Podcasts about Sublette

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

Mathieu Nozieres is a name you're going to remember...  I say that because I can just see something in this young man. His trajectory and the way he looks at art... his commitment to Western art specifically is incredible. He actually immigrated from France to Los Angeles with his wife, who's also a wonderful artist as well.You see, Mathieu has this unique story of being a comic book artist going into fine art, traveling and studying all over the world. From Romania to Belgium, India, China, Russia, all these different places, searching for knowledge to become a better artist and then finding Western art and going, "oh... that's it. Here's my lane. I love art history. I love the West. This is where I'm supposed to be."So it's a fun ride. Just hearing where he's mentally at this point in his career is a treat. We'll look back someday, you know, 20, 30 years from now and you'll go, oh yeah, that was the first time he stepped on the scene. That was who Mathieu Nozieres was when he started his legendary Western art career. So yeah, I enjoyed this podcast a great deal and I hope you do as well.

This is the only podcast I've ever done where I put six different individuals in one episode, all talking about one subject which is drawing. It's such an important part of being an artist because when you are just a little kid, you pick up those crayons, you pick up the pencils, you start drawing and  - the people that get excited and somehow get turned onto that? Well, those are our artists. I wanted to do this major show with all these artists and I've got 47 in this show called Masters of Drawing, where they get to show that expertise that they've had ever since they were little kids. I wanted to interview different artists and see what they had to say about the process.So it's really a focus on drawing and about the show. The individuals in this episode include Josh Gibson, Kathryn Stedham, William Haskell, Whitney Gardner, Howard Post and Jim Woodside. They all have the same thing in common. They are Masters of drawing. I think you'll find this fascinating. I know I did.

I had Susan Lyon on the podcast today. What a joyful person she is. I had never met Susan, but I'm very familiar with her work and her husband Scott Burdick's work and we had a great time. We talked about her life and how she got where she is today as an artist.We speak about how she found her voice not only as an artist, but as a teacher. Which she does through her own website and through Patreon, which she feels is as much her calling as the art. So people can hear those types of things that she teaches and does, and then you can take that and go and see and learn and even sign up for classes so you can work with a master.And she is a master and her drawings are amazing. We talk about a show that I'm doing, which is called Masters of Drawing that opens on February 15, 2025. She's a part of that show and it was fun just to discuss everything that goes into her drawings. So I had a great time. I think anyone who listens or watches this will realize what an immense gift that Susan Lyon is to the world of art.

Unique podcast today because I'm actually being interviewed by Michael Clawson, who's the editor of Western Art Collector and he has his own podcast, which is the American Art Collective. So you'll be able to listen to this podcast on either platform. He wanted to come down and talk to me about Maynard Dixon and interview me. And I said, well, why don't you just use my studio and we can do it together? You know, you interview me just like you would any other guest, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. And we did that. I talked on Dixon for a very long time, for about an hour and 15 minutes. It was a very interesting podcast, because when I do a lecture, it's more of a chronological, you know, follow along, connect the dots kind of thing. This really was more of a question/answer format type of podcast. Michael specifically wanted to do this interview because I have a new Maynard Dixon and Native American Art Museum that opened next to my gallery here in Tucson, Arizona. He wanted to let his listeners and readers know about this museum, which is kind of a lifelong conglomeration of all the things that I've collected and learned about Maynard Dixon.So It was very kind of him to have me on his podcast to do that and to talk about Dixon while we celebrate his 150th birthday. If you like Maynard Dixon, I think you'll find this podcast very interesting.

I had Bob Ashley on today and what an interesting guy he is. I really enjoyed this podcast because it speaks to something that I've always enjoyed, which is  herpetology. As a child I was fascinated with reptiles and I'm still fascinated with them. Anybody who knows me has probably seen me move rattlesnakes off the road because I don't want them to get hurt. If you like herpetology, you're going to love this podcast  (plus it's the year of the snake). If you don't like herpetology and snakes, then you may not find it as interesting as I did.Bob has the Chiricahua Desert Museum, which is right on the border of New Mexico and Arizona off the I-10. It's not that far from Tucson and it's not only a museum of desert animals, but a museum that preserves and displays Apache material called the Apache Museum and Geronimo Events Center.He really is one of the top people in this field and a ton of different research gets done as a result of his commitment to herpetology, but he loves Native American art, specifically Apache because he lives and operates his museum in that region. He's very close to the point where Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. government. The museum has lots of different things that you can see and the whole history of that region from an indigenous standpoint, from Mimbres on up.Unique podcast, unique individual. I hope you do listen to it and I hope you go and visit it, which is at the Chiricahua Desert Museum, because it's a very interesting place to go. That's what this podcast is all about and that's what Bob Ashley is all about. He and I have, a similar love for snakes, herpetology, and Native American art. 

[Western Art] Returning to the show is Arizona art dealer, author and podcaster Mark Sublette. He returns to the show to celebrate the 150th Birthday of Maynard Dixon, whose Western art still inspires artists today. Mark is an authority on Dixon, which includes a book on the artist and a new Maynard Dixon museum in Tucson, Arizona. Today's episode is sponsored by Western Art Collector, where you will find content on Maynard Dixon and other artists. Read more at westernartcollector.com.

Artist William Haskell speaks on his art and life at the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson, Arizona for the Friends of Western Art.

