Vvarts Podcasts

Jane Tolar creates baskets inspired by Gullah sweetgrass and Native American pine needle baskets, both ancient traditions of coiled and stitched natural materials. Jane uses pine needles and grasses, the coils bound with thread or cord. Jane urges you to touch her art, saying “I would like everyone to pick up a basket, then feel its textures and in…

Getting our musical art on last week, we invited Skip Anderson (Batman) and Julie (a.k.a. Robin) into our STEAM Center studio for an ultra fun chat about all things growing up music. Skip is the lead guitarist for the Terry Wayne Project, quite often playing at the Casablanca. We laughed and learned alot about the ins and outs of this amazing lifel…

Linda and Steve were over the moon recently when Cory Clemetson dropped by the studio for an interview. Cory and his brother Chad are owners of one of the top golf courses in the world, Wolf Creek in Mesquite, Nevada. Besides golf Cory is the newly named head basketball coach at Wardlaw+Hartridge School located in Edison, New Jersey, Cory and Chad …

Enjoy a recent sit-down Linda and Steve had with Mesquite, Nevada mayor Allan Litman. We talk Lahaina, local disaster preparedness, housing, loving your job and of course Trader Joe's. The emergency alert app the mayor discussed. NIXLE https://www.nixle.com/By vvarts

Steve's new favorite podcast "Night Sky Tourist" host Vickey Derksen graciously was our guest for a super-duper interview chatting about dark skies, home schooling, US Rt. 89, light polution and of course podcasting. Vicky Derksen Night Sky Tourist Bio Vicky Derksen fell in love with the night sky while teaching naked-eye astronomy to local student…

It was Linda and Steve's extreme pleasure to interview nic recently to chat about their art career, passions and work included in the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at University of Nevada Las Vegas, Modern Desert Markings exhibition sponsored by Nevadans for Cultural Preservation. nicholas b jacobsen is a seventh-generation Utah-Mormon, trans-nonb…

Bethany Overland-Green our Art Box episode 50 guest brings two of her daughters in to talk all things creativity and just in case you cannot tell, we had fun. Also, you will meet the VVAA's newest member Sasha Green. Sasha has an exhibition in the Mesa gallery during August 2023. Make sure you get by the Mesquite Fine Arts Campus at 15 W. Mesquite …

There is not enough room to say how much we love Lizz Larson. She put the STEAM in the STEAM Center, she made it possible for our little podcast to have a professional studio, allowed us to host a Podcasting 101 class, is our cheerleader, makes things happen and like I said there is not enough room. Linda and Steve had the pleasure of interviewing …

Adriana Chavez (they/them/she/her) - Performance and Visual Artist Linda and Steve on a field trip to an opening in Las Vegas happened upon the Lulu Gallery, we ran into Adriana Chavez and our lives might never be the same. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G human and we could have talked to her for days. Let Adriana explain: Adriana is a Queer, Latinx clown with Spani…

Linda and Steve had a marvelous interview with Vernon Robison, owner, editor and everything of our local paper The Progress newspaper. https://mvprogress.com/By vvarts

Linda sits down with Steve to chat about his upcoming stint as the Mesquite Fine Arts Center Artist of the Month for August 2023.By vvarts

The Art Box in collaboration with Nevadans for Cultural Preservation and Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art @ UNLV present a conversation with Bryant Robison the contractor for Michael Heizer's art piece "Double Negative" completed in 1969 on the Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nevada. Listen in as Katie Hoffman and Rayette Martin sit down with Bryant and hi…

Linda and her granddaughter Natalie scored big by landing quite an entertainer Terry Wayne of the Terry Wayne Project who frequently play at Mesquites Casablanca Resort. You are going to love this interview as Terry will wow you with his live story, his goodness and his incredible talent. Natalie in her debut as a podcast host will make you smile a…

Paul's most recent article in the NY Times.Where Are All the Wild Things, Daddy? A father worries that his favorite children’s books promise his daughter a vibrant natural world that will no longer exist. ABOUT PAUL Paul Bogard is author of The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, published in North America by…

Steve has been following the Monica & Felina story now for two years on Facebook as Monica's husband Robert has chronicled via video's the wonderful progress. Enjoy this episode about determination, creativity, overcoming fear and yes love. Read below for info on Monica. Monica Tarr I am not a creator of things from scratch. My talents lie in perfe…

Linda met Floyd at his home studio to get a sneak peek at his work for the July exhibition.By vvarts

Linda and Floyd recorded a few short episodes at Floyd's house/studio. This quickie is them discussing light and shadow.By vvarts

