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. 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 on color accuracy. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy Art 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.

I had "Ranger of the Lost Art" Doug Leen on today. Very interesting, man, not only for what he's done for the arts, but just as much for what he's done for American history.

He starts out as a park ranger, and even before that, he's in Vietnam Ultimately he gets involved in Kent State after he gets back from the war and meets with Nixon and talked to him about the his opposition for the war.

It's also a story of discovery. You see, Doug finds this poster when he's in his mid-twenties, working as a park ranger. He makes this discovery and then decides that there's more to it and that he needs to figure it out. He keeps this poster his whole life. It goes with him from place to place and finally decides to solve the riddle he stumbled upon all of those years ago.

That's what this podcast is really about. The story of the missing National Parks posters that were done by WPA artists between 1938 and 1941. Doug has a book he just put out about his journey to uncover the missing pieces called "RANGER OF THE LOST ART–REDISCOVERING THE WPA POSTER ART OF OUR NATIONAL PARKS". To learn more about the book and to see various posters he found, visit his website: rangerdoug.com

So anyways, unique, fun, and interesting story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Douglas Leen on episode 286 of Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

I love my job because it allows me to interact with artists in a way that other people don’t get to. And in this case, it was with William Matthews at his show, which is called Decades, and it’s at the Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West. It’s running through the fall of 2024.

It’s all there on the walls, no matter what part of his life you’re going to see, Williams is there to talk about it. We walk through his show and discuss it. This podcast really is one that would be best seen on YouTube versus just listening to it, but I’m sure it will still have great interest even that way.

I talked to William about three or four years ago in episodes 86 and 87, so you can go back if you want to hear his back story. But this particular podcast really is at the show, and you’ll see his books, his illustrations, his album covers. He’s really done some amazing album covers. This is, again, just a small little part of his life.

He’s also done major murals. Once you go through this show, you can see the variety of things that have created the excitement for him to go to all these creative places. And sometimes it’s really interesting, like these big, huge ties that he’s made, which are in museum collections like the Booth.

So again, I hope you can watch it on YouTube. It’s a beautiful show. Go see it if you can. It’s up through the fall of 2024. This is William Matthews on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast Episode 285.

When I decided to do this podcast seven years ago, one of the main reasons for doing it was to capture the voices of artists, dealers, collectors, art curators, all of the components that make up my world as an art dealer and how they affect me. That's why the project is called the Art Dealer Diaries.

One of the biggest personalities to impact my life was a man named Ed Mell. He was a good friend and such an important artist. It was interesting to listen to and watch this podcast. I know he knew he had a place in the legacy of art, but he felt that he needed to let his art speak for himself and not make it so much about himself, the person.

He was just a very humble guy. It took a long time for me to get him to do this podcast.I had to work on it for three or four years. I had so many guests that talked about Ed and how important he was in their lives and I kept saying "Ed, you know, your life is intertwined with all these different artists and curators and that we really need to hear your story. Finally, he relented and said "okay, okay, I'll do it."

We had a great time because it's just two friends talking, right? That's what this can be sometimes, you know, every once in awhile you get lightning in a bottle. For me, this podcast was one of those times.

I got to spend time with my dear friend and hear things that I might not have heard, even after 30 years of friendship. You really get to know a person pretty well over that amount of time, especially when you are lucky enough to spend birthdays together, or Christmases, or whatever it might be.

So Ed shared this time with me and and now we have this record. I really want people, if they have the chance to listen to all of this or watch it on YouTube and you can see and hear a giant among giants speak. I hope you enjoy listening to my good friend, Ed Mell.

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Original Description:

Ed Mell came by the studio today and I was thrilled to be able to record a 2-part podcast with him. Honestly, I've been trying to get Ed on the podcast for three whole years. I've had so many people on Art Dealer Diaries talk about Ed Mell in their own podcasts... I think it's probably up to about a dozen people now. It's just one of those things, you know? It's hard to get together sometimes especially when a pandemic gets in the way.

Out of all the podcasts I’ve done recently, Ed’s was a podcast I really wanted to do in person. I've known him for 25+ years and for me just being able to sit across the desk from him and have a wonderful discussion about his life, all of his accomplishments, the people that have influenced him throughout his life and made him who he is and what he is, was a gift for me. He's just such an interesting guy, definitely not the type of person that you get to meet every day.

Ed’s artwork is really important to me and to many, many other people as well. I collect his artwork and have since I've represented him. I personally own numerous Ed Mell works of art including his oil paintings, bronze sculptures, lithographs, and display them in my home.

We recorded for two hours.The first hour is kind of an origin story for Ed. How he got to become an artist and how he found his way in the world. The second hour goes into a bit more detail about the people that influenced him and what he’s been up to recently.

From sculpture to flowers, to figurative works, this is one that everyone needs to listen to. Put it on your hit parade, Ed Mell on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.