I did a different type of a podcast today. Maybe something I'll do more of, if I find a certain topic really interesting. That's the thing for me. If I'm going to talk or try to share stories, generally I am talking to a guest, I'm interviewing somebody and listening to their story. But I saw this movie with Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan.As I'm watching the movie, I'm thinking, you know, T.C. Cannon is so inspired by this guy, and you can see correlations. I can, because I understand and feel the relationships that T.C. Cannon had to Dylan's music. So I did a little bit of a deep dive just to find out a few things about them and how they connected and why and the things that would affect them, specifically, T.C. Cannon. I think it might give you a sense of who this person was, especially when you look at T.C. Cannon's paintings and his drawings because his drawings are some of the most personal, as they often are with his own writings, his own poetry, in some cases, even Dylan's songs and lyrics.In fact Cannon does a couple of paintings that are directly related to Dylan's lyrics. So before you go see the movie “ A Complete Unknown” you might want to listen to this podcast and just got a sense of Cannon and how he was affected and might make the viewing experience a little different for you. I know it did for me when I was watching it. Terrific movie, by the way.

I had Erin Hanson on today. She's such an interesting person because she's a terrific artist. I love her artwork, and I show it in my gallery. Erin is also a great businessperson and she's an innovator in the art space.Today we focused in on this process of 3D printing that she does with her paintings. She's really one of the only people that's doing such a thing. Understandably it's expensive, costing upwards of half a million dollars just to get the machines, not to mention the specialized highly skilled individuals required to do this process.Erin has also amassed a huge social media presence and she's done it organically, which is not an easy task. I think her Instagram is at 300k followers at the time of posting. So I hope you enjoy this. I think it's a very good, podcast for artists to learn and to see something new and interesting that really only Erin Hanson is doing.

I had Rachel Brownlee on today and she has such an interesting story. You have this individual who had never identified herself as an artist until several years ago, and now she's and award-winning artist.Growing up, she was homeschooled with her seven siblings, living life as a fifth generation Nebraskan rancher (she still is actually). But she finds her voice as an artist and just kind of had this insane, meteoric rise from 2021 until now where she wins the best of show award from the Mountain Oyster Club and starts getting invited to all of these different shows and being represented by important galleries across the West.Fast forward to today and Rachel is this kind of phenomenon in the art world, working with charcoal like nobody has before. A person who had no training in art other than her own ambition to learn and to create like crazy. This is a great story. I mean, it's shows that if you're committed to what you want to do in life, you can absolutely do it with enough hard work. She has two kids, she's married to a rancher and still works the ranch to some extent, but really is now a full-time artist, spending eight plus hours a day drawing in the studio.We go through this whole story of how she got where she is now and what she's currently working on. I myself am very excited that Rachel is going to be a part of my Masters of Drawing Group Exhibition in February 2025.So there you have it. Really interesting story. I hope you like it. I had a great time talking to Rachel Brownlee on episode 325 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

Today on the show, we'll hear from county firefighters reflecting this past year's massive wildfires, and about some food sovereignty projects on the Wind River Reservation. We'll tag along with a long time Sublette county local for a very unique kind of Christmas tree hunt…Those stories and more on Open Spaces.

This is a really interesting and fun lecture that I did along with Dennis Ziemienski. It's to celebrate his 50th anniversary of being an artist, and we're having a retrospective at our gallery for those who might be listening to this sometime in the future (this was in December of 2024).I talked about Maynard Dixon and his illustrations and Dennis speaks on his own illustration career. It turns out there is a lot of very interesting parallels. For instance, they both went to New York at 33, hey both started doing fine art at about 45, 50, and when they first started their commercial art careers, there were serious economic events happening. For Dixon, it was the bank panic of 1907. For Ziemienski, it was the 1980, 81, bank crisis where we had the worst recession since the Great Depression with 11% unemployment.So those correlations  come from my part of the lecture and then Dennis talks about his life as a commercial artist and all the illustrations that he did for things like the Olympics, Academy Awards, Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl and those types of things. I hope you watch this on YouTube, because I think that is really the way to get the flavor of this podcast. Also, thank you to the Western Art Patrons (WAP) for being such a great crowd.

A wonderful way to spend an afternoon is finding two people that walk into your gallery (or in this case my new Maynard Dixon & Native American Art Museum) who are authorities on Charles Lummis. Christian Rodriguez, who is the curator of the Lummis House (AKA El Alisal), and Kim Walters, who was the archivist for there for decades are both experts on this bigger than life individual. The three of us discuss this man's life and just go back and forth sharing a massive amount of information on a person that was critically important to an artist that I specialize in, Maynard Dixon.It's really fun because it's just we're all beaming in on what was important or how we saw it. I saw Lummis in a particular light based on my understanding of his and Dixon's relationship. The truth is he was such a complex and nuanced person in many different ways. He's still important to California and to the story of the West as a whole. In fact, he was one of the individuals responsible for the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, which opened in 1907 and was absorbed by the Autry Museum in 2003. I just found it so fascinating and the conversation went on for two hours. There were things that I came away with going "okay, I didn't know this" or "I definitely want to learn more about this."  Now I plan on doing some follow up research because all of these good answers lead to better and better questions. My question to you is - do you want to just see how individuals who really love what they do interact, talk about  their expertise, and contemplate the inner-workings of one singular individual? Well in that case, this is the one for you.

I'm here at the Saguaro Theater in Wickenburg, AZ to give a presentation on my newest novel "Broken Promises: A Westin Blackwood Art Detective Mystery." This event was setup and hosted by my dear friends at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum.The museum itself is a wonderful place so I hope everyone can come out and visit them. I've been here dozens and dozens times. They have one of the greatest collections of Western and Native American art. This podcast is partly an art history lesson since I talk about the events that inspired my fictional novel. The aforementioned events are very interesting and are tied not only to where I grew up, but also to the city I call home.Broken Promises is available on my website in hardcover:https://www.medicinemangallery.com/products/broken-promises-a-westin-blackwood-art-detective-mystery-by-mark-sublette**Also available on all eBook platforms.

