Museum Confidential

And one last thing...

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On this edition of Museum Confidential -- which is, yes, the very last one (!) -- we speak with Megan Whittaker Nesbit, the CEO and President of Philb...

Photographs and Memories: On Gordon Parks

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"Homeward to the Prairie I Come: Gordon Parks Photographs from the Beach Museum of Art" is on view at Tulsa's Philbrook Museum of Art through June 19t...

On Anishinaabe Art

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We're discussing a fine show now on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts; it's the first major Native American exhibition at DIA in three decades. "C...

Goff Comes Alive!

28 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in more than 30 years, a leading museum is hosting a major exhibition of work by the noted architect Bruce Goff (American; 1904-198...

The Case for Baskets

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this newest episode of MC, we speak with Welana Queton; she's currently the Mellon Fellow for Native Art at Philbrook Museum of Art. Recently, Wela...

Museums and Marketing: It's Complicated

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our friend Stephen Reily of REMUSEUM returns to the MC podcast to discuss his think-tank's report on marketing in the museum sector. According to this...

Filmmaker Kelly Reichardt

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They say timing is everything, but acclaimed filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (First Cow, Meek's Cutoff) could have never predicted a rise in museum heists w...

The Louvre Heist

01 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Of course we're talking about the recent theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris, which occurred on October 19th and promptly made news headlines world...

A Patrick Gordon Retrospective

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this edition of MC, we hear from the celebrated Tulsa-based artist, Patrick Gordon. The first-ever retrospective of this remarkable artist's work -...

Meet a Cultural Anthropologist

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From time to time we look at a specific museum job or title and ask the question: what is that exactly? Today we're exploring the role of the cultural...

On The Road: The Peabody Essex Museum

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the Season 10 premiere of Museum Confidential, we travelled all the way to the land of witches and whales in order to experience once of the best ...

Pop Goes the Museum

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) turns 25 this year. On our Season 9 finale we light out to the Pacific Northwest for a fascinating conversat...

America's National Churchill Museum

03 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

1946, in the wake of the Allies winning World War II, Sir Winston Churchill came to the US and gave his famous (and famously cautionary) "Iron Curtain...

Ralph Steadman

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ralph Steadman is an English artist and illustrator best known for his long collaboration with the iconoclastic Hunter S. Thompson, notably illustrati...

On "Japonisme”

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Japan opened its borders for trade and travel in the 1850s, the goods that hit markets across Europe and America sparked an international craze...

What's a Creative Director?

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Museum staff titles are often lengthy, so “Creative Director” seems pretty straightforward. But what exactly does it mean? And what exactly do...

Crip Curation and Disability Art

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why are museums built the way they are? Why do we hang art at that height? If a disabled artist makes art, is it necessarily Disability Art? Who g...

Reimagining Native Art

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As Season 9 resumes, we travel to New Jersey’s Montclair Art Museum to experience the Museum’s stunning new installation, Interwoven Power: Native...

Introducing: Immaterial

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While our midseason break here at MC continues, we would like to introduce our beloved listeners (that would be you) to something special. It's a podc...

Return To Taliesin West

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Four years ago, deep in the pandemic, we travelled to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Arizona compound, Taliesin West, to see how they were weathering the unpr...

Charles Gaines

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A dispatch from the Phoenix Art Museum where we recently traveled to speak with acclaimed conceptual artist, Charles Gaines prior to the opening of a ...

Live from Tulsa

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode of MC was recently taped before a live audience at Philbrook Museum of Art. Our host Jeff Martin is joined by on stage by interdi...

What is American Art?

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What makes American art "American"? Let's discuss. On this episode we welcome back Philbrook curator, Susan Green to chat about the new exhibition, "A...

From Haiti with Love

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On recent trip to Washington, D.C. we stopped by the National Gallery of Art to chat with curator Kanitra Fletcher about a new show she was preparing ...

Re-imagining Museums

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On our Season 9 debut we talk with Stephen Reily, attorney, entrepreneur, and former Director of Louisville’s Speed Art Museum about REMUSEUM, his a...

