Western Art News
Mark Sublette’s Art Dealer Diaries podcast thrives with stories from artists, dealers and cultural figures.
Mark Sublette can claim many titles, including physician, art dealer, gallery owner and published author. Now he can add another one: podcast star.
Sublette, who owns Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, started his podcast Art Dealer Diaries in 2018 after realizing he encounters an eclectic group of people during his day-to-day dealings in the art world. The episodes were often long-form interviews with Western and Native American artists, dealers and tastemakers. Now, after a year of weekly episodes, Sublette has racked up some impressive numbers: he has interviewed more than 70 personalities, and his Youtube channel, where he publishes video versions of the interviews, has been subscribed by 5,600 users and the videos have been viewed more 1.3 million times.
“I remember my son, who is 27, he told me, ‘Dad, you should look into doing this,’ and he was right,” Sublette says. “I knew right away I wanted to record some of these old dealers in Western and Native American art. They aren’t going to be around forever and their stories are great. But then I started bringing in more and more people. And today I have a full studio in the gallery, as well as a studio we use in August during Santa Fe Indian Market. It’s been fun capturing all these stories.”
Guests to the show have included artists Billy Schenck, Terri Kelly Moyers and John Moyers, Shonto Begay and
Tony Abeyta, as well as important figures within the art community—people such as auctioneer Wes Cowan,
Seth Hopkins with the
Booth Western Art Museum, pottery dealer Charles King, Western Art Collector editor Joshua Rose and Virginia
Couse Leavitt, granddaughter of Eanger Irving Couse.
Sublette has also strayed into areas that would include more contemporary art, photography, authors and even Baron Wolman, who photographed Woodstock in 1969.
“It’s all about the stories that come through my life,” Sublette says. “And they’re informative. I’m always learning stuff myself. The stuff I learn is really surprising.”
Listen to Art Dealer Diaries on most podcast apps, or online at www.artdealerdiaries.com.