I had Maeve Eichelberger on today and I really like to call her just "Maeve." I think that's a good way to just brand her name, but maybe you'll hear that on the podcast. I don't remember if I talked about it in the podcast or if it was just in private, but that's the fun thing about podcast is you never know what's going to come out. Maeve and I talked about the new show she's having with Jordan K. Walker, Josh Gibson, and  Whitney Gardner which is the New Young Gun show. It was fun to just kind of catch up with her on what she's doing. We talked about her new studio and some of her relationships with individuals like Barbara Van Cleve and it's always unique to discuss art with individuals that see the world differently. Maeve really does see the world in her own way on so many levels, not only the way she makes her art, but the types of media that she uses as well.She uses acrylic for her saddles and now she's making clothing based sculptures which are really interesting and something I think will be sought after  when people find out what she's doing. I always have a great time talking to Maeve and I'm so happy she was able to take the time to come and do this podcast for our group exhibition, New Young Guns.

Whitney Gardner brought in new paintings for the New Young Guns Group Show, which opens in a few days so we decided to record a podcast at my studio in Tucson. The show features Jordan Walker, Josh Gibson, Maeve Eichelberger, and today's guest, Whitney. Now, she's been on the podcast before, which we filmed in November 2022, the same day I began representing her in my gallery. Two years and 100 episodes later, Whitney sheds light on what she's been up to the last couple of years.It's really quite interesting to speak to an artist at the beginning of their career, and then again while they are on the rise. You can feel it. It's wild to watch that cascade of interest pool up in smaller circles and eventually overflow into the Western art world at large. That's pretty much what's happened with Whitney since I've known her. She's won all these awards in the last two years and been picked up by another reputable gallery in Santa Fe, McLarry Fine Art. They had a show for her which did well, extremely well actually. These kinds of things begin adding up and next thing you know you're in museums, articles are being written on you in major magazines, and your art career is no longer a dream but a template for the next up-and-coming artist.I think all of these artists that make up the New Young Guns will feel that in some form or fashion. That's what you want as an artist. To be recognized by people for your hard work, dedication, and what you have to say. That being said, there are all-new responsibilities and considerations that come with having a shiny new platform like this.People tend to think "oh, fame is so great," or "wow, selling art is easier than ever." Well sure, it can be, but it also has the other aspects that go along with it. It becomes a duty of sorts to continue and produce work that resonates with people... and if it doesn't, well then you may not be able to pay the bills.Anyhow, this podcast was so fun. It's been a privilege to get to see Whitney's journey over the last two years. This upcoming show, which is going to be a really terrific will put her skills and the skills of her peers on full display. I genuinely hope you can make it.

I had Barbara Van Cleve on the podcast today and she is just incredible. Barbara spent her entire life as photographer, getting her first camera in 1946 at age 11. She has a photograph that is still being printed and published to this day that she took in 1950 when she was 15 while on a camping trip with her father. We talk about her life and how she managed to go from being a fourth generation rancher to the celebrated photographer she is today. Her family gets to Montana in 1889, years before Montana was even a state. Her love of the ranch, of horses, of cattle, of being a true Montanan fueled her early days of photography. To many people, Montana is a very special place. She is extremely proud of that heritage and has been the recipient of many, many awards from not only Montana, but from all over the place.Barbara and her work has been featured on CBS , CNN, and more. There's a documentary that's just finishing just on her life too. She's really important and we're very fortunate to have her in our gallery, thanks to Andrew Smith, who represented her for 40 years. When Andrew closed his brick and mortar gallery, we were fortunate to be able to open a new door and begin representing her at Medicine Man Gallery. For me, even more importantly, is getting the opportunity to begin a friendship with this person who's a very important artist, both personally and historically. That's what makes this podcast so much fun. I mean, those are the kind of podcasts that I just devour because it's real and she is so open and spontaneous. Real talk, if you don't like this podcast, you're probably not going to like any of my podcasts.Anyway, we had a lovely to talk and went for about two hours. So I'm going to make this into a part one and part two. So this is part two of western photography legend Barbara Van Cleve on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 319.

I had Barbara Van Cleve on the podcast today and she is just incredible. Barbara spent her entire life as photographer, getting her first camera in 1946 at age 11. She has a photograph that is still being printed and published to this day that she took in 1950 when she was 15 while on a camping trip with her father. We talk about her life and how she managed to go from being a fourth generation rancher to the celebrated photographer she is today. Her family gets to Montana in 1889, years before Montana was even a state. Her love of the ranch, of horses, of cattle, of being a true Montanan fueled her early days of photography. To many people, Montana is a very special place. She is extremely proud of that heritage and has been the recipient of many, many awards from not only Montana, but from all over the place.Barbara and her work has been featured on CBS , CNN, and more. There's a documentary that's just finishing just on her life too. She's really important and we're very fortunate to have her in our gallery, thanks to Andrew Smith, who represented her for 40 years. When Andrew closed his brick and mortar gallery, we were fortunate to be able to open a new door and begin representing her at Medicine Man Gallery. For me, even more importantly, is getting the opportunity to begin a friendship with this person who's a very important artist, both personally and historically. That's what makes this podcast so much fun. I mean, those are the kind of podcasts that I just devour because it's real and she is so open and spontaneous. Real talk, if you don't like this podcast, you're probably not going to like any of my podcasts.Anyway, we had a lovely to talk and went for about two hours. So I'm going to make this into a part one and part two. So this is part one of western photography legend Barbara Van Cleve on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 318.

