into my gallery, I want to grab them and take them to my studio and talk to them. Well, lucky for me, Robert Sommers walked into my store today. He's a long time friend, a very knowledgeable art dealer, and the owner of Blue Heron Gallery.I had recorded a podcast with him seven years or so ago, but we'd always talked about doing another one, and this one was a completely different podcast than our first one. Robert's background is covered in that one, and sure we touch on his origin story a little in this one too, but I just kind of wanted to find out the path that he's been on since the first podcast  and how he's seeing and interpreting the art world in 2025. He's been doing this for 50 years so it was a good conversation - definitely less of an interview when compared to a typical episode of the podcast. We talked like two old friends do, rehashing our lives, what we've done professionally and how we've intersected through the years. Robert is just such a unique, brilliant individual. He's a very talented writer, an awesome photographer, and a storied art dealer. He's just one of those people that you want to talk to and spend time with. I don't even know how long we talked, I just had an enjoyable conversation with somebody who's knowledgeable, loves what he does, and hopefully you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

I had Kathryn Haigh on the podcast today and she is the President and CEO of the Eiteljorg Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in North America. The reason being, for one thing, it's a beautiful building inspired by Ancestral Puebloan architecture. It was founded by Harrison Eiteljorg in 1989 and he put this magnificent collection of Western and Native Art together.I'm happy to say the museum has continued Harrison's mission. It's a large museum  on seven acres in Indianapolis, and they have an incredible Indian market every year in June. They also have an event called Quest for the West, which is a Western fine art show that takes place in September of every year. I've gone to those events and they're terrific.And Katie's story, of course, is fascinating. She's a creative and intellectual person who grew up in Cincinnati, and was propelled into the museum world at an early age. She worked her way up the ranks at the Cincinnati Art Museum, followed by the Fine Arts Museum in Indianapolis, and now she runs the Eiteljorg. So she's quite experienced to say the least.Needless to say, the Eiteljorg is definitely a bucket list museum. To get to speak with the person in charge of such an institution and to really understand how their operation works, and what they're trying to accomplish... It was excellent. There's just some really amazing things in the works over there.So I found it fascinating. Just understanding the path of a museum director and what one does with that level of responsibility. I've spoken to many people in positions of leadership in the museum word but this interview was very unique. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This is Kathryn Haigh on episode 341 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

I had Bob Melet on today. He's an old friend that I've known him for 30+ years. When people ask me what Bob does, I always say that I'm not 100% sure. I am sure however that he has this unique gift of looking at objects of all types, all cultures, and then using them in a fashion where individuals can get inspiration, primarily in the field of fine dress and clothing.Clothing isn't the only space where Bob's professional interests lie. He also works in theater, traditional art, antiques, you name it. If you're a creative person, you could probably benefit from Bob's wonderful eye. It's one of the best you'll ever see. He absolutely knows how to assemble an aesthetic and what it looks like when things make sense together.In fact, I told Bob "you know, you're a dealer, but you're really not. You're a creative person whose creation has to do with how you see the world and letting people into your vision." So he is just a truly interesting individual. I enjoyed this podcast immensely, and I think you will too. This is Bob Melet on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 340.

This podcast is a little different because it was filmed on location at Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week 2025. Tony Abeyta is a famous painter, jeweler, and curator, and he assembled all of these modernist voices together for the exhibit "Modernism in the Desert." The artists include: Fritz Scholder, Charles Loloma, Michael Kabotie, Lloyd Kiva New, Paolo Soleri, Ed Mell, and more.There's a group of individuals that all connect to the same time frame of about 1950 to 1970 and they have relationships with Arizona, whether they were born here or the worked here. Tony was kind enough to walk us through the exhibit and speak on the individual works.You see, Tony is such a wealth of information when it comes to art. The exhibit he put together took a lot of time and effort and I'm not sure anything like this has ever been done before, and I don't know if it'll ever be done again.

