On this episode, meet Brian Harnetty, an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, and author. Brian is known for his archival recording projects, socially-engaged works, sound & video installations, live performances, and writings, including his book, Noisy Memory: Recording Sound, Performing Archives (University of North Carolina Press, 2025). Brian works with sound archives and the communities connected to them, creating projects that are centered on place and listening. This conversa...

This episode was produced in partnership with 5 Plain Questions and Eleven Warrior Arts. Hosted by Joe Williams, 5 Plain Questions is a podcast that proposes 5 general questions to Native American and Indigenous artists, creators, musicians, writers, movers and shakers, and culture bearers. Episode Summary In this episode, meet Marina Cristina “Tina” Tavera, a Minneapolis-based Latinx artist whose work explores the intricate constructions of identity and culture through various artistic mediu...

On this episode, meet Mary Welcome, a multidisciplinary cultural worker and rural avant-garde artist. For close to 20 years, Mary's life and creative practice have radiated out from her hometown of Palouse, Washington, toward an immense web of rural communities and partners across the continent. Few artists in our field articulate both a sense of deep respect for local community and a belief in the generative detours of life on the road as well as Mary does. Along this journey, Mary has...

This episode was produced in partnership with 5 Plain Questions and Eleven Warrior Arts. Hosted by Joe Williams, 5 Plain Questions is a podcast that proposes 5 general questions to Native American and Indigenous artists, creators, musicians, writers, movers and shakers, and culture bearers. Mali Obomsawin stands at the forefront of contemporary Indigenous music, embodying a diverse range of genres that include jazz, roots music, and experimental sound. As a bassist, composer, and vocali...

Independent artist & educator Erika Nelson discusses her two-year journey living in a vehicle and exploring Outsider Art across the United States - and creating her own. In this episode, independent artist and educator Erika Nelson discusses the communities, places, and artworks that tell the story of her two-year journey living in a vehicle and meeting people who built Outsider Art Environments and Roadside Vernacular Architecture across the United States. She also discusses the de...

This episode was produced in partnership with5 Plain Questions and Eleven Warrior Arts. Hosted by Joe Williams, 5 Plain Questions is a podcast that proposes 5 general questions to Native American and Indigenous artists, creators, musicians, writers, movers and shakers, and culture bearers. Joseph J. Allen, a Minnesota-based photographer, Art of the Rural Fellow, and returning guest to 5 Plain Questions, shares insights from his artistic journey and community work in this engaging conversation...

In this episode, Matthew Fluharty visits writer, curator, & activist Lucy Lippard in Galisteo, New Mexico. Lucy discusses the publication of her local newsletter El Puente de Galisteo, which she began editing & distributing in January 1997, in collaboration with local residents & community organizations. She reflects on her involvement in the Galisteo community & how the village has changed over the past few decades, which she has also chronicled in Pueblo Chico: Land and Live...

This episode was produced in partnership with 5 Plain Questions and Eleven Warrior Arts. Hosted by Joe Williams, 5 Plain Questions is a podcast that proposes 5 general questions to Native American and Indigenous artists, creators, musicians, writers, movers and shakers, and culture bearers. In this episode, Xavier Tavera brings his unique perspective as a Minnesota-based photographer and cultural storyteller. In this engaging conversation, he reflects on the evolving nature of storytelling an...

Faye Dant joins Matthew Fluharty to discuss Black history in Hannibal, MO, and the inspirations behind Jim's Journey and her book Hannibal's Invisibles. In this first episode of the new Art of the Rural podcast, meet Faye Dant. Faye is the founder and director of Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, an organization with a mission to build cross-cultural understanding by documenting, preserving and presenting the history of the 19th and 20th-century African American community in Hannib...

In this trailer, hear from Art of the Rural Executive Director Matthew Fluharty about our new podcast, bringing together artists & culture bearers from across rural America and Indian Country. Learn more about each episode at artoftherural.org/podcast, and stay in-the-know by following us on online: Instagram & Substack @artoftheruralFacebook: theartoftheruralAs new episodes roll out, you can also tune into our previous podcast, In High Visiblity: On Location in Rural America and Indi...