Kelsey Morris Returns – Going All In on Art
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Release Date: 02/02/2026
Kelsey Morris Returns – Going All In on Art
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
My guest today is Kelsey Morris, and this is her second time on the podcast—which feels long-overdue, because a lot has happened since we last talked. When Kelsey first joined me nearly five years ago, she was balancing a full-time job while building her art career on the side. Shortly after that conversation, she did something many creative people dream about and very few actually do: she quit her job, changed her phone number, and went all-in on her work as an artist. Since then, she’s built a deeply recognizable visual style, taken on major commissions, and quietly carved out a career...
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Jason Gardner Returns – Fire, Leadership, and What Really Matters
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Jason Gardner is a retired Navy SEAL who now works as a top-level leadership instructor with Echelon Front. Over his thirty-year career in the SEAL teams, he served in combat operations in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, later becoming Command Master Chief of SEAL Team Five and Training Detachment. Since retiring from the Navy, Jason has worked with hundreds of organizations as a leadership instructor and strategic advisor, helping teams apply high-stakes leadership principles to business and life. He now lives in a remote corner of northeastern Washington with his wife, Iris, and their two...
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Todd Ulizio – Farming, Attention, and a Life Well Rooted
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that’s quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley’s local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a world that doesn’t always make it easy. Todd’s path to farming was anything but direct. He grew up in Connecticut and followed a traditional educational and career path, eventually becoming an accountant at a prestigious Big 6 Firm. Experiencing success...
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Sammy Matsaw Jr. – Salmon, Sovereignty, and the Long Work of Healing
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work. Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of...
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Ed’s Appearance on “My Favorite Things”
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the usual format. I’m re-sharing a recent conversation I had on my friend Brendan Leonard’s new podcast, . I’m sure most of y’all are already familiar with Brendan’s work, but for those of you who aren’t, he’s an author, illustrator, filmmaker, and creator of . Brendan’s new podcast is built around a simple but fascinating premise: conversations about the books, films, art, and creative works that have helped shape a person’s life and career. In this conversation, we spend less time on what I do, and more time on what’s...
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Mike Schaedel - Restoring Balance to Fire-Adapted Landscapes
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mike Schaedel is the Western Montana Forest Restoration Director for The Nature Conservancy, where he leads some of the most ambitious and collaborative forest restoration work happening anywhere in the West. Based in Missoula, Mike works at the intersection of science, community partnerships, and land stewardship—helping restore fire-adapted forests, reduce wildfire risk, and improve the health and resilience of landscapes across the region. Mike’s career path is super interesting and anything but traditional. He grew up in Portland, fell in love with the mountains through rock climbing,...
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SHED SESH: September & October 2025 Book Recommendations
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
This month marks ten full years of my bimonthly book-recommendations project—a decade of weird little paragraphs about the books that grab my scattered attention. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or signed up five minutes ago, thank you. I’m still baffled anyone reads these things, but I’m grateful all the same. To mark the occasion, I recorded a late-night solo episode from The Shed, diving deeper into each of my September & October picks: why I chose them, what stayed with me, and the sometimes-unexpected lessons I gleaned from each of them. Or you could just describe...
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Devon O’Neil — On Nature’s Power and the Price of Adventure
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Devon O’Neil is a journalist, author, and longtime friend of mine whose new book "The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies" is one of the best pieces of outdoor nonfiction I’ve read in years. The book tells the harrowing true story of a backcountry ski trip near Leadville, Colorado, that turned tragic—and the years-long process of understanding what really happened, and how a mountain town wrestled with loss, resilience, and the complicated relationship we all have with risk and wild places. It’s gripping, deeply reported, and beautifully written—equal parts...
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Carli Kierstead – Wyoming Forests and the Work of Keeping Water Flowing
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West’s most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming’s forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state’s borders. These high-country forests are the headwaters of several major river basins, providing water to millions of people across the American West. In this conversation, Carli and I dig into the past, present, and future of Western forests—how management...
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Bex Frucht — Story Wrangler! Vibe Steward! One of a Kind!
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Bex Frucht is a force of nature—a storyteller and community builder whose work blends performance, land, and small-town life in the American West. Based in Livingston, Montana, she’s the founder of TMI Live, a storytelling series that celebrates vulnerability, humor, and human connection, and for the past three years, she’s been the “vibe steward” of the Old Salt Festival, where her talent for bringing people together has become legendary. Whether she’s hosting a show, coaching storytellers, or emceeing a fundraiser, Bex radiates generosity, intelligence, and positivity in a way...
info_outlineMy guest today is Kelsey Morris, and this is her second time on the podcast—which feels long-overdue, because a lot has happened since we last talked.
When Kelsey first joined me nearly five years ago, she was balancing a full-time job while building her art career on the side. Shortly after that conversation, she did something many creative people dream about and very few actually do: she quit her job, changed her phone number, and went all-in on her work as an artist. Since then, she’s built a deeply recognizable visual style, taken on major commissions, and quietly carved out a career that sits at the intersection of Western art, wildlife, and the modern outdoor world.
In this conversation, we pick up right where we left off—talking about what it actually takes to make the leap into full-time creative work, how Kelsey thinks about balancing artistic curiosity with financial reality, and how discipline, professionalism, and showing up every day matter just as much as inspiration. We also talk about her evolving style, the pressure of deadlines, why some days the work just doesn’t click, and how she’s learned when to push through—and when to walk away.
We also get into some big life changes: closing her gallery, preparing for motherhood, spending time at her off-grid cabin in Alaska, and a major upcoming milestone—being selected to paint the 2026 covers of Field & Stream, one of the most iconic names in outdoor media.
Kelsey is thoughtful, grounded, funny, and refreshingly honest about the realities of creative work. This is a conversation about art, ambition, patience, and building a life that actually fits the work you want to do.
I really loved catching up with her, and I think you will too. Enjoy!
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:
Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 0:00 - Introducing Kelsey Morris and sponsor information
- 5:55 - Intro and going all in on art
- 10:42 - Marketing oneself
- 13:06 - Space to explore
- 15:57 - Individuality
- 20:05 - How to pay the bills
- 23:02 - Attention to detail
- 26:22 - Deadline torture
- 27:50 - The days when it’s not easy
- 32:40 - Milestones
- 37:04 - Who Kelsey looks up to
- 42:00 - The gallery
- 45:02 - Parenting
- 49:16 - The Alaska house
- 55:13 - Field & Stream exclusive
- 59:13 - Book recs
- 1:02:45 - Wrapping up
- 1:03:45 - Ed’s goodbye and thank yous
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