Banksy Unmasked

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Psyche! We’re not actually unmasking Banksy on this episode, but we are taking a closer look at the recently-opened museum in New York City dedicate...

Art Fair Diaries: Chicago

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On the final installment of our ART FAIR DIARIES trilogy, Philbrook Chief Curator and roving MC correspondent, Kate Green takes us to the land of John...

The Things We Keep

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed artist Chris Ramsay’s work deals with big, universal subjects: time, space, impermanence, what we discard, and what we choose to keep. Now...

Art Fair Diaries: Mexico City

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For this new installment in our Art Fair Diaries series, Philbrook Chief Curator (and occasional roving Museum Confidential correspondent) Kate Green ...

On Sovereign Futures

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our guest is curator Allison Glenn; we previously spoke to Glenn a few years ago about her Breonna Taylor-inspired show, "Promise, Witness, Remembranc...

The Insider

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our guest is acclaimed journalist Bianca Bosker, who tells us that -- when it comes to which topics she chooses to investigate and cover -- she's "obs...

The Future of Museum Funding?

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A recent headline in The New York Times read: To Save Museums, Treat Them Like Highways. There’s no shortage of conversations about museum funding m...

Live in Reno with Cannupa Hanska Luger

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Nevada Museum of Art invited us out for a live show in Reno with acclaimed indigenous artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Futurism and speculative fictio...

Film & Fashion: Killers of the Flower Moon

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon just nabbed ten Oscar nominations, including one for Costume Design. But how do you authentically take ...

Edward Hopper Abides

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On our first episode of 2024, we chat with the co-directors of an acclaimed new PBS American Masters documentary on legendary New York painter, Edward...

Art Basel Miami Beach: A Diary

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Art Basel Miami Beach, the biggest international modern/contemporary art fair in North America, took place earlier this month; thousands of art dealer...

Sharon Stone

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You probably know Sharon Stone the actress. It’s time you get to know Sharon Stone the ARTIST. Over the past few years, the Oscar nominee has turned...

Impossible Music

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We travel to Pittsburgh’s Miller Institute of Contemporary Art (Carnegie Mellon University) for the special exhibition, IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC, a fascinat...

Trade & Transformation

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every object holds a story. That’s the idea behind the thought-provoking new Philbrook exhibition, TRADE & TRANSFORMATION. Curator Kalyn Fay Barnosk...

Live in Iowa: Words & Pictures

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, a catastrophic flood shut down the art museum on the University of Iowa campus. 15 years later, the museum has finally reopened with a new bu...

Scorsese, Songs, and More with Randall Poster

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From time to time we explore the question, “what is a curator?” For the past 30 years, Randall Poster has been searching for, securing rights for,...

Erasing History

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Video journalist Alexandra Eaton of The New York Times joins us to share an unforgettable story that begins with a painting created in 1837 New Orlean...

Summer Vacation to “Dalíland”

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the new biopic, Dalíland, acclaimed director Mary Harron give us a glimpse into the Salvador Dalí’s later years in 70s New York City via the im...

Live from Hawaii

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For our Season 7 finale, we travel to the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) to chat with an architect and a neurologist about the intersections of art, sc...

Preserving the Digital World

13 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With more and more of our lives now being lived online -- and with more and more of our stuff existing only in the cloud -- how best should we preserv...

Life in the Archives

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On this edition of MC, we've got mad props for all the archivists and librarians in the house. The stewardship that these professionals bring to Museu...

The Art of the Record Store

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Founded by artist Theaster Gates, the Rebuild Foundation has been transforming buildings and neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago since 2009 wit...

Sir Roger Deakins & James Deakins

24 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This episode offers a career-spanning chat with Oscar-winning cinematographer, Sir Roger Deakins, and his wife/longtime collaborator, James Deakins. ...

Rembrandt to Monet

10 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Museums rarely allow their most beloved works to travel. But Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum is under renovation. An opportunity arose. Now through May 28...

The American South...at the Royal Academy of Arts

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

London's Royal Academy of Arts will soon open a special exhibition titled, SOULS GROWN DEEP LIKE RIVERS: BLACK ARTISTS FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH. Create...

