Art Dealer Diaries Podcast

Bob Ashley: Museum Director & Herpetologist (Chiricahua Desert Museum) - Epi 329, Host Dr. Mark Sublette

Mark Sublette Season 1 Episode 328

I had Bob Ashley on today and what an interesting guy he is. I really enjoyed this podcast because it speaks to something that I've always enjoyed, which is  herpetology. As a child I was fascinated with reptiles and I'm still fascinated with them. Anybody who knows me has probably seen me move rattlesnakes off the road because I don't want them to get hurt. If you like herpetology, you're going to love this podcast  (plus it's the year of the snake). If you don't like herpetology and snakes, then you may not find it as interesting as I did.

Bob has the Chiricahua Desert Museum, which is right on the border of New Mexico and Arizona off the I-10. It's not that far from Tucson and it's not only a museum of desert animals, but a museum that preserves and displays Apache material called the Apache Museum and Geronimo Events Center.

He really is one of the top people in this field and a ton of different research gets done as a result of his commitment to herpetology, but he loves Native American art, specifically Apache because he lives and operates his museum in that region. He's very close to the point where Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. government. The museum has lots of different things that you can see and the whole history of that region from an indigenous standpoint, from Mimbres on up.

Unique podcast, unique individual. I hope you do listen to it and I hope you go and visit it, which is at the Chiricahua Desert Museum, because it's a very interesting place to go. That's what this podcast is all about and that's what Bob Ashley is all about. He and I have, a similar love for snakes, herpetology, and Native American art.