On the Air
Iarrived in the world of magazines by way of newspapers. There was a joke newspaper journalists would share with their colleagues from the other branches of media: “We have a face for radio, and a voice for newspapers.” It was a joke that ported over very well after I arrived in the magazine business.
Twenty-four years after my first newspaper gig, I find myself behind a microphone weekly for our show, the American Art Collective. It’s not radio, but rather podcasting. The show, produced by International Artist Publishing, which publishes Western Art Collector and four of our other titles within the art world, features sitdown interviews with the movers and shakers of the art world. We’ve had gallery owners, auction specialists, museum curators and presidents, collectors and, of course, lots of artists. We’re hovering around 130 episodes—give or take a few, depending on how quick you get your issue in the mail or from a newsstand—and of those 130, there are easily more than 100 interviews with artists.
Many of them are Western artists, too. We’ve had John Coleman, Martin Grelle, Mark Maggiori, Tom Browning, Teresa Elliott, Andy Thomas, Eric Bowman, Dustin Van Wechel, Carrie Wild, Kyle Polzin, Kim Wiggins and that is just scratching the surface.
My co-host, Maggie Cibik, and I were talking recently, right around the occasion of our 100th episode, about how much fun we were having recording these episodes. It’s been immensely rewarding because everyone has a story about how they found art. And so often those stories are wonderful. They can also be tragic, funny, humbling and harrowing. Each story is a gem of hope. A hope that this crazy thing we all love—western art—will stick around for a good long while.
I think it’s also important that these stories are documented and saved for future generations, which dovetails with our printed publication nicely. To the artists reading: Your stories, your journeys, your inspirations, all of it matters and all of it is worth preserving. Share your memories, write them down or draw them for heaven’s sake, but don’t let your story go undocumented.
We have some great episodes coming up on the American Art Collective, and many of them will be from within the Western art community. I hope you can tune in.
P.S. Listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify and many other podcast platforms. In addition to weekly episodes, we also host monthly “First Look” shows devoted to examining some of the best content in the newest issue. It’s your best way to hear a sneak peek of what’s in the next issue.