This podcast with Daniel Akaka, Jr. (or Uncle Danny) is an audio only podcast, but the video version shows the footage I recorded at the King Kamehameha the Great Celebration, which is on June 11th every year in Hawaii. So if you watch it on YouTube, you can see this special event that consists of dancing, music, the decorating of the King Kamehameha statue with hand-made leis, a parade, and all of the other activities that went on in that very special day.

Danny Akaka ,Jr. is just one of the most interesting people I've met, quite frankly. He's the cultural ambassador at the Mauna Lani Auberge Resort, and he gives talks, and he allowed me to to record this talk and put it up as an episode of the podcast. 

He spoke at length on King Kamehameha the Great, the leader who unified the Hawaiian islands. We learned about Kamehameha's origin and the circumstances behind his birth and how a prophecy and Halley's Comet led to his concealment as a child. 

Danny also touched on his personal history as well. His uncle Abraham Akaka was a reverend, and the individual who first called Hawaii "The Aloha State." His father Daniel Akaka, Sr. was the first Native Hawaiian United States senator. He was a senator for 36 years. 

They call him Uncle Danny for a good reason. It's because he's a person that just clicks with everyone. I'm grateful he has allowed us to share this presentation and I can't wait to speak with him again.

I went to Manaus, Brazil recently and I visited a lot of different places that tried to capture the sense of Manaus and the surrounding area. This included going to Museu Do Indio (Indigenous Museum) and the Palácio Rio Negro (Governors Palace). I also paid a visit to Teatro Amazonas, which is an insanely beautiful opera house that was built in 1897. 

One thing I did while I was in Manaus that was very special, was I got to see a ceremony performed by the Tuyuka Tribe. The tribe is known as the "children of the stone snake" and they did some beautiful dances wearing traditional handmade garments. I was privileged enough to meet and interact with these amazing people and further my understanding of the indigenous people of the region. If you have the opportunity to arrange something like this this, I highly recommend it doing it because it was a truly enlightening experience.

The last thing I got to do in this video was see the meeting of the waters where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes come together to actually form the Amazon River. It's one of the most unique places in the world. In fact, the two rivers don't combine for over 30 miles because of their difference in temperature and sedimentary makeup. Visually, it's an insane looking conglomeration of water. The only way to really understand what I'm talking about is to see it for yourself, which you can do through the video component on my YouTube channel.

Hopefully just watching the videos and hearing me, you might get a sense of what this region is like. So if you want to know what the Amazon feels like and Brazil feels like, you might want to watch / listen to this podcast.

In this episode of the Art Dealer Diaries, I went down to the Amazon rainforest because I wanted to get to know more about the region and its biodiversity. 

While I was down there I went and visited with a man named Michael Rich. Now, Michael was down there to do some fishing and I joined him to be able to see the animals do some fishing myself. I was also as interested in just getting a sense of what it's like to be in the largest ecosystem in the world.

And Michael is a very interesting guy. We did this podcast literally after we had been on the river for probably five hours. We recorded under a tree at about 95 degrees in the shade. It looks like I've been laying in the Amazon for a long time, but it was a very unique take in a way, to talk to somebody about fish biology, which he is very interested in.

He is part of a nonprofit to try to help the menhaden, which is called "the most important fish in the sea." It's what feeds all the other big predator fish as well as osprey. There are companies that are coming in and devastating the stock of these small little silvery fish to make into cosmetics and pet food and all these things.

Anyways, I think I came away from this trip different in the way I saw the world and my own role in it. 

I had David Griffin on today and he's a unique individual in so many ways, not only as an artist but as  a person as well. I'm fortunate to be able to represent David's work. I'm also fortunate to have gotten the time to talk to him and understand the path he took to get where he is today.

His story starts in Lubbock, Texas, which is not an area known for its art production of artists, and coming from a family where father was actually a very sophisticated entrepreneur who came from nothing. You can imagine if you're a young person growing up in Lubbock and your dad runs and develops truck stops, that they may not understand the creative juices that someone has. David just didn't give up what was obviously his path, his road from being a illustrator to an artist, to really capturing some major awards at museum shows.

I love podcasts that just kind of go at their own pace, and this was one of those. It took two hours basically. So it's a part one / part two, and it took that long because that's where the story went from understanding his process to really making a major discovery of who he is as an artist and as someone who hears music in his colors in a way that I don't think he was even aware of.

So it was fascinating as somebody who's doing an interview and I think it was a great experience for him as well. So this is a wonderful discussion that we had, and I hope you take the time to listen and also go to YouTube and just see the paintings we talk about. 

I had David Griffin on today and he's a unique individual in so many ways, not only as an artist but as  a person as well. I'm fortunate to be able to represent David's work. I'm also fortunate to have gotten the time to talk to him and understand the path he took to get where he is today.

His story starts in Lubbock, Texas, which is not an area known for its art production of artists, and coming from a family where father was actually a very sophisticated entrepreneur who came from nothing. You can imagine if you're a young person growing up in Lubbock and your dad runs and develops truck stops, that they may not understand the creative juices that someone has. David just didn't give up what was obviously his path, his road from being a illustrator to an artist, to really capturing some major awards at museum shows.

I love podcasts that just kind of go at their own pace, and this was one of those. It took two hours basically. So it's a part one / part two, and it took that long because that's where the story went from understanding his process to really making a major discovery of who he is as an artist and as someone who hears music in his colors in a way that I don't think he was even aware of.