One of the reasons I started the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast was to capture these important voices of artists, dealers, collectors, writers, and photographers. I wanted to preserve the stories of all of these individuals that have come into my life or that I've been aware of whose voices I felt needed to be captured. Jeff Aeling was one of those important voices and he just recently passed. Jeff was a good friend, and I represented him for 25+ years. It's interesting when you look back at a career of an artist and an art dealer, all of the things that you go through, the good times, the bad times... But every time Jeff and I were talking to each other, whether it was business related or just personal - we would always have these intimate talks about creative writing, art, and cinema.Jeff passed this past week, and I wanted to make sure that people had the opportunity to listen to this unique voice who changed the way I saw things.Rest in peace, Jeff. Thank you for everything.-------Originally Published Dec 12, 2018:Renowned landscape painter Jeff Aeling shares his circuitous road from musician to a theatrical stage production to finding his love of painting. Jeff discusses what skills are required to become an artist and the three types of landscape paintings. He also speaks on the time and influences required to make a successful painting and how to pick the right subject matter to stimulates your creativity.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As of episode 198, you can now watch The Storm Skiing Podcast on YouTube. Please click over to follow the channel. The podcast will continue to stream on all audio platforms. WhoEric Clark, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mammoth and June Mountains, CaliforniaRecorded onJanuary 29, 2025Why I interviewed himMammoth is ridiculous, improbable, outrageous. An impossible combination of unmixable things. SoCal vibes 8,000 feet in the sky and 250 miles north of the megalopolis. Rustic old-California alpine clapboard-and-Yan patina smeared with D-Line speed and Ikon energy. But nothing more implausible than this: 300 days of sunshine and 350 inches of snow in an average year. Some winters more: 715 inches two seasons ago, 618 in the 2016-17 campaign, 669 in 2010-11. Those are base-area totals. Nearly 900 inches stacked onto Mammoth's summit during the 2022-23 ski season. The ski area opened on Nov. 5 and closed on Aug. 6, a 275-day campaign.Below the paid subscriber jump: why Mammoth stands out even among giants, June's J1 lift predates the evolution of plant life, Alterra's investment machine, and more.That's nature, audacious and brash. Clouds tossed off the Pacific smashing into the continental crest. But it took a soul, hardy and ungovernable, to make Mammoth Mountain into a ski area for the masses. Dave McCoy, perhaps the greatest of the great generation of American ski resort founders, strung up and stapled together and tamed this wintertime kingdom over seven decades. Ropetows then T-bars then chairlifts all over. One of the finest lift systems anywhere. Chairs 1 through 25 stitching together a trail network sculpted and bulldozed and blasted from the monolithic mountain. A handcrafted playground animated as something wild, fierce, prehuman in its savage ever-down. McCoy, who lived to 104, is celebrated as a businessman, a visionary, and a human, but he was also, quietly, an artist.Mammoth is not the largest ski area in America (ranking number nine), California (third behind Palisades and Heavenly), Alterra's portfolio (third behind Palisades and Steamboat), or the U.S. Ikon Pass roster (fifth after Palisades, Big Sky, Bachelor, and Steamboat). But it may be America's most beloved big ski resort, frantic and fascinating, an essential big-mountain gateway for 39 million Californians, an Ikon Pass icon and the spiritual home of Alterra Mountain Company. It's impossible to imagine American skiing without Mammoth, just as it's impossible to imagine baseball without the Yankees or Africa without elephants. To our national ski identity, Mammoth is an essential thing, like a heart to a human body, a part without which the whole function falls apart.About MammothClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain Company, which also owns:Located in: Mammoth Lakes, CaliforniaYear founded: 1953Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: unlimited, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: June Mountain – around half an hour if the roads are clear; to underscore the severity of the Sierra Nevada, China Peak sits just 28 miles southwest of Mammoth, but is a seven-hour, 450-mile drive away – in good weather.Base elevation: 7,953 feetSummit elevation: 11,053 feetVertical drop: 3,100 feetSkiable acres: 3,500Average annual snowfall: 350 inchesTrail count: 178 (13% easiest, 28% slightly difficult, 19% difficult, 25% very difficult, 15% extremely difficult)Lift count: 25 (1 15-passenger gondola, 1 two-stage, eight-passenger gondola, 4 high-speed six-packs, 8 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 6 triples, 3 doubles, 1 Poma – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mammoth's lift fleet) – the ski area also runs some number of non-public carpetsAbout JuneClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain Company (see complete roster above)Located in: June Lake, CaliforniaYear founded: 1963Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: unlimited, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Mammoth Mountain – around half an hour if the roads are clearBase elevation: 7,545 feetSummit elevation: 10,090 feetVertical drop: 2,590 feetSkiable acres: 1,500 acresAverage annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 41Lift count: 6 (2 high-speed quads, 4 doubles – view Lift Blog's inventory of June Mountain's lift fleet)What we talked aboutMammoth's new lift 1; D-Line six-packs; deciding which lift to replace on a mountain with dozens of them; how the new lifts 1 and 16 redistributed skier traffic around Mammoth; adios Yan detachables; the history behind Mammoth's lift numbers; why upgrades to lifts 3 and 6 made more sense than replacements; the best lift system in America, and how to keep this massive fleet from falling apart; how Dave McCoy found and built Mammoth; retaining rowdy West Coast founder's energy when a mountain goes Colorado corporate; old-time Colorado skiing; Mammoth Lakes in the short-term rental era; potential future Mammoth lift upgrades; a potentially transformative future for the Eagle lift and Village gondola; why Mammoth has no public carpets; Mammoth expansion potential; Mammoth's baller parks culture, and what it takes to build and maintain their massive features; the potential of June Mountain; connecting to June's base with snowmaking; why a J1 replacement has taken so long; kids under 12 ski free at June; Ikon Pass access; changes incoming to Ikon Pass blackouts; the new markets that Ikon is driving toward Mammoth; improved flight service for Mammoth skiers; and Mammoth ski patrol.What I got wrong* I guessed that Mammoth likely paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million for “Canyon and Broadway.” I meant that the new six-pack D-line lifts likely cost $15 million each.* I mentioned that Jackson Hole installed a new high-speed quad last year – I was referring to the Sublette chair.* I said that Steamboat's Wild Blue Gondola was “close to three miles long” – the full ride is 3.16 miles. Technically, the first and second stages of the gondola are separate machines, but riders experience them as one.Why now was a good time for this interviewTalk to enough employees of Alterra Mountain Company and a pattern emerges: an outsized number of high-level execs – the people building the mountain portfolio and the Ikon Pass and punching Vail in the face while doing it – came to the mothership, in some way or another, through Mammoth Mountain.Why is that? Such things can be a coincidence, but this didn't feel like it. Rusty Gregory, Alterra's CEO from 2018 to '23, entered that pilot's seat as a Mammoth lifer, and it was possible that he'd simply tagged in his benchmates. But Alterra and the Ikon Pass were functioning too smoothly to be the products of nepotism. This California ski factory seemed to be stamping out effective big-ideas people like an Italian plant cranking out Ferraris.Something about Mammoth just works. And that's remarkable, considering no one but McCoy thought that the place would work at all as a functional enterprise. A series of contemporary dumbasses told him that Mammoth was “too windy, too snowy, too high, too avalanche-prone, and too isolated” to work as a commercial ski area, according to The Snow Mag. That McCoy made Mammoth one of the most successful ski areas anywhere is less proof that the peanut gallery was wrong than that it took extraordinary will and inventiveness to accomplish the feat.And when a guy runs a ski area for 52 years, that ski area becomes a manifestation of his character. The people who succeed in working there absorb these same traits, whether of dysfunction or excellence. And Mammoth has long been defined by excellence.So, how to retain this? How does a ski area stitched so tightly to its founder's swashbuckling character fully transition to corporate-owned megapass headliner without devolving into an over-groomed volume machine for Los Angeles weekenders? How does a mountain that's still spinning 10 Yan fixed-grip chairs – the oldest dating to 1969 – modernize while D-Line sixers are running eight figures per install? And how does a set-footprint mountain lodged in remote wilderness continue to attract enough skiers to stay relevant, while making sure they all have a place to stay and ski once they get there?And then there's June. Like Pico curled up beside Killington, June, lost in Mammoth's podium flex, is a tiger dressed up like a housecat. At 1,500 acres, June is larger than Arapahoe Basin, Aspen Highlands, or Taos. It's 2,590-foot-vertical drop is roughly equal to that of Alta, Alyeska, or Copper (though June's bottom 1,000-ish vertical feet are often closed due to lack of lower-elevation snow). And while the terrain is not fierce, it's respectable, with hundreds of acres of those wide-open California glades to roll through.And yet skiers seem to have forgotten about the place. So, it can appear, has Alterra, which still shuffles skiers out of the base on a 1960 Riblet double chair that is the oldest operating aerial lift