phoenix art museum

It's always fun when you get to talk to somebody that you haven't spent time with on an intimate level and he's the guest today, Dr. Jerry Smith. I've known Jerry for 25+ years and we've had lots of conversations over the years, just usually in a museum setting. 

Here is an individual who was literally moving boxes on the night shift for almost ten years in his twenties and when he turned 30  he said "I've got to do something else" and had this epiphany. We talk about that epiphany and how a single image, a single painting, could change the way you see the world. There's nothing wrong with moving boxes, and thank God we have people that'll do it, but if there's a gift there that hasn't been explored and gets to be explored as it did in Jerry's case, I mean, now that's a special show. 

So this is a very fun and interesting podcast. He's a very animated individual and loves what he does, and rightly so. He's good at it.

Jim Ballinger, an important figure in the Arizona art world and my 100th podcast guest, provided one of my more fascinating interviews. Jim Ballinger is the former director of the Phoenix Art Museum for 40 years, a curator for 7 years, and the director for 33. Working for the Phoenix Art Museum was his first job and turns out his last, spending an entire career taking the museum from a small regional entity to a major institution in American Art. Jim's early life, including being a tennis athlete to becoming one of the youngest museum directors at the age of 31. Jim shares a story of ending up on the front page of the Kansas City newspaper and not for what you might think. The interview ends with some fascinating information (and historical footage) about a subject Jim has a deep fascination, the art of the Hoover (Boulder) Dam a project he is working on for a major book on the subject. 

Hope you enjoy our anniversary interview number one hundred with Jim Ballinger.