We were honored to meet Jen Urso during the research phase of "Modern Desert Markings" exhibition sponsored by Nevadans for Cultural Preservation and the Marjorie Barrick Museum on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Linda and Steve so enjoyed our time with Jen, we learned, we laughed, we cried, we understood, and we left as better pe…

Welcome to the 100th episode and 1st year anniversary of the Art Box Podcast. ​ It was last April when Rachelle Knight and Steve Dudrow dreamed up a podcast for the VVAA and in May the BoD approved us to move forward. We would like to thank the 2022 BoD for giving us the green light to start on our journey. ​ In early June Tyler Roylance was our fi…

Drop in this June to view and purchase the amazing art created by the June Artist of the Month. Displaying the fill month of June in the Mesa Galley @ Mesquite Fine Art Center 15 W. Mesquite, Blvd.By vvarts

Our friend Matt Harper provided Linda and Steve contact info for Alina Lindquist and wow are we ever glad he did, what a talent. Direct experience with the landscape is a cornerstone of my artistic practice. I primarily paint en plein air with oil to capture my initial experience on location. Sometimes I will use watercolor or gouache, depending on…

Our friends Diane Alexanian and Jill Waters combined their super Hollywood powers to bring us acclaimed director and all around nice guy Shelley Jensen for a rousing hour interview. This is a great listen. Catch you in an hour when you can drop us a line at artboxvv@gmail.com to tell us how much you loved this episode. We loved his quote: "Life is …

Linda and Steve sit down with Mesquite Women's History and Culture Center founder Jean Watkins and General Manager Carol Saldivar for a heartwarming and enlightening interview. You will be inspired. "Bloom where you're planted" Learn more about these local heroes making impacts nationally. https://whccmesquitenv.org/…

This was a Sunday recording episode to beat all, meet Alex Harper, Community and Education Chair for the Red Rock Audubon Society. Linda and Steve could have talked/learned from Alex for hours, but alas he needed to get home to Las Vegas. Avian field work brought Alex from South Florida to Las Vegas in 2015, and he has been finding rarities in the …

Oh my goodness Linda and Steve got their luck on this week when we interviewed Oakland based artist Rachelle Reichart, this is an interview we did not want to end, but alas it was Friday and Rachelle needed to go help her daughter pick some Kale for dinner. Rachelle Reichert lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She creates drawings, mixed…

Sue McPherson and Randy Bauman discuss the Mesquite Fine Art's Center Photographic Society May exhibition "Through the Photographer's Eyes" in this Ten Minutes With podcast.By vvarts

Diane Alexanian super guest recruiter and now podcast co-host brought us long time friend and famous Hollywood Stuntman Chuck Waters for our 92nd episode. This is a MUST listen! The picture is Chuck on the set of High Plains Drifter from 1972. Chuck Waters is an American stuntman and actor who has worked on more than 130 films. Waters was born on S…

Doreen Kinkade Doreen entered the art world in 1974 when she signed up for adult art education classes at Chaffey College in Ontario, California. Her very talented teacher, Dee Cole, opened Doreen's world. She learned Batik, off-loom weaving, fabric collage, and slab pottery in three short years. After being transferred to Kentucky, she taught Macr…

Please let your heart and soul enjoy a poem written by Ms. AyeVee during one of our artist visits to the Jean Dry Lake Bed for the Modern Desert Markings exhibition. Ms. AyeVee is an award-winning poet and curator from Las Vegas. Her work has been published by Zeitgeist Press, Red Rock Review, Nevada Humanities, and Las Vegas Review-Journal, to nam…

The best thing about Hikmet's interview with us was that I got to edit it and listen to it again about another twenty times. You may know her as Katie Hoffman's co_curator for the Modern Desert Markings exhibit at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, we know her as the consummate art professional and friend that…

Emily Budd Linda and Steve were ever so privileged to sit with Emily at her metal shop @ UNLV for a wide ranging interview on all things art, paleontology, desert trash and Rhyolite. If it wasn't for schedules, parking fines and the need for humans to nourish themselves with food we would likely still be there. Listen in to a great interview. More …

Mark Brest van Kempen Steve must thank Mark for his take on the Modern Desert Markings exhibit that the 50 year old art became real art as the land has taken it back. Mark Brest van Kempen has created a variety of artworks using the landscape itself as sculptural material. From the Free Speech Monument on the UC Berkeley campus to Land Exchange at …

Paige Bockman Meet the unsung hero of the Modern Desert Markings exhibit at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art @ UNLV. You could find her on the field trips, find her arranging for art deliveries, coordinating artists, installing art and yes, even watering our special Mojave plants. Growing up in a small town in eastern Nebraska where everyone knew…