I had Dennis Ziemienski on today, and I've known Dennis for a long time, represented him for about 20 years, and we're doing a retrospective for him on December 6th in Tucson. He's going to turn 77 in May, and he's been working on this for over a year. There's a new on Dennis that just came out and we're going to have over 60 paintings in the show. It's a big deal for artists to have their lives celebrated. Dennis definitely needs to be celebrated because he's a remarkable artist. As an illustrator he did some things that were gigantic. The Super Bowl, Academy Awards, Olympics, Kentucky Derby, you name it, he did it. Then after being a successful illustrator, he transitioned into fine art and succeeds in spades. So and he makes it look easy.He loves to create. Every time I talk to him, he's excited and happy to be talking about the art that he's painting and what he's doing. So for me, it's a thrill to have his retrospective at our gallery this year (again, December 6, 2024).To see all that work together is going to be so compelling, I have no doubt. Not only will it be the fine art, but we're doing something in our new Maynard Dixon and Native American Art Museum, which will be a show of illustrations juxtaposed against Maynard Dixon's commercial art. So we just talk about it, right? We just talk about his life and how he got into art in the first place. I really wanted to focus on the paintings in his book and the retrospective, and I think we got it. I think it's a great podcast, and it will be one of those that's noted, when people are doing research is an important one because you can see his life laid out just as you'll see it in his retrospective coming up, Dennis Ziemienski.

I had Allyson Scheumaker on today, and we talked about the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, of which she is the Executive Director. It's a very interesting museum  with some amazing illustrators that Mitchell had traded with.  So it's a unique kind of podcast, understanding how a smaller museum can not only survive, but thrive.They have illustration shows, they have shows related to the photographs that Mitchell took, and of course, A.R. Mitchell was a very interesting guy. He did over 150 covers for magazines between 1927 and 1942. He's born in like 1889 and dies in 1977 so he lived a long, interesting life. All of this is in Trinidad, Colorado... A place that you may have never heard about. I've never been, but I plan to go. I've had conversations with artists and clients alike and they've all been impressed with the art that is in this museum. So, I hope you enjoy episode 316 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast featuring the Executive Director of the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, Allyson Scheumaker.

I had Jon Flaming on today. I'm a big fan of his work, I love it. I think he's so unusual and has a very personal, unique take on Western art. It comes from a place that is deeply ingrained in him because he is a true Westerner. His family owned ranch in Kansas. His grandfather's father was from that area, but Jon's been in Texas since he was five years old. Clearly, he's a Texan through and through. His art is a modern synthesis of what the West can be through the eyes of somebody who sees things differently. He had a design firm of his own, which helped him understand the concepts that he wanted to bring to fine art, which he's done beautifully. One of the things I loved about this podcast, which is a two parter, is that he doesn't pull any punches of what it takes to do it and how you can succeed if you are committed. He speaks on the types of elements that you have to have to succeed and the kinds of people that he would like to work with.Jon is one of these rare individuals who can not only make his work, but also sell and market it himself and he does it very well. So I had a great time talking to Jon. I think he's a terrific individual and his art just as outstanding and fun. So this is Jon Flaming on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast, part two.

I had Jon Fleming on today. I'm a big fan of his work, I love it. I think he's so unusual and has a very personal,  unique take on Western art. It comes from a place that is deeply ingrained in him because he is a true Westerner. His family owned ranch in Kansas. His grandfather's father was from that area, but John's been in Texas since he was five years old. Clearly, he's a Texan through and through. His art is a modern synthesis of what the West can be through the eyes of somebody who sees things differently. He had a design firm of his own, which helped him understand the concepts that he wanted to bring to fine art, which he's done beautifully. One of the things I loved about this podcast, which is a two parter, is that he doesn't pull any punches of what it takes to do it and how you can succeed if you are committed. He speaks on the types of elements that you have to have to succeed and the kinds of people that he would like to work with.Jon is one of these rare individuals who can not only make his work, but also sell and market it himself and he does it very well. So I had a great time talking to Jon. I think he's a terrific individual and his art just as outstanding and fun. So this is Jon Flaming on the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast, part one.

This podcast is a recording of a lecture that renowned jewelry artist Sam Patania gave at the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson, AZ.Lecturing on his family of silversmiths to a crowd of Western jewelry collectors, Sam provides background on the techniques, tools, and wisdom passed down from his grandfather (Frank Patania, Sr.) to his father (Frank Patania, Jr.) and then to him.I was honored to have introduced him, and I hope you enjoy the story behind this legendary family tree of silversmiths. This is Sam Patania on Art Dealer Diaries episode 313.(This lecture was given to promote the release of the book "Legendary Patania Jewelry: In the Tradition of the Southwest, by Kim Messier and Pat Messier" available here: www.medicinemangallery.com/legendary-patania-jewelry)

I had Amery Bohling on my podcast today and I really enjoyed this one. You get the sense of who she is both as an artist and as a normal human being. She's such a bubbly, fun person and at the same time very a serious artist. Amery is most well-known for her Grand Canyon paintings and I've been very familiar with her work for over a decade. She's had her own studio/gallery in Scottsdale, at the heart of Main Street and now she's being represented by a couple of new galleries, Parsons Gallery in Taos and my gallery, Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson.It was lovely  to get to talk to her about art, but also to get to know her as a person. She speaks on her background, her artistic process, what motivates her, and how she got to where she is today. So, again I really enjoyed this interview and it was very interesting to learn about Amery. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. She's a lovely person, and an incredible painter. This is Amery Bohling on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 312.