in the State of California. The mountain deserves better, and so do Ikon Pass holders, who can fairly expect that the machinery transporting them and their gold-plated pass uphill not predate the founding of the republic. That Alterra has transformed Deer Valley, Steamboat, and Palisades Tahoe with hundreds of millions of dollars of megalifts and terrain expansions over the past five years only makes the lingering presence of June's claptrap workhorse all the more puzzling.So in Mammoth and June we package both sides of the great contradiction of corporate ski area ownership: that whoever ends up with the mountain is simultaneously responsible for both its future and its past. Mammoth, fast and busy and modern, must retain the spirit of its restless founder. June, ornamented in quaint museum-piece machinery while charging $189 for a peak-day lift ticket, must justify its Ikon Pass membership by doing something other than saying “Yeah I'm here with Mammoth.” Has one changed too much, and the other not enough? Or can Alterra hit the Alta Goldilocks of fast lifts and big passes with throwback bonhomie undented?Why you should ski Mammoth and JuneIf you live in Southern California, go ahead and skip this section, because of course you've already skied Mammoth a thousand times, and so has everyone you know, and it will shock you to learn that there is anyone, anywhere, who has never skied this human wildlife park.But for anyone who's not in Southern California, Mammoth is remote and inconvenient. It is among the least-accessible big mountains in the country. It lacks the interstate adjacency of Tahoe, the Wasatch, and Colorado; the modernized airports funneling skiers into Big Sky and Jackson and Sun Valley (though this is changing); the cultural cachet that overcomes backwater addresses for Aspen and Telluride. Going to Mammoth, for anyone who can't point north on 395, just doesn't seem worth the hassle.It is worth the hassle. The raw statistical profile validates this. Big vert, big acreage, big snows, and big lift networks always justify the journey, even if Mammoth's remoteness fails to translate to emptiness in the way it does at, say, Taos or Revelstoke. But there is something to being Not Tahoe, a Sierra Nevada monster throwing off its own gravity rather than orbiting a mother lake with a dozen equals. Lacking the proximity to leave some things to more capable competitors, the way Tahoe resorts cede parks to Boreal or Northstar, or radness to Palisades and Kirkwood, Mammoth is compelled to offer an EveryBro mix of parks and cliffs and groomers and trees and bumps. It's a motley, magnificent scene, singular and electric, the sort of place that makes all realms beyond feel like a mirage.Mammoth does have one satellite, of course, and June Mountain fills the mothership's families-with-kids gap. Unlike Mammoth, June lets you use the carpet without an instructor. Kids 12 and under ski free. June is less crowded, less vodka-Red Bull, less California. And while the dated lifts can puzzle the Ikon tote-bagger who's last seven trips were through the detachable kingdoms of Utah and Colorado, there is a certain thrill to riding a chairlift that tugged its first passengers uphill during the Eisenhower administration.Podcast NotesOn Mammoth's masterplanOn Alterra pumping “a ton of money into its mountains”Tripling the size of Deer Valley. A massive terrain expansion and transformative infill gondola at Steamboat. The fusing of Palisades Tahoe's two sides to create America's second-largest interconnected ski area. New six-packs at Big Bear, Mammoth, Winter Park, and Solitude. Alterra is not messing around, as the Vail-Slayer continues to add mountains, add partners, and transform its portfolio of once-tired giants into dazzling modern megaresorts with billions in investment.On D-Line lifts “floating over the horizon”I mean just look at these things (Loon's Kancamagus eight on opening day, December 10, 2021 – video by Stuart Winchester):On severe accidents on Yan detachablesIn 2023, I wrote about Yan's detachable lift hellstorm:Cohee referenced a conversation he'd had with “Yan Kunczynski,” saying that, “obviously he had his issues.” If it's not obvious to the listener, here's what he was talking about: Kuncyznski founded Yan chairlifts in 1965. They were sound lifts, and the company built hundreds, many of which are still in operation today. However. Yan's high-speed lifts turned out to be death traps. Two people died in a 1985 accident at Keystone. A 9-year-old died in a 1993 accident at Sierra-at-Tahoe (then known as Sierra Ski Ranch). Two more died at Whistler in 1995. This is why all three detachable quads at Sierra-at-Tahoe date to 1996 – the mountain ripped out all three Yan machines following the accident, even though the oldest dated only to 1989.Several Yan high-speed detachables still run, but they have been heavily modified and retrofit. Superstar Express at Killington, for example, was “retrofitted with new Poma grips and sheaves as well as terminal modifications in 1994,” according to Lift Blog. In total, 15 ski areas, including Sun Valley, Schweitzer, Mount Snow, Mammoth, and Palisades Tahoe spent millions upgrading or replacing Yan detachable quads. The company ceased operations in 2001.Since that writing, many of those Yan detachables have met the scrapyard:* Killington will replace Superstar Express with a Doppelmayr six-pack this summer.