Andrew Ramiro Tirado - Stoking His Artistic Fire
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mountain & Prairie Media
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2020
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andrew Ramiro Tirado is a Colorado-based artist who is best known for his award-winning large-scale sculptures and paintings of human hands. Using wood, metal, or traditional paint and canvas, Andrew combines his unique artistic eye with decades of experience as a craftsman to create remarkable pieces that are stunning in both their size and presentation. His hand sculptures can exceed ten feet in length and are sometimes displayed hanging from the ceilings of galleries or buildings—when you see Andrew's work, there is no mistaking who created it!
Andrew grew up in Colorado and graduated high school with the intention of studying and pursuing art as a vocation. During college, he landed a job in New York City, working as an assistant for the renowned artist Chuck Close—a coveted position for any budding artist. But soon after leaving New York, Andrew decided to walk away from making art, and he stayed away for 23 years. But in 2012, a serendipitous life-changing event rekindled his interest in making art, and he returned to the art world with full focus and passion. Just four years later, in 2016, Andrew resigned from his job at Colorado College and began pursuing art full time… and has never looked back.
We met at Andrew's brand new Colorado Springs studio, which happens to be just a few blocks from my own house. We had a wide-ranging discussion covering everything from making art to mountain climbing to the realities of life as a full-time artist. We started out by discussing his upbringing in Colorado Springs and how he found his way to art school and eventually, New York City working for the world-famous Chuck Close. Then we discuss his decision to leave the art world, and why—after more than two decades away—he decided to return to making art. We talked about the importance of writing to Andrew's artistic process, as well as lessons he's learned from spending time up high in the Colorado mountains. And finally, we talk about artistic heroes, favorite books, favorite films, and Andrew offers wisdom to those who dream of pursuing art as a full-time vocation.
Andrew is an amazingly thoughtful and humble guy, and I greatly admire his soft-spoken and wise approach to chasing his dreams. Be sure to check out the episode webpage to see photographs of some of Andrew's art, but for right now, enjoy this insightful conversation with Andrew Ramiro Tirado.
---
Complete Episode Notes: https://mountainandprairie.com/andrew-tirado/
---
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 4:00 - Andrew's background
- 6:15 - Studying art in school
- 8:00 - Working for Chuck Close
- 11:00 - "Leaning in" to opportunities
- 12:00 - Lessons learned from Chuck Close
- 15:30 - The importance of self-imposed limitations
- 18:00 - Taking a hiatus from art
- 21:30 - The moment he decided to return to art
- 25:30 - Making his first-hand art piece
- 31:00 - Discovering a demand for his art
- 34:00 - Decision to pursue art full time
- 36:00 - Chasing the feeling of "peak experiences"
- 41:00 - Importance of "inflection points"
- 42:30 - Importance of writing to Andrew's writing process
- 47:30 - How time in the mountains has affected his art
- 50:00 - Andrew's artistic heroes
- 52:45 - Favorite books
- 55:00 - Films
- 59:00 - Favorite location in the West
----
ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody is Ed. Wow we have a lot of brand new podcast supporters which is amazing and I really really appreciate it. |
| 0:08.0 | Joe Schobert Craig Davidson Janine McCulgan, Clay Cade, Liz Lynch, Scott Walker, Daniel Gary, Antonia Malchick, and Trenton Cussi. |
| 0:22.1 | All of these folks went to Mountain and Pray.com slash support and signed up to support |
| 0:28.0 | the podcast. It really blows my mind first of all that anybody listens to the podcast and then when people |
| 0:33.7 | decide to chip in their hard-earned dollars to the podcast that's even crazier but |
| 0:39.3 | uh again I greatly appreciate it no pressure on that at all, but if you're interested, go to mountain and prey.com slash support. |
| 0:47.4 | Thanks a lot. Hey, this is Ed Roberson, and this is the Mountain and Prairie Podcast, where I introduce |
| 1:02.3 | you to some of the innovative individuals |
| 1:04.2 | who are shaping the future of the American West. |
| 1:07.0 | I meet most of these people through my work in land conservation, or through my hobbies and |
| 1:11.0 | interests that revolve around spending time up high in the mountains. |
| 1:14.1 | My guests include ranchers, writers, entrepreneurs, conservationists, athletes, artist, adventurers, |
| 1:20.2 | pretty much anyone who's doing important work has an interesting story and loves the American West. |
| 1:26.0 | My guest today is Andrew Ramiro Tarado. |
| 1:29.0 | Andrew is a Colorado-based artist who's best known for his award-winning large-scale sculptures and paintings of human hands. |
| 1:36.0 | Using wood, metal, or traditional paint and canvas, |
| 1:40.0 | Andrew combines his unique artistic eye with decades of experience as a craftsman to create remarkable pieces that are stunning in both their size and presentation. |
| 1:51.0 | His hand sculptures can exceed 10 feet in length and are sometimes displayed hanging from the |
| 1:56.1 | ceilings of galleries or buildings. |
| 1:58.8 | When you see Andrew's work, there's no mistaking who created it. Andrew grew up in Colorado and graduated high school with the intention of studying and pursuing art as a vocation. |
| 2:08.0 | During college he landed a job in New York City, working as an assistant for the renowned artist Chuck Close, a coveted |
| 2:16.1 | position for any budding artist. But soon after leaving New York, Andrew decided to walk away |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mountain & Prairie Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mountain & Prairie Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.