I had artist Jerry Jordan on the podcast today. No surprise, it was a really great talk (My god, this guy is so deep). I've always been a fan of his paintings. The way he moves paint, the way that he looks at his subject matters, all of it. After talking with him for almost two hours I could understand where all this beauty comes from and it's from a deeper place. He just has this very personal, organic approach to painting.Jerry's story is an interesting one. It takes a bunch of twists and turns... From not being able to make it as a painter, to making it in the country music world, being comedian of the year. So many different paths that you wouldn't even think about. This struggle to get where he is today and that journey as a whole is just incredible. Jerry doesn't hold back anything in this interview and I love podcasts like that. The real and they have the capacity to be deeply profound. You can feel it, right? Like I said, It's a really wonderful podcast and it's going to be a two parter. This is part two of Jerry Jordan on Art Dealer Diaries episode 311.

I had artist Jerry Jordan on the podcast today. No surprise, it was a really great talk (My god, this guy is so deep). I've always been a fan of his paintings. The way he moves paint, the way that he looks at his subject matters, all of it. After talking with him for almost two hours I could understand where all this beauty comes from and it's from a deeper place. He just has this very personal, organic approach to painting.Jerry's story is an interesting one. It takes a bunch of twists and turns... From not being able to make it as a painter, to making it in the country music world, being comedian of the year. So many different paths that you wouldn't even think about. This struggle to get where he is today and that journey as a whole is just incredible. Jerry doesn't hold back anything in this interview and I love podcasts like that. The real and they have the capacity to be deeply profound. You can feel it, right? Like I said, It's a really wonderful podcast and it's going to be a two parter. This is part one of Jerry Jordan on Art Dealer Diaries episode 310.

I thought I would do something a little different with today's podcast - It's a lecture that I did for the Nevada Museum of Art. They recently had a large Maynard Dixon exhibit and there's a great book that goes with it on Dixon's Nevada pieces. So this is an hour long lecture on just Maynard Dixon and the West. You know, the whole story. Basically from when he was born to when he dies. It starts in the Gilded Age and goes all the way through to the Nuclear Age.You might find this episode more interesting to watch it on YouTube vs. listening to it, as I have all the images that I actually talk about in a powerpoint that I used for the presentation.So, I hope you enjoy this episode 309 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast and the lecture that I gave on Maynard Dixon's American West.

I've known Michael Higgins for 35+ years and he was actually one of the first dealers that I met in Tucson when I moved here. You see, Michael has been actively buying and selling Native American arts since 1972. Michael got out of the military after serving in Vietnam, and went directly into the buying and selling of Native American art. His area of expertise ranges from the contemporary to historic Native American art, especially beadwork.It was wonderful to get to actually spend some time talking to Michael. We live in the same town, but life gets in the way. We get busy. We don't get to see each other as much as we'd like to. Regardless, he's a unique individual with a unique approach to Native American material. He's seen a lot, and this podcast is all about his backstory and about the core components of this business.So it was interesting to hear his stories and about the things that he's done and how he sees his role in the arts. I had a great time. This is Michael Higgins on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 307.

I had Ron Munn on today. Ron's been in the business for 60+ years. He started his first gallery in 1968 and ran a very successful auction for decades. I've known him for over 30 years and he's always been one of the individuals I wanted to have on the podcast, because he has the longevity. He's known all of the players and he's seen the art and the art business over the past 60 years which it gives him a very unique perspective that other people don't have.He's still active too. He'll be showing in Albuquerque in early August 2024 at the 25th Annual Great Southwestern Antique Show. In fact, it's really fun to hear about the early days of this business because it's so much different than it once was.I was on the tail end of it. I started 35 years ago and the unfortunate truth is that most of the big time dealers from back then have all passed on. Luckily for us, Ron is able to pass their wisdom and stories on just like this podcast will pass Ron's and even my own stories on to the next generation.So this is a podcast that offers a unique perspective into the world of Native arts. Native American artwork as seen through the eyes of an early dealer and auctioneer. Ron Munn on episode 306 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

I had Terry DeWald on today. I've known Terry for over 30 years. He's a magnificent person and he's a dealer, but he's also an expert in Native American basketry and textiles, specifically Navajo. He's spent his entire life working with the Tohono O'Odham basket makers and knows them all very intimately and are a big part of  his life.I've been trying to get him to come for a long time because he has so much to say. He knows so many people. He did so many interesting things, from being a professional baseball player to a teacher to again finding his way into the Native American art field. He's what we refer to as an Indian art trader. That's what all these guys were kind of referred to as in the early 70s, late 60s up until today.  I've been trying to interview these individuals while they're here. Unfortunately we've lost a few, and we're going to lose a lot more.It's a subculture that's very unique in the whole of Americana. A group of non-Native individuals who dedicated their lives to Native American arts. Most of them work directly with different individuals, contemporary native artists, but also having this great love for historical material and really understanding it like very few can.So it was a real gem of a podcast.  I think you'll really enjoy this one with Native American art expert Terry DeWald.

I had photographer Scott Baxter on today and I enjoyed this interview a lot. I was listening to this man's life unfold in front of me and it came out so fluid and easily digestible. He's a loquacious individual but he's also just really interesting. You see, Scott gets a degree in history and just goes: "I'm not going to be a teacher, I'm going to be a photographer - and furthermore, I'm not going to be just a commercial photographer... I'm going to be a fine artist." And the projects that he's worked on are incredible. 100 Years, 100 Ranchers was such a pivotal exhibit. I remember seeing it at the Tucson Museum of Art and the individuals, the ranchers that he had interviewed and taken photos of were there.It was so captivating then and now to be ten or so years later, getting to interview him about that project was really rewarding for me. Sometimes in this podcast world that I inhabit, there are certain connections that happen. I interviewed Ed Mell and I interviewed Jay Dusard, both individuals affected Scott's life a great deal.This podcast came about because he wrote me this beautiful letter and said: "I just want to thank you. I really enjoyed these podcasts, and they meant a lot to me." I read that and thought, I've always wanted to interview this guy, and I love the project he did... Let's see what happens. So it was a very special podcast.You should  definitely know who Scott Baxter is, and if you don't this is the perfect entry point. He's a terrific photographer. We included images in video version, but to get the entire scope of his work you can go to his website.I'm a fan. I really am. The podcast was so compelling that we actually went a little long, which I love, because that means there's a two parter here. So this is part two of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast with photographer Scott Baxter.*****If you're interested in seeing Scott's work including pieces he spoke about in this podcast, visit his website: www.scottbaxterphotographer.com