* Sun Valley removed two of their Yan detachables – Greyhawk and Challenger – in 2023, and replaced them with a single Doppelmayr high-speed six-pack.* Sun Valley then replaced the Seattle Ridge Yan high-speed quad with a Doppelmayr six-pack in 2024.* Mammoth has replaced both of its Yan high-speed quads – Canyon and Broadway – with Doppelmayr D-line six-packs.* Though I didn't mention Sunday River above, it's worth noting that the mountain ripped out its Barker Yan detachable quad in 2023 for a D-Line Doppelmayr bubble sixer.I'm not sure how many of these Yan-detach jalopies remain. Sun Valley still runs four; June, two; and Schweitzer, Mount Snow, and Killington one apiece. There are probably others.On Mammoth's aging lift fleetMammoth's lift system is widely considered one of the best designed anywhere, and I have no doubt that it's well cared for. Still, it is a garage filled with as many classic cars as sparkling-off-the-assembly-line Aston Martins. Seventeen of the mountain's 24 aerial lifts were constructed before the turn of the century; 10 of those are Yan fixed- grips, the oldest dating to 1969. Per Lift Blog:On Rusty's tribute to Dave McCoyFormer Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory delivered an incredible encomium to Mammoth founder Dave McCoy on this podcast four years ago [18:08]:The audio here is jacked up in 45 different ways. I suppose I can admit now that this was because whatever broke-ass microphone I was using at the time sounded as though it had filtered my audio through a dying air-conditioner. So I had to re-record my questions (I could make out the audio well enough to just repeat what I had said during our actual chat), making the conversation sound like something I had created by going on Open AI and typing “create a podcast where it sounds like I interviewed Rusty Gregory.” Now I probably would have just asked to re-record it, but at the time I just felt lucky to get the interview and so I stapled together this bootleg track that sounds like something Eminem would have sold from the trunk of his Chevy Celebrity in 1994.More good McCoy stuff here and in the videos below:On Mammoth buying Bear and Snow SummitRusty also broke down Mammoth's acquisition of Bear Mountain and Snow Summit in that pod, at the 29:18 mark.On Mammoth super parksWhen I was a kid watching the Road Runner dominate Wile E. Coyote in zip-fall-splat canyon hijinks, I assumed it was the fanciful product of some lunatic's imagination. But now I understand that the whole serial was just an animation of Mammoth Superparks:I mean can you tell the difference?I'm admittedly impressed with the coyote's standing turnaround technique with the roller skis.On Pico beside KillingtonThe Pico-Killington dilemma echoes that of June-Mammoth, in which an otherwise good mountain looks like a less-good mountain because it sits next door to a really great mountain. As I wrote in 2023:Pico is funny. If it were anywhere else other than exactly next door to the largest ski area in New England, Pico might be a major ski area. Its 468 acres would make it the largest ski area in New Hampshire. A 2,000-foot vertical drop is impressive anywhere. The mountain has two high-speed lifts. And, by the way, knockout terrain. There is only one place in the Killington complex where you can run 2,000 vertical feet of steep terrain: Pico.On the old funitel at JuneCompounding the weirdness of J1's continued existence is the fact that, from 1986 to '96, a 20-passenger funitels ran on a parallel line:Clark explains why June removed this lift in the podcast.On kids under 12 skiing free at JuneThis is pretty amazing – per June's website:The free June Mountain Kids Season Pass gives your children under 12 unlimited access to June Mountain all season long. This replaces day tickets for kids, which are no longer offered. Everyone in your family must have a season pass or lift ticket. Your child's free season pass must be reserved in advance, and picked up in-person at the June Mountain Ticket Office. If your child has a birthday in our system that states they are older than 12 years of age, we will require proof of age to sell you a 12 and under season pass.I clarified with June officials that adults are not required to buy a season pass or lift ticket in order for their children to qualify for the free season pass.While it is unlikely that I will make it to June this winter, I signed my 8-year-old son up for a free season pass just to see how easy it was. It took about 12 seconds (he was already in Alterra's system, saving some time).On Alterra's whiplash Ikon Pass accessAlterra has consistently adjusted Ikon Pass access to meter volume and appease its partner mountains:On Mammoth's mammoth snowfallsMammoth's annual snowfalls tend to mirror the boom-bust cycles of Tahoe, with big winters burying the Statue of Liberty (715 inches at the base over the 2022-23 winter), and others underperforming the Catskills (94 inches in the winter of 1976-77). Here are the mountain's official year-by-year and month-by-month tallies. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe