The Art Box

Steve makes his annual sojourn to Baker, Nevada, gateway to Great Basin National Park, for another visit with his friends Liz Woolsey and her husband, James, and the remarkable little oasis they have created in one of Nevada’s most remote communities.
This time, Steve also arrives carrying copies of The Art of Noticing and Sandcastle Windows. Liz and James will sell the books in their store, with all proceeds going to support the Great Basin Water Network—a small way for stories, art, landscape and conservation to come together.
Steve and Liz settle in for a conversation right in the middle of the busy store, and Baker provides the soundtrack. Travelers wander through looking for water or something to eat. Others browse the surprisingly generous collection of books, search for information about their next adventure, or simply stop long enough to talk. It is exactly the kind of place Liz imagined more than twenty years ago.
Liz shares the story of that dream and how three decades of exploring America’s natural and cultural wonders with James, during his 32-year career with the National Park Service, helped shape it. She envisioned a crossroads for travelers, a place offering necessities, local knowledge, art, coffee, comfort and conversation. When Liz and James moved to Baker in 2018, they knew they had found that crossroads. On March 4, 2022, the dream officially opened its doors.
March Forth!
The conversation also wanders, appropriately enough, down Nevada’s roads. Liz tells Steve about her work promoting artists throughout Nevada and along Route 50, the legendary “Loneliest Road in America”, and they explore the history and adventures of one particularly colorful traveler: the famous orange chair belonging to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Orange Chair.
It is an Art Box conversation about art, community, public lands, books, conservation, friendship and the wonderfully unexpected things that happen when curious people cross paths in a tiny Nevada town.
And perhaps that is what Liz and James have really created in Baker: not simply a store or a place to stay, but an invitation to slow down, look around, meet somebody new and continue your journey with a little more wonder and whimsy than you arrived with.
Take the drive to Baker and settle in for a great night's sleep at the Stargazer Inn with limitless dark skies for your eyes to witness the Milky Way and constellations galore. There is always something happening at the Stargazer Inn and Bristlecone General Store. Get directions and make you reservations here: https://stargazernevada.com/

In Episode 484, Steve sits down with Matt Hancock, the creative force behind DECO-LUXE, for a conversation about electronic music, creativity, recovery, and the unexpected places where sound can take us.
Matt shares how music became part of rebuilding his life and how his earlier, darker work gradually gave way to the warmth, nostalgia, sunsets, and falling-in-love feeling of his upcoming album, Eventide.
We also dive into Matt's wonderfully ruthless creative process: work on an idea for 30 to 60 minutes, walk away for a week, come back with fresh ears—and if it doesn't hold up, delete it. No mercy!
Matt takes us inside his handmade modular synthesizer, talks about collaboration, technology and AI, and explains why every artist should begin by becoming their own biggest fan.
And because this is The Art Box, things eventually get a little strange. Matt recently dreamed about a mad scientist and is now wondering what a mad scientist might actually sound like.
It's a conversation about darkness and light, persistence and play—and how sometimes music can hold the things words simply can't.
And yes, Addie even drops in to help us figure out just what “synth-wavy” means.
Listen to Eventide: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2j3K8z15j2LdBX0pHafEwD
Explore Matt's work at: https://essentiallypop.com/epop/2026/08/deco-luxe-unveils-first-taste-of-forthcoming-album-eventide-with-new-single-mellow/
 

Sometimes a story is good enough to bring an old friend out of retirement.
After reading Steve’s The Art of Noticing and Sandcastle Windows, former Art Box host Linda Harris reached out with a request: she wanted to return to the studio and interview Steve about his writing.
And Steve couldn’t have been more honored.
Linda, who hosted more than 250 episodes of The Art Box, returns to the Mesquite Works STEAM Center studio—this time turning the microphone toward Steve. The two longtime friends dig into The Art of Noticing and the ideas behind several of its chapters before wandering through the very different world of Sandcastle Windows.
Linda explores why Steve wove some of their Mesquite artist friends into the novel, how familiar people and places found their way into fiction, and the dreams that carry protagonist Sam Mercer from present-day Mesquite into cafés and conversations with the Impressionists of 19th-century France.
It’s a conversation about books, friendship, memory, noticing, imagination, and what happens when the interviewer suddenly becomes the one being interviewed.
And perhaps the nicest part of the story is simply this: Linda enjoyed the books enough to pick up the microphone again. Steve couldn’t ask for a better review than that.
Thank You Linda

More than 475 episodes after her first visit to The Art Box, magnificent Mesquite artist Chris Picior returns—and she is still discovering new ways to create.
Chris was our guest way back on Episode 6, when we talked about her lifelong journey through art. This time, we catch up on where that journey has taken her and, perhaps more importantly, the new artistic freedom she has discovered.
Chris talks about taking classes through Milan Art and how the experience has encouraged her to loosen up, experiment, and trust herself more as an artist. We explore her work with the brush, sketching, ink and her wonderfully creative gourds—and her new adventure into oil painting. Chris's willingness to keep exploring new media has been a hallmark of her artistic life.
We also talk about her years of leadership with the Virgin Valley Artists' Association, her recovery from shoulder surgery, her love of birds, and what happens when an accomplished artist gives herself permission to try something different. Chris remains active with the VVAA today as Past President and Membership Director.
Sometimes artistic growth isn't about learning to paint inside the lines.
Sometimes it's finally realizing you don't have to.
Find Chris' beautiful art at: https://www.chrispiciorart.com/