I had photographer Scott Baxter on today and I enjoyed this interview a lot. I was listening to this man's life unfold in front of me and it came out so fluid and easily digestible. He's a loquacious individual but he's also just really interesting. You see, Scott gets a degree in history and just goes: "I'm not going to be a teacher, I'm going to be a photographer - and furthermore, I'm not going to be just a commercial photographer... I'm going to be a fine artist." And the projects that he's worked on are incredible. 100 Years, 100 Ranchers was such a pivotal exhibit. I remember seeing it at the Tucson Museum of Art and the individuals, the ranchers that he had interviewed and taken photos of were there.It was so captivating then and now to be ten or so years later, getting to interview him about that project was really rewarding for me. Sometimes in this podcast world that I inhabit, there are certain connections that happen. I interviewed Ed Mell and I interviewed Jay Dusard,  both individuals affected Scott's life a great deal.This podcast came about because he wrote me this beautiful letter and said: "I just want to thank you. I really enjoyed these podcasts, and they meant a lot to me." I read that and thought, I've always wanted to interview this guy, and I love the project he did... Let's see what happens. So it was a very special podcast.You should  definitely know who Scott Baxter is, and if you don't this is the perfect entry point. He's a terrific photographer. We included images in video version, but to get the entire scope of his work you can go to his website.I'm a fan. I really am. The podcast was so compelling that we actually went a little long, which I love, because that means there's a two parter here. So this is part one of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast with photographer Scott Baxter.

I had Mary Platt on today. It was a really fun talk because we were at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, CA and she did a walk and talk of the Disney material, and that's her expertise. In fact, she's done a book on that specific area. So this is a great podcast to watch on YouTube because you can see the paintings and what we're talking about.We  just had a wonderful conversation in the museum, talking about the main animation related exhibit they have at the moment which is on Disney artist and animation pioneer: Mary Blair.So very interesting, enlightening talk with Mary Platt, Director of the Hilbert Museum of California Art.

This week, we're discussing how you might be a jerk on public lands and not even realize it. A few news stories from this week include the following: A quick update on Colorado's proposal to do away with non-resident over-the-counter archery elk tags. In Montana, American Prairie just acquired 12,500 more acres of land, bringing its total between deeded and leased property to 475,000 acres. In Wyoming, Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, has been attempting to build a luxury resort in the heart of prime elk and moose wintering ground and on the Sublette mule deer migration corridor. A new update to wildfire risk.org has shown that significantly more people and homes are at risk of wildfire than previously thought. In New Mexico, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Bureau of Land Management, and several other partners supplied funding for new water sources for wildlife in the Sierra Padrones, Polvadera, and Chupadera mountains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had Tim Peterson on today, and it was really a wonderful podcast. He's an individual I've wanted to have on for very long time. I've had many conversations with him over the years and he's been on the podcast recently, speaking on exhibits at the Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, but this time I wanted HIS story.This is an individual who is a very serious collector. He's done around ten or so major exhibits on the different items he collects and they're always phenomenal exhibits. There's a multitude of them, Native American objects of art and Western paintings. The breadth is shocking and wonderful. Every time I go to the Western Spirit, I make sure to go see the permanent exhibit he curated: Courage and Crossroads.In this case, on this podcast, I learned about a painting that I've talked about before, which is a Herman Wendelborg Hansen, but I didn't realize it was the first really significant piece that he had ever collected.So it's a very unique podcast. You hear how somebody goes all in on collecting and giving back, because Tim's not just collecting for himself, it's just the opposite. He collects to build a story and he's giving it to the world to take it as is.We owe a debt of gratitude to people like Tim Peterson and I'm grateful he took the time to be a part of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 300.

Had a nice talk with artist Bob Coronato today, and it went on for a long time. We went over two hours so it's a two parter for sure. Bob's lived an interesting, unique life. He's been in Wyoming for most of his life at this point, but he actually grew up in New Jersey. In part two, we hear the story of Bob and a very special portrait of Russell Means. Now, for those who don't know who Russell Means is, he was a Lakota activist, writer, and actor, and he was highly involved in the AIM protest at Wounded Knee in 1970. Well, Bob had the privilege of painting this individual's likeness and the story behind this painting is quite compelling (spoiler alert - it winds up in the Smithsonian).We handle his etchings on occasion when I get them and he's just a super nice guy. So I hope you enjoy. Art Dealer Diaries Podcast epi 299 with Bob Coronato. This is part two.

Had a nice talk with artist Bob Coronato today, and it  went on for a long time. We went over two hours so it's a two parter for sure. Bob's lived an interesting, unique life. He's been in Wyoming for most of his life at this point, but he actually grew up in New Jersey. We hear the whole story of how he managed to get out of New Jersey and wind up at the Otis Institute of Fine Art in Los Angeles. after a bit he moves to Wyoming where he meets and works with cowboys, and it's just domino after domino of these life events that make Bob into the Western artist he is today.So we had this lovely talk about his life and this first part is all about his becoming an artist and really the early days of his career. Part two has a lot to do with his painting of Lakota activist Russell Means that currently hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. We handle his etchings on occasion when I get them and he's just a super nice guy. So I hope you enjoy. Art Dealer Diaries Podcast epi 298 with Bob Coronato. This is part one.