What a fantastic interview we had with Alisha, from front yard gardens, to use of snail mail, lunch bag art for her daughter and the possibilities of cloning to facilitate 24 hour work days. All who listen know of our final question "What has inspired you this week?" Well, Alisha gave inspirational answers three times, I am sure she could have gone…

Steve made his way via horse drawn ATV out to Lizard, Nevada this evening to chat with the zany residents. We talked to the cast "in-character" on the stage, was it noisy, yes, was it funny, OMG yes. The scene stealing donkey even got in the act. See what all the fuss is about, get out to our theatre 150 N Yucca St, Mesquite, NV 89027 this weekend …

The first time I heard the term Land Art was in college. My ecology instructor showed us images of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. We learned how creating the spiral altered the environment enough to cause the tiny microscopic organisms to change the color of the water surrounding it to red. Living in southern Nevada, I knew we had a few key Land A…

Rayette and I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Deanne and chatting about her many roles at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV as well as her unique art and believe it or not the ins and outs of why the fifth sense is not a museum staple.By vvarts

Rachel, Linda and Steve had the pleasure of chatting with our friend Reenie McFarland the other day. If you do not live in Mesquite, Nevada, after hearing this conversation with Reenie, you will want to move here. Reenie McFarland 2-3-2023 As the daughter of an Army colonel, I grew up in a variety of locations and attended a dozen schools by the ti…

Living my real-life six degrees of separation from Dulzura, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada to Lincoln City, Oregon, Steve happened upon incredible humans and artists Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford via friends Paula Jacoby Garret and Niki Price. I hope by listening you will gain as much as I did in interviewing them. Robin Brailsford Lead Art…

Gregory Summers ASI / OPS “We go outdoors to enjoy the land or stay inside to avoid it. It is the outdoor artist that brings the outside in.” Born in the Flint Hills, Gregory Summers began his professional career at Hallmark Cards Inc in 1979. A Master Engraver, he now paints primarily “En Plein Air” across the globe with a limited pallet of only 4…

Amy Wells bio is coming soon.By vvarts

Linda and Steve had the pleasure of hosting an amazing couple, who give back with their amazing talents to their adopted town of Mesquite. Eric is a member of the Virgin Valley Art Association and of the Virgin Valley Photographic Society. Eric has a pre professional degree in pharmacy from Green River Community College, A Certificate of Highest Ho…

It was our pleasure to interview one of our founding members Harlo Birkholz recently. Instead of typing Harlo’s story here, we will let you just listen. Below are a few of his poems for you to enjoy. Who's in the Mirror I stumbled and it wasn't my toe That got me in trouble. I tried to blame the rock, the berm, the world, Until I saw me, in a mirro…

Last September we recorded our first outdoor episode with two of Steve’s favorite friends and humans Teresa Skye and Dave Ward. We met while volunteering for the US Fish and Wildlife Service at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. We have been holding this episode to coincide with Teresa’s Brown Bag presentation and workshop on Nature Journaling o…

The Art Box had an amazing fun interview with screen-writers Sue and Nancy last week. Our sides hurt from laughing and we can hardly wait for their newest Melodrama to open on March 17. You can get tickets at the Mesquite Fine Arts Center Monday-Saturday 10am to 4pm or on-line at: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/vvtgnv/6616 Let's learn more about …

Meet Johnny Trujillo. junior at Virgin Valley High School, Mesquite, Nevada. Recent recipient of an Emerging Artists award from the Virgin Valley Artists' Association, Johnny carries a 4.0 GPA, is an amazing artist and soccer player. The Art Box is looking forward to chatting with Johnny through the coming years. Thank you Eric Wordal for hosting t…

Join Linda and Steve as we interview some amazing artists at breakfast over the course of the week.By vvarts

On Day two we attended an open mic session and enjoy an amazing array of Cowboy Poets. If you have a heart you are going to love this episode. We nabbed Glen Bair, from Ephrata, Washington for an interview along with his wife and one of his favorite daughters. Glen brought the audience to tears with his rendition of the "Calf in the Bathtub". Read …

An honest-to-goodness cowboy who became one of the leading lights of the cowboy poetry movement, Waddie Mitchell knew of what he spoke long before be became a recording artist. Waddie was born Bruce Douglas Mitchell in 1950, and he grew up on a ranch near the Ruby Mountains south of Elko, Nevada. Living in an area not wired for electricity and wher…

Russ Westwood was born in Moab Utah. He was raised on a mink ranch, but spent a lot of time around horses and rodeos. He is a retired Firefighter/Paramedic. He has served as the director of the Mesquite Western Roundup for several years and performs regularly in their shows. He is an active member of the Cowboy Poets of Utah. He recently won a Cham…