This was the 104th Santa Fe Indian Market and SWAIA has been putting on a ceremony for the Best of Show Award since 1977. It's always incredibly exciting and quite honestly, emotional to watch and be a part of this ceremony because the individuals that win are so grateful and, more often than not, surprised that they were selected as the best in their classification, the very best of what they do, whether it would be beadwork, kachinas, pottery, 2D media, all those things are judged.

The artists that win ribbons for being the best of their respective classification, are then juried to see who wins the best of show award. They pick the final person who they consider to be the very best of everything that year and in this case, it was Sergio Lugo for his magnificent floating pot.

I would encourage you, if you can, to watch this on youtube, because if you see it on YouTube you get to see the winning pieces and the reactions of the artists to winning. It's pretty impressive just to see the emotion that these individuals have and how important Santa Fe Indian market is to them and how grateful they feel for what SWAIA does.

I genuinely love watching his ceremony, because each individual talks about their tribe, family, and culture and how instrumental it all is in how they got there and how they made such amazing works of art.

I never get tired of these ceremonies. In this case, it was for the 104th Santa Fe Indian Market.

In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by the brilliant contemporary American visual artist Eric White. We spoke for over 3 hours, so the interview is going to be cut into two parts. This is part two.

Eric is widely celebrated today for his intricate, cinematic paintings that effortlessly blur the lines between reality and surrealism. In our conversation, Eric takes me back to his early days as an artist. He sheds light on his formative experiences, the pivotal moments in his schooling at Rhode Island School of Design, and his early years as a professional illustrator.

We dive deep into his artistic journey, discussing how his unique visual vocabulary developed over the years, the inspirations that shaped his signature style, and what it was like finding his footing in the competitive art world. Whether you're an avid collector, a fellow creator, or simply fascinated by the origins of great art, this podcast offers an intimate glimpse into an exceptionally creative mind.

For more information on Eric White and his artwork, visit his website:
https://ewhite.com/

In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by the brilliant contemporary American visual artist Eric White. We spoke for over 3 hours, so the interview is going to be cut into two parts.

Eric is widely celebrated today for his intricate, cinematic paintings that effortlessly blur the lines between reality and surrealism. In our conversation, Eric takes me back to his early days as an artist. He sheds light on his formative experiences, the pivotal moments in his schooling at Rhode Island School of Design, and his early years as a professional illustrator.

We dive deep into his artistic journey, discussing how his unique visual vocabulary developed over the years, the inspirations that shaped his signature style, and what it was like finding his footing in the competitive art world. Whether you're an avid collector, a fellow creator, or simply fascinated by the origins of great art, this podcast offers an intimate glimpse into an exceptionally creative mind.

This is Eric White part 1 on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 407.

This episode is a recording of a lecture I gave at the 2026 Scottsdale Art Week event where I talked about a recent book I published and the exhibit that I curated, both titled "Ed Mell & Maynard Dixon: Icons of the West." This was a project of mine where I compared and contrasted the lives of artists Ed Mell and Maynard Dixon in a way that was interesting to me, because I had never really thought about that comparison in such a granular form.

You see, I had done a show featuring Ed's works alongside the work of Maynard Dixon in the late 90s, but that project was much, much different and more based on the visual aspect of their respective art. It wasn't the same as thinking about them historically and how their paths were paralleled in many ways. After Ed passed away, I looked at the comparison of the two artists a little differently. This time I looked at it not just as a comparison between Maynard Dixon and Ed Mell, my friend, but rather Ed Mell, the historical figure and important artist.

The best way to to view this podcast is on YouTube because you can see the slides of my presentation and the images that I talk about. That being said, you can just listen to me talk about these two icons and it will be just as informative and entertaining.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this lecture I did this past March on Ed Mell and Maynard Dixon at Scottsdale Art Week and I'm glad to be able to publish it as an episode of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

I had Brad Kahlhamer on today and it was fantastic. I went to his studio in the Lower East Side of New York City, and he's got this really interesting place where he creates his monumental works of art.

It's in the heart of the city and you're near Bowery St. and it's crazy. You know, frantic activity, a lot of murals, there's just so much energy. We start outside then we go into this building and downstairs into a place of artistry. We show all of this in the YouTube version, we show the entire studio and all of the items he surrounds himself with for inspiration, which are so important for an artist to have. It's an absolutely sacred place. You can see some of the things that he shares with us that I'm sure may have never shared before.

Brad is just an incredibly important artist. So this was one of those very unique, fun opportunities to visit an artist in their place of creation. This is a tour of Brad Kahlhamer's studio on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 405.

I had Gloria Martinez-Granados on the show today. I was fortunate to meet her at Earth Maker Gallery, which is Thomas "Breeze" Marcus's Gallery in Phoenix, and get the chance to talk to her.

I was just fascinated with how she makes her art, the intensity she works with, and the time it takes. One of the pieces that she did took over 210 days and it was made of 48,900 individual stitches. As you can imagine it's a very labor intensive undertaking.

As interesting as her art is, she is equally interesting. Gloria has this long path that lead her to where she is today. She came over with her parents as an undocumented child at the age of eight. That journey of finding her place in America is fascinating as is how she reflects on being an artist in America. On her journey, Gloria got a nursing degree, and then eventually went back and got an art degree at ASU. Fast forward to today, and she has numerous award and has been a part of major museum shows.

I really had a great time on this podcast, and I can always tell when I'm having fun on a podcast when time literally stops. I couldn't have told you if it was 5 minutes or 2 hours. It was a great to listen to her journey and witness her enthusiasm in person. I encourage you to watch it on YouTube if you can, just to see her beautiful smile, because she's there's such a genuineness to her and to her art and the creativity that comes through in her work.

I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I did. This is interdisciplinary artist Gloria Martinez-Granados on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 404.

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.