This podcast is a very interesting podcast, because we get to talk to Curt Walters about his retrospective exhibition "Curt Walters: Resilience" at Western Spirit: Scottsdale Museum of the West. We walk through the exhibit and hear about his life as he speaks on his magnificent landscape paintings.

Curt was born in 1950 and he lived in Farmington, NM and this is where his artistic journey really begins. It was so interesting to do this walk-and-talk with Curt through the museum. To be able to see and speak with him and understand what he's done in life in front of some of his most monumental works of art.

I hope people come to see the show Western Spirit and I also hope you watch this on YouTube so you can really get the sense of what we were talking about. It's great as an audio-only experience, but there's something about actually seeing the paintings when he's describing them that is just wonderful.

Anyhow, I'm glad to have had the chance to record this and I hope you enjoy. This is master Grand Canyon painter Curt Walters on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 388.

If you didn't get to come to our Thomas Blackshear opening and hear this lecture, well, you're in luck, because we recorded it and it was really a wonderful event. Basically, it was Thomas Blackshear and myself talking about the show "Neon Cowboy Posse, The Ten Most Wanted Plus One," and how the whole series began. Questions like, "what was the impetus to do it?" We talk about the characters that Thomas came up with, and how I wrote the short story styled after a pulp fiction magazine to accompany the show.

It's a very interesting lecture and i'm glad Thomas was so open to talking at my gallery. I really loved the fact that I got to be part of the creative process for the show. It's a rarity for art dealers. We usually get to come up maybe with an idea or the way we set things up, but to be actually part of the creative process was a real joy.

As an added bonus, at the beginning of the talk folk recording artist Eli Blackshear (Thomas's son) sang two songs for us. We included that in the podcast as well and are so glad to get to share his talent with our audience.

And so that's what this is all about. I hope you enjoy Thomas Blackshear, Eli Blackshear and myself on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 387.

When you get to go to an artist's studio, it's literally a sacred place. That's just the best way I can describe it, because it's where creativity begins and ends and inspiration is found there, too. In this case, it was Thomas Blackshear II and his studio.

To be able to see the things that made his career. Seeing the relics that he's held on to in addition to the WIP early stages of the show that is going to open here at Medicine Man Gallery on March 13, 2026. That second part was the main reason I was there. The show is called "Neon Cowboy Posse: The Ten Most Wanted Plus One" and I wanted to go to his studio to see how it was going. It's something we've been working on for almost two years and you get to see those early images of the pieces before they were completely finished.

This studio tour was done like six months ago. You also see his props, his library and an insight into other sides of his life, which are the figurines that he's very well known for. I'd recommend watching this on YouTube, because I think it'll have so much more impact to be able to visualize everything we discuss.

So this was a very special podcast because I'm in that inner sanctum and you get to be as well. This is Thomas Blackshear II on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 386.

See the show online:
https://www.medicinemangallery.com/collections/march-6-2026