For nearly three decades, Larry LeMieux has been one of those people who sees something a community could use and then helps make it happen.
On Episode 481 of The Art Box, Steve sits down with Larry for a conversation that becomes something of an oral history of Mesquite. We travel from his early newspaper days and the creation of the Mesquite High Rollers to helping establish the Mesquite Senior Games, organizing the Mesquite Community Band, supporting the beginnings of the Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra, directing theatre, and producing local talent shows.
We also hear about Larry’s twenty years managing the Mesquite Airport, where airplanes sometimes took a back seat to bringing people together, from hangar parties supporting veterans to giving children the unforgettable experience of their first airplane ride.
And retirement certainly hasn’t meant slowing down. Larry continues finding new ways to contribute through WOMMA, the performing arts, Cowboy Poetry and other community projects.
Larry’s story reminds us that communities don’t simply grow. People build them, one idea, one event, one friendship and one willing volunteer at a time.
And maybe that is another example of something we believe on The Art Box: sometimes the greatest work of art is a community.
 

Sometimes the sweetest chapters of our lives have been quietly taking shape for decades.
On Episode 480 of The Art Box, Steve visits with Thalia “Beep” Stanton, creator of Grama Beep’s Sweets. Beep’s love of candy making began as a teenager in a friend’s kitchen and became a Christmas tradition filled with memories of family and friends. More than 50 years later, after retiring and moving to Mesquite, encouragement from the people around her helped turn that lifelong tradition into a new adventure.
We talk about learning a craft until smell and feel become as important as a recipe, starting something new later in life, supporting local businesses, giving back to the community, and the family traditions that continue to influence Beep today. Beep says making candy is more than a business, it’s a way to share a little happiness and that might just be the perfect description of this conversation.
Find out more about Grama Beep’s Sweets on Facebook: Grama Beep’s Sweets

What happens when a moment in nature changes the direction of your life?
On this episode of The Art Box, Steve talks with Las Vegas native Shauna Walch, whose lifelong connection to the desert and a powerful moment in the McCullough Mountains inspired Compass, a growing vision for nature-based, values-driven places of hope, healing, reflection, and connection.
Shauna shares how doodles become ideas, ideas become collaborations, and sometimes the dreams we try to give away keep finding their way back to us. We explore natural awe, creativity, community, mindfulness, and the simple but powerful idea that spending time in nature can help us rediscover our own inner compass.
And, as Shauna likes to say, “Doodles Open Doors.”
Find out more about compass: https://thecompassrocks.org/the-compass

Making Memories Stories with Paul Benedict
Our Episode 478 guest is our good friend Paul Benedict, one of Mesquite’s most outstanding citizens and a man who describes what he does with three wonderfully simple words: “I tell stories.”
And Paul has plenty of them to tell. An Air Force veteran, longtime community leader, accomplished public speaker and familiar face on the Mesquite stage, Paul has performed in numerous theatrical productions and brought the words of Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, O. Henry and Dorothy Parker to life through his memorable dramatic readings.
Paul once wrote that “the spoken word is my music,” and that sentiment beautifully captures our conversation. We talk about storytelling, literature, Barbara, theater, public speaking, growing up near the George Eastman House, his many years of service to Mesquite, and the memories gathered along the way.
Most of all, this is simply a conversation with a good friend who understands that sometimes the best way to preserve a memory is to turn it into a story and tell it to someone else.

Our Episode 477 guest, Miles Woods, grew up right here in Mesquite as part of a close-knit local family filled with some truly wonderful people. Miles has left his creative mark on his hometown by painting three community murals, and he stays involved with local theater, building sets alongside his daughter, Emma.
His creativity also travels far beyond Mesquite. Miles works for Sally Dark Rides a Jacksonville, Florida-based company that creates dark amusement park attractions around the world. And when he has some spare time? He makes amazingly scary 3D masks and other Halloween-inspired art that reveal an entirely different side of his imagination.
From murals and theater sets to monsters and amusement rides, Miles seems to find art everywhere he looks. We think you'll enjoy this relaxed conversation with a talented artist, a hometown good guy, and our friend Miles Woods.
And yes, we do chat about Easter Eggs.
Learn more about Sally Dark Rides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs8Go6lmCAE

*** I LOVE this bookstore ***
For Episode 476, Steve sits down with Josh, owner of Mad Red Books in Las Vegas, for a conversation about books, curiosity, entrepreneurship, and the importance of keeping people reading.
Growing up in a family of avid readers, Josh turned a lifelong love of books into a business built around a wonderfully simple philosophy: books don't do anyone any good sitting on a shelf. With more than 11,000 books sold, Mad Red Books is proving that people most certainly do still read.
We talk about rare books and unexpected discoveries, the challenges and fun of running an independent bookstore, technology and AI, and why Josh deliberately places books expressing opposing viewpoints beside one another in hopes of encouraging curiosity and conversation. We also take a research detour into Hunter S. Thompson and his distinctive approach to writing.
Most of all, Josh reminds us that a good bookstore isn't simply a place that sells books. It's a place where stories, ideas, people, and community meet.
Visit Mad Red Books at 9480 S Eastern Ave #105, Las Vegas, NV 89123  Phone: (725) 267-3338
or online at: https://madredbooks.com/