Art Dealer Diaries Podcast

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.

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.

Purchase the new book "The Art of 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 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 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.