The Value of Art

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is the “art market?” A decade ago, Michael Findlay published “The Value of Art” to explore this very question. But the world has changed ...

Jeffrey Gibson

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A work by Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson is instantly recognizable. This is even more impressive given the variety of his output. ...

Van Gogh in America

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A century ago, the Detroit Institute of Arts became the first U.S. museum to purchase a painting by Vincent van Gogh. Now they’re hosting America’...

Art, Artists, and LP Covers: An Extended Chit-Chat

30 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

MC is closing down 2022 with a one-hour special -- a breezy, somewhat geeky, opinionated, and taped-live-in-the-studio conversation between host Jeff ...

Painting Michelle Obama

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed artist Sharon Sprung had to wait years before she could tell the world that she was commissioned to paint Michelle Obama’s official White ...

Sneaker Art at 20

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode we get a few kicks with British artist Dave White who pioneered the sneaker art movement 20 years ago. His portraits of popular shoes ...

Hilton Als on Joan Didion

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Well before Joan Didion’s death in December 2021, acclaimed writer and New Yorker magazine contributor Hilton Als was hard at work on a show for LA’...

Special Report: Hurricanes and Museums

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With climate change and more frequent weather events, what does the future hold for coastal museums? On this special episode we speak with Courtney Mc...

Prudes, Puritans, and American Museums

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For the past few decades, American artist/sexual anthropologist Betony Vernon has been living in Europe, designing erotic jewelry, writing books, and ...

Cheech & Chicano Art

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The one and only Cheech Marin (Cheech & Chong) stops by to discuss his recently opened museum, The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture. Ni...

The Hidden History of Black Cinema

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On our Season 7 premiere, we visit the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles for the opening of a groundbreaking new exhibition, REGENERATI...

The Whataburger Museum of Art

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re cooking up something tasty on this special summer episode and taking a bite out of the Whataburger Museum of Art. Is it really a museum? What’...

Museums Abide (Our 100th Show!)

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

From a fire at the Smithsonian in 1865 to the Covid-19 pandemic, museums have faced challenge after challenge, and have survived. That didn't happen b...

Stuffy Old Museum: Tone 101

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How can a small museum in the middle of the country have an impact on par with bigger institutions? How can we fight above our weight class in the are...

A Star is Born (at 86)

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Shirley Woodson was born in 1936. She grew up and still lives in Detroit. It’s her city, her muse. At 86 the artist recently opened her first ever s...

Surrealists at War

15 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What role can artists and creatives play in wartime? On this episode we chat with acclaimed author Lesley M.M. Blume about her recent Town & Country a...

The Secret History of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece

25 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we explore Gustave Courbet’s perennially provocative 1866 work, “L’Origine du Monde (The Origin of ...

Troy Montes-Michie

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Troy Montes-Michie was born in El Paso. Border towns are a natural mash-up of cultures, traditions, languages, food, fashion, and nearly everything el...

Beeple Comes Alive

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Winkelmann has been creating digital art for over two decades. He’s 40 years old, lives in South Carolina, and has a computer science degree fr...

The Spiritual Side of Art

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the years before World War 2, a group of artists gathered in New Mexico to “carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through n...

Who's Harold Stevenson?

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Oklahoma artist Harold Stevenson (1929-2018) created big paintings and lived an even bigger life in New York, Paris, Key West, and the Hamptons, becom...

Live From Aspen: Why Warhol Persists

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We haven’t done a live audience show in ages. So when the invitation came to travel to Aspen, Colorado for the opening of a new Andy Warhol show at ...

Mark Mothersbaugh

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Mothersbaugh has been a creative force for well over 40 years. From co-founding DEVO to scoring countless films and shows, his impact is undeniab...

Barbara Kruger: It’s Not a Retrospective

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara Kruger’s images and texts have been a consistent source of cultural commentary for decades. Her new exhibition, THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. ...

Van Gogh: The Fanboy

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Few artists have work as instantly recognizable as Vincent van Gogh. But as original and unique as it seems, the work stands on the shoulders of many ...

Beyond the "Bad Art Friend"

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We hear the word “viral” all the time. But very few things actually go viral. A recent exception is “Who Is the Bad Art Friend?,” a nearly ten...

Judy Chicago

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On the occasion of her first career retrospective, we sit down with legendary artist/feminist Judy Chicago. The exhibition , now on view at San Franci...

John Lurie

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many people have been incorrectly hailed as a “Renaissance Man,” but it perfectly describes Mr. John Lurie. Music, acting, painting, writing, he’...

The Smithsonian Goes Hip-Hop

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The long-awaited Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap just dropped. The set includes 129 tracks on 9 discs and a hefty 300–page book with origin...

The Outsiders?

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What is an “outsider artist?” Do we even call them that anymore? In recent years the term shifted to “self-taught artist.” Sounds different. B...

Teaser: "It's Confidential"

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The secret's out! Season 6 of Museum Confidential starts Friday 9/3! Enjoy this early listen to our new season theme song performed by Oklahoma's own ...

Greenwood Rising

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On the season finale of Museum Confidential 2021 we sit down with Philbrook President/CEO Scott Stulen and Phil Armstrong, Project Director for the 19...

The Legacy of Survival

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Through the use of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, the new exhibit, THE LEGACY OF SURVIVAL, allows anyone to interact with and intervie...

The Kinsey Collection

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection tells the story of African American triumphs and accomplishments from 1595 to present day. From M...

Rick Lowe

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rick Lowe is one of the two Lead Artists for the Greenwood Art Project alongside William Cordova. Born in Alabama, but a longtime resident of Houston,...

The 1921 Black Wall Street Online Directory

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this 75th episode of Museum Confidential we chat with Mikeal Vaughn of the Urban Coders Guild. This spring the Urban Coders Guild student cohorts w...

A Portrait of Breonna Taylor

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode we road trip to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to chat with Associate Curator, Allison Glenn. Promise, Witness, Remembrance at...

Sam Pollard

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed documentary director, editor, and producer Sam Pollard joins us to talk about his recent films Black Art: In the Absence of Light, MLK/FBI, ...

Rebuilding Black Wall Street

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TheRese Aduni has been hard at work on her documentary, "Rebuilding Black Wall Street." The film uses 16mm film footage shot by TheRese's father and c...

The Godfather of Cool

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the classic crime film SHAFT, directed Gordon Parks. Parks was a filmmaker, writer, musician, and one of the 20th c...

The Greenwood Art Project

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A new season begins in partnership with the Greenwood Art Project, an initiative of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. To get a broad...

OUR PEOPLE: Susan Billy

01 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On the final episode of OUR PEOPLE, Rebecca Nagle chats with artist Susan Billy (Pomo) about family, traditions, basketry, and more. Susan is the gran...

OUR PEOPLE: Kelly Church

24 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On the penultimate episode of OUR PEOPLE, Rebecca chats with artist Kelly Church (Ottawa/Pottawatomi) about basketry, invasive bugs, sustainability, a...

The Wright Time: Part 2

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Let's go back to Arizona. In part 2 of our look at the impact of the COVID-19 era on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, we go a bit deeper and chat wi...

OUR PEOPLE: Cara Romero

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On the third episode of OUR PEOPLE, Rebecca sits down (virtually) with artist/photographer, Cara Romero (Chemehuevi ). Now based in Santa Fe, New Mexi...

The Wright Time: Part 1

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our intrepid host reports from an unforgettable desert journey to Taliesin West in Arizona, home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. In late 2019 we...

OUR PEOPLE: America Meredith

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of OUR PEOPLE, Rebecca chats with acclaimed artist and First American Art Magazine editor, America Meredith (Cherokee) about her work,...

OUR PEOPLE: Anita Fields

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In connection with the landmark special exhibition, Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists (on view through 1/3/21), Museum Confidential presents ...

Do Museums Have a Docent Problem?

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Docents, volunteers, tour guides, whatever you want to call them, have been and remain an important part of the museum visitor experience. As the worl...

Art for Justice

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Agnes Gund is a legend in the art world for her collection, her philanthropy, and her decision in 2017 to sell a painting by Roy Lichtenstein for $165...