I had Donna Howell-Sickles on today, and I think she's probably one of the more recognizable Western multimedia artists. So today's podcast was fun for me on many levels. First off, Donna is iconic and paints iconic imagery and second, she was a leader in the field early on. On top of that, I just love her story. I mean, she grew up on a ranch that was hit with a terrible drought, but they managed to hang on to it. After all of that, her parents became teachers. For Donna, it was really a struggle to get where she wanted to be as an artist. You know, she had to go against the grain and in so many ways. Not only from facing her family who felt that she would need a job that can pay the bills and that art wasn't going to cut it, but simply existing as a standout woman artist in a very male dominated space.Anyways, she's a lovely individual. I guess I just really enjoyed this podcast. Donna Howell-Sickles on episode 297 of Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

It's always fun to go someplace new. In this case, it's the Hilbert Museum, which is part of Chapman University. It's a museum that opened in 2016, but it's just recently reopened with two major wings and some incredible art.I had the fortune of walking, talking, and interviewing Mark Hilbert, who is the person who really designed and gave all the art and money to develop this museum. He had been collecting art for 50 years  and he had a vision wanted to share it with the world. It's just full of amazing, important paintings. You have a variety of paintings from some of the top California artists, work from famous illustrators, a collection full of Disney artists. Even a show that's on transitional Navajo eyedazzler blankets. So we just kind of did a walkthrough of this Museum and spoke about the pieces. This is a great podcast to watch on YouTube, just so you can see the artwork and also just the passion in his face for these pieces. It was a wonderful afternoon in Orange City, California, and I hope everyone goes out and sees this museum. It's a real gem and it's just now open right next to the train station. Mark Hilbert on episode 296 of Art Dealer DIaries Podcast.

Today on the show, We'll hear from best selling author CJ Box. He writes stories about wildlife and hunting culture in Wyoming and has thoughts on the recent wolf incident in Sublette County. Wyomingites need solutions for affordable rental housing, and fast. Cheap housing is growing scarce. Preserving posters printed more than 100 years ago can be a challenge, and a new exhibition looks at how to ensure the preservation of Buffalo Bill-era posters. Those stories and more.

I did a podcast with Mark Winter a while back (Episodes 37 and 38). This was maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and I wanted to have Mark on again because we didn't get to talk about his vast knowledge of Saltillo Sarapes.If you really want to immerse yourself in the depth of that subject, you have to go through Mark, because he is THE expert in the field. There are a few other experts of note, sure, but Mark is clearly one of the leading experts in the world. So we had a wonderful talk. We went through the the ins and outs of Saltillo Serapes and Rio Grande blankets. It's more technical talk, but at the same time, it's the stories and how he got there and why he started collecting in the 1970s.And it's a two parter since we had a lot to talk about. So this is part two of Art Dealer Diaries Podcast with Mark Winter.

I did a podcast with Mark Winter a while back (Episodes 37 and 38). This was maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and I wanted to have Mark on again because we didn't get to talk about his vast knowledge of Saltillo Sarapes.If you really want to immerse yourself in the depth of that subject, you have to go through Mark, because he is THE expert in the field. There are a few other experts of note, sure, but Mark is clearly one of the leading experts in the field. So we had a wonderful talk. We went through the the ins and outs of Saltillo Serapes and Rio Grande blankets. It's more technical talk, but at the same time, it's the stories and how he got there and why he started collecting in the 1970s.And it's a two parter since we had a lot to talk about. So this is part one of Art Dealer Diaries Podcast with Mark Winter.

Really interesting podcast today with Stephen Datz. You know, most of the podcasts are more about the history of the person and trying to figure out that journey. And in this case, it was really more of an educational understanding of the process of how Steven does his work and how that translates to our show, which is we're having a show and there will be opening very shortly (Friday April 26, 2024).It's interesting because I know a lot of the things about Stephen, and as an art dealer, you get to understand your artist, how they tick and what works for them and doesn't work for them. Just like you were a family member. I know certain things about Stephen, but after hearing about his process, it really hones in on who he is and how he has to do things to make it work and also allows me to understand what I have to be aware of when he's going to do a show and the things that he has to deal with himself from a creative point of view, because he's a perfectionist.This drive for perfection makes him slower than normal artist in the sense that his production can't be that big. He just has to have it a certain way before it ever leaves his studio. If you look at the show, you can see why. I mean, it's just a beautiful show, but it also relates to his color sense and how he sees the world through his eyes.He has unique eyes because he's, synesthetic. It allows him to see colors and hear music and just perceive things a tad different than the normal human. It's a rare thing to have where a color can be a number and a shape.I think anybody that wants to get inside the brain an artist. How their methods and creativity work, and what it requires for them to create. They'll enjoy hearing this one. This is Stephen Datz.