So it was fascinating as somebody who's doing an interview and I think it was a great experience for him as well. So this is a wonderful discussion that we had, and I hope you take the time to listen and also go to YouTube and just see the paintings we talk about. 

I had the good fortune to go and interview the Grand Canyon Superintendent, Ed Keable, and at the time, I was also allowed to do a tour of the Kolb House. This is a very special place and the story is amazing. It really is a story made for a movie. In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't been mad into one yet because it tells the story of these brothers that came to Arizona in 1901 and 1902, and they set up this photography studio, right on the edge of the Grand Canyon on the South Rim. 

It's still there, and we were given access to the property and to get to see and view how they lived in their house from 1904 until Emory dies in 1976. Inside is the photography room, the areas where they would have parties, and some of the most amazing views you've ever seen of the Grand Canyon. 

Part of the house is open as a museum, but part of it isn't. And we're going to show you the part that isn't. That's what's special about this and why I wanted to make it into a podcast. This is one of those that I highly recommend watching on YouTube.

It's a pretty compelling story, and I think it's one of those places that you may never get to visit in person. Hopefully this tour via my podcast/video will give you a sense of what it's like and what it would have been like at the turn of the century in Arizona.

This is the kind of podcast I enjoy making the most. It's one of those in the perfect location that's just off the cuff. You see, I went to artist Shonto Begay's studio in Flagstaff. We were picking up some paintings, and it was just a great opportunity to spend some time with him talking about his work, his studio, and things that affect his life. It was actually a very moving interview, and I think you'll feel the same. 

Artist studios are sacred places. Shonto's studio is no different and in some ways even more sacred than usual. He shared a couple of extremely personal pieces that are in his studio. Paintings that not only show how he sees the world, but how he views the healing process. 

So it's a great video to watch. I know it's a podcast, but if you have the chance, watch it on YouTube. Not only is it a treat to be teleported inside an important artist's studio, but it's so real and in the moment.

At one point he even goes, "oh no, I gotta go put some money in the meter!" We just run down to the street to put money in the parking meter while we were filming because that's what he has to do every day where his studio is. He had been at the studio all day getting his paintings ready for me. I felt so bad I was even prepared to pay his parking ticket. 

So this is a very interesting and beautiful podcast with Shonto Begay.

I had a very interesting conversation with Ed Keable, who's Superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. The setting was unbelievable. We literally sat at the Kolb House overlooking the Grand Canyon. Ed was so fascinating though that I could really only focus on his story, and so the canyon just kind of melted away.

He's has a very unique position with an immense amount of responsibility. He had a somewhat unexpected journey to get to be Superintendent because his training was as a lawyer. He worked for the Department of Interior for 23 years before becoming the Superintendent.

He took the job at the beginning of Covid, so he was dealing with big problems from the very beginning. We talk about that, as well as other issues he faced such as the recent Dragon Bravo fire that swept across the North Rim and the ecological trouble facing the Colorado River. In fact, Ed is responsible for 277 miles of the river that passes through the Grand Canyon. He's on three different committees related to the Colorado River. Yet with all of these troubles he's facing, he clearly loves his job, and is clearly very good at it. It is the kind of profession that requires you to do a lot.

I was enthralled for an hour listening to Superintendent Keeble, who is a very sharp, interesting human. I must say, I feel very lucky that we have someone of this quality in charge of such an important place, the Grand Canyon.

I had Wendie Martin on my podcast today, and she's co-owner of International Artist Publishing along with Adolfo Castillo. That's the media group responsible for  magazines such as Western Art Collector, Native American Art, American Art Collector, American Fine Art Magazine, and International Artist. So she's got her hands full. 

We talked about her magazines, sure, but we mostly spoke about the process of how she got where is she is today. When i do these podcasts I want to know how people became what they became and their journey. Wendie's journey is a very interesting one.

Her father was a car racer and somebody who was a specialist in fixing and rebuilding motors and we learn about how that affected her trajectory. She's still involved the automotive world and at one point became an auctioneer that specialized in auctioning classic cars. 

Wendie is just this very interesting person who's quite important in the world of Western & Native arts because of her magazines and their influence. She gets it. She loves collectors, she loves what she does, and this passion comes across in this podcast. 

That's why I do these things. To try and learn and to understand somebody like Wendie Martin. Someone who is really interested in, not only artists, not only collectors, but the entire business of art. That's a big component of what this podcast is all about. 

So enjoyed it a lot. This is Wendie Martin on episode 395 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

Sometimes you do podcasts not only because you're interested in the person, but you're also interested in just history, right? In this case, it's the history of Skip Andrews, his own personal journey as an artist, as well as his relationship with the iconic Arizona artist, Ed Mell.

Skip and Ed were friends in high school and ended up working together in New York City in the late 60's and early 70's. They started a company together called Sagebrush Studios and did some really great work together. I got to hear stories about Ed and Skip and their antics and see artwork that I would have never guessed was done by Ed Mell.

We see plenty of work by Skip as well who is a highly regarded illustrator, designer and airbrush artist. He did magazine covers for National Lampoon and Arizona Highways, worked on ad campaigns for Coca-Cola and Dickies, and showed us many other incredible works of commercial art.

So this is probably the kind of video that is best taken in through YouTube, because you can see the images that we're talking about, and there's just something about seeing Skip's face as we discuss one of his closest and dearest friends. 

I found to be very interesting. I learned a lot. I had a great time. We filmed this in Ed's studio, which was a just a treat to be able to to do that, feel the energy of Ed and all the great paintings he had done alongside one of his best friends. 

This is Skip Andrews on episode 394 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.