Steve Dudrow is a storyteller, visual artist, podcaster, and passionate advocate for creativity, curiosity, and public lands. Whether capturing the quiet poetry of the night sky, exploring color and texture through mixed media, writing about the mysteries of human experience, or sparking conversations on The Art Box podcast, Steve’s work is driven by a simple belief: the world becomes more interesting when we slow down, pay attention, and remain curious.
A resident of Mesquite, Nevada since 2016, Steve lives with his wife of 52 years, Gwen. His writing spans children’s literature, nonfiction, and novels. His children’s books include the Teddy’s Adventures and Birdie Learns series, stories that blend imagination, discovery, and heartfelt values.
Steve’s adult books explore many of the same questions that shape his art: What do we notice? What do we miss? How do creativity, memory, science, mystery, and human connection shape the way we understand our lives?
His nonfiction book The Art of Noticing invites readers to slow down and rediscover the extraordinary hiding within the ordinary. The Greatest Mystery ventures into some of humanity’s largest questions and our continuing desire to understand the universe, consciousness, existence, and our place within it.
His fiction began with Sandcastle Windows, a novel about memory, art, friendship, and those moments when the boundaries between imagination and reality become wonderfully uncertain. Its sequel, The Blue Between the Notes, explores music, color, synesthesia, creativity, and the spaces between what we can explain and what we simply experience. These stories continue Steve’s fascination with artists, musicians, scientists, dreamers, and people willing to say, “I don’t know.”
Steve’s own creative journey has taken him into some of America’s remarkable wild places as an Artist in Residence at Capitol Reef National Park and through multiple residencies at Mystery Ranch in Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. His photography and visual art are deeply influenced by the Mojave Desert, dark skies, archaeology, public lands, and the small details most of us walk past every day.
Beyond writing and art, Steve is deeply committed to conservation, education, and building creative communities. He volunteers as an archaeological steward, Certified Interpretive Guide, and endangered species monitor. He serves as Chair of the Mesquite Public Arts Commission and is past chair of the Mesquite Works STEAM Center, helping champion public art, arts education, and opportunities for creativity throughout his community.
Steve also shares his love of storytelling through collaborative creative writing classes with the University of Nevada, Reno 4-H Extension and at the Mesquite Senior Center. Working with writers across generations has reinforced something he has long believed: everyone has a story, and sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement—and a little curiosity—to bring it to life.
Across books, podcasts, photographs, classrooms, galleries, and desert trails, Steve keeps returning to the same idea: curiosity matters. There is still much we do not know, much we have not noticed, and many stories waiting to be told.
Read more
Read less