I've been wanting to do a podcast with Dominik Modlinski for a very long time. I've represented him for over a decade. He is just such an interesting, unique human being. Not like any other artist I've met actually. I represent him at my gallery not just because a skilled creative soul, but he's also just this, wanderlust incarnate-type person who has to go to the most interesting places on the planet to survive He immerses himself in these places for months at a time to capture the essence of wherever he is.Sometimes he goes on these long sojourns where he's on a motorcycle for months at a time, paintings and riding through backwoods and boondocks. He just got back from Mexico and he brought us some Mexico pieces and he also was just down in Ecuador. He was there for like nine weeks while they were going through major protests, kind of a "the country is closed down" type of scenario. He has a very unique unique story too. He comes from Poland initially, but he emigrated to Canada at 16  where he attended Art school. He's a fine artist that's academically trained and could be a very successful studio artist, but he just loves to travel the world. So a unique human, that paints beautiful paintings. I really had a great time on this podcast. I think everyone will enjoy listening to such an interesting and well-traveled human being. This is Dominik Modlinski on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 291.View Dominik Modlinski paintings here:https://www.medicinemangallery.com/collections/modlinski-dominik

One of the great things about this job is that sometimes these things come in that are just wonderful gifts. One of those gifts happened  to come in today, and her name is Karen Schmidt. Karen's grandfather was Albert Schmidt, who was a very famous Santa Fe painter.She came in with a large collection of paintings that she found in Albert's house after her grandmother passed in 1989. The house is not just any old house either. it's a house that was built and designed by artist William Pennhallow Henderson. It's an important house. In fact, it's a historical landmark and it's in Tesuque, NM. So she comes in, I'm looking at the paintings and I'm thinking, wow, this is amazing.  These paintings came with her grandfather's house, and they somehow end up with me. Now I get the opportunity to sell this segment of the Albert Schmidt estate and it's a very unique and rewarding thing that can happen as a dealer.It's sort of a dream situation when you have that opportunity and I thought I would share it. So we sat down together for a little bit and recorded the conversation. It's not a very long podcast, but it's meaningful and just know that when you're seeing this, it is in the moment of when I'm meeting her for the first time and seeing these paintings for the first time.I knew who Albert Schmidt was. I've had his paintings. I love his paintings. So it's a nice little inside scoop of how this collection became available and how it got to Medicine Man Gallery. Anyhow,  I just wanted to share it with you and I hope you enjoy. H This is Art Dealer Diaries Podcast featuring Karen Schmidt,speaking on the paintings of her grandfather, Albert Schmidt.

Usually my podcasts are about the lives, the history, the particular path of creativity one takes. With Jill Carver, it's always interesting because this is my third podcast with her and each time it's fresh and unique.In this podcast - we're talking about her show "Land of Song - Grand Canyon Variations" which she's been working on for the last year and a half. That whole process of what it's like to go, "okay, I'm going to do a major show for a gallery and I want it to be fresh and different - and by the way, I'm going to do a subject that I've never done before, the Grand Canyon."The Grand Canyon... That's a tough one to take on for any artist. Hell, Maynard Dixon didn't paint it until the very end of his life. It's no easy subject matter. There's just so much to look at. That's what this conversation really focused on and I think this is a great podcast for artists and for collectors alike to get an inside look at what's involved in not just making a painting, but an entire show. I think it's one of those podcasts that people can used as a reference.Anyway it's a wonderful interview. I really enjoyed this podcast with Jill Carver and I hope you do as well.See Jill Carver's work on our website:https://www.medicinemangallery.com/collections/carver-jill

I had Amy and Andy Krane on today, and they own the magazine Art of the West. It's a longstanding magazine that has been around more than 36 years. The Krane's bought it in 2019. Since then, I have seen them at almost every show that I've gone to, and I've been at a lot of shows the last couple of years. I was really glad to see them in Tucson and to get a chance to speak with them about what they do. It was interesting to hear about the magazine business and some of the hurdles that they had to overcome. Buying the magazine right before the pandemic was a huge one. I mean, the price of paper and ink shot up 40% above what it had been. Luckily, Andy had experience running a very successful company before so he knew that steps he had to take to stay the course and stick it out. I think one major component was getting his family involved. The Kranes love art and it shows when they show up to all these events. I hope you enjoy this podcast and check out their magazine. It's a beautiful magazine with really great images and it's printed on great paper with a focus o n color accuracy. So thisArt Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 288 with Amy and Andy Krane.

Recently I've been interviewing artists at various shows in front of various paintings for use on my podcast and for social media videos as well. I must admit, the information that flows from these creative minds while in front of their respective works is really amazing and different from what you'd hear from a normal podcast of mine. This episode follows this format and then some. With that in mind, I highly encourage you to watch the YouTube version if you can.You see, the first half follows western artist Howard Post through his retrospective exhibit "Western Perspectives" at the Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg, AZ. Howard speaks on some of his greatest paintings, sharing information about technique, inspiration, and just artistic insights in general from across the board. It was really great to journey through Howard Post's artistic career with him beside me narrating and guiding me from painting to painting. The second half of this podcast is completely different, and a real treat. Howard and I went down the road to a roping event, also in Wickenburg. This part is great because Howard is a decorated rodeo athlete. He explained so many of the rules and the more nuanced parts of the event. Howard is a real cowboy painting real cowboy paintings and it's amazing to see this side of him up close in personal.Howard is an amazing artist and friend. This whole experience was such a joy, and being able to share it with you made it even better. This is Howard Post on Art Dealer Diaries episode 287.

This Hip Deep episode presents the stunning radio premiere of "Oh, David," the traditional song of the annual Easter Rock in Winnsboro, Louisiana. The Easter Rock is in fact a surviving ringshout—the oldest known form of African American music—but it's about 600 miles west of the ringshout's heartland in Georgia. It's located across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg in the Louisiana Delta, where they don't call it a "ringshout," but a “rock.” And it totally rocks. Producer Ned Sublette attends the Easter Rock ceremony and talks with Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson, a scholar and Louisiana native, who has been working with the Rockers for almost 20 years and confirms their tradition as a direct musical link to slavery days. In Athens, Georgia, Sublette visits Art Rosenbaum, producer of recordings by Georgia's McIntosh County Shouters, and more. Produced by Ned Sublette. APWW #734