Painted Ponies: Exploring Southwest Artist Ted DeGrazia's Joyful Side

In this episode of Big Blend Radio's "Tales of Southwest Artist Ted DeGrazia" Podcast, Executive Director Lance Laber shares the story behind the new "Ted DeGrazia's Painted Ponies" exhibit at the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun in Tucson, Arizona. Featuring paintings, watercolors, sculptures, carousel horses, and merry-go-round imagery, this colorful new exhibition celebrates Ted DeGrazia's lifelong fascination with horses, childhood, imagination, and joy. Lance discusses how DeGrazia captured emotion through his art, his love of children, and why these cheerful works reveal another side of one of the world's most reproduced artists. The conversation also revisits the remarkable story behind DeGrazia's 1975 tax protest, when he burned over a million dollars' worth of his own paintings in Arizona's Superstition Mountains, celebrates his Flag Day birth anniversary, and explores the gallery's current rotating exhibits, including "Ted DeGrazia's Unseen Landscapes" and "DeGrazia Paints the Seri Indians." Known as one of the most reproduced artists in the world, Ted DeGrazia captured the spirit of the Southwest through bold, expressive paintings that reflected the region's people, cultures, landscapes, and traditions. Today, his legacy continues through the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, a National Historic Landmark nestled in the foothills of Tucson's Santa Catalina Mountains. Current Rotating Exhibits • Ted DeGrazia's Painted Ponies – On display through January 27, 2027, featuring cheerful paintings, sculptures, carousel horses, and merry-go-round imagery celebrating childhood wonder. • Ted DeGrazia's Unseen Landscapes – Rare watercolors, oils, and ink drawings hidden from public view for decades. On display through September 2, 2026. • DeGrazia Paints the Seri Indians – A fascinating look at DeGrazia's documentation of the Comcaac (Seri) people of Sonora, Mexico. On display through September 2, 2026. DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is a 10-acre National Historic Landmark featuring over 15,000 original works of art, including paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and more. Learn more: http://www.degrazia.org  🎙️ New Tales of Ted DeGrazia episodes air every 4th Sunday. Follow the podcast: https://ted-degrazia.podbean.com