The Art Of The Rural

05/29/2026

Check out our May Monthly Digest now on Substack, which includes several opportunities from the field! 🌾 Our Instagram reposts are a good place to find these, too. 👀

Read & subscribe (for free, always) at artoftherural.substack.com.

05/26/2026

Thank you all for joining us last week with for a transformative evening of printmaking, music, and a fashion show at with our shared community! ❤️‍🔥 Let’s all “flock around” again soon to bravely make more art and share more stories.

We’re grateful to Johnny Barber for these spectacular photos from our time together. Additional support for this gathering was provided by .

05/22/2026

On view at Rhizome DC, "500 Miles Out: Carceral Ties between the District and Central Appalachia" visualizes the impact of the prison-industrial complex through photographs, quilts, and multimedia pieces. Throughout the exhibition, the artists represent the people, places, and movements working across regions, sharing the importance of rural-urban solidarity in communicating about and agitating against the violences of the carceral system.

The exhibition features artists Jonas N.T. Becker, Lacy Hale, Jared Hamilton, Jordan Martinez-Mazurek, Comrade Pitt Panther, Tiffany Pyette, Kat Smith, and Sylvia Ryerson, and is curated by Gabrielle Christiansen. Read all about it in this article from Art of the Rural Broadsheet (for free, always!): https://artoftherural.substack.com/p/500-miles-out

✍️ By Art of the Rural Communications Manager Hannah Almon Matangos

05/14/2026

We welcome you to join next Thursday, May 21, at the Shedon Theatre from 5:30-8 pm for a talk facilitated by Kachina Yeager on remapping and remembering river relationships.

Learn more and reserve your free tickets: redwingarts.org/calendar-of-events/2026/5/21/mni-memory

Presented in partnership by Red Wing Arts, Honoring Dakota Project, City of Red Wing Government, The Art Of The Rural, Minnesota Marine Art Museum and Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts.

05/06/2026

Order by May 24! 🎉 A little bird (maybe a loon) told us that more folks wanted another chance to get this beautiful t-shirt, with design donated by Cole Redhorse Taylor.

All proceeds benefit our partners, the Honoring Dakota Project, who are dedicated to creating community engagements, projects, and events that provide education to discover our shared stories, bridge our communities, and create a space for healing for the people of Red Wing and Prairie Island, and the surrounding area.

Order yours at customink.com/fundraising/SupportHDP

We are deeply grateful for the Honoring Dakota Project's ongoing partnership and collaboration, and we look forward to gathering with them throughout this year!

05/04/2026

Have you tuned into our latest episode with co-founders Donna Neuwirth & Jay Salinas? 🔈

In this clip, Jay reflects on the impetus behind the institute’s “Stalk Market Report,” a newsletter for Wormfarm’s CSA shareholders, and how the early years of Wormfarm were especially a time of learning in terms of agricultural practice, local food systems, and creativity in Sauk County, Wisconsin, and the surrounding region.

“One of the other big projects of Wormfarm is looking for commonalities between culture & agriculture, artmaking & food production, makers & producers,” he says.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts and visit the link in our bio or artoftherural.org/podcast to find episode resources & more.

05/01/2026

A few weeks ago, we were honored to host Spillway Fellow Cole Redhorse Taylor Art in Winona and debut his powerful new ledger artwork “Ipsica.” The artwork takes its inspiration from a piece that the Winona County Historical Society is currently in the process of returning to the Dakota community. “Ipsica” will be on view as part of new, Dakota-led exhibitions launching at the History Center this summer.

We are grateful to be with friends such as The Honoring Dakota Project and an ever-expanding circle of local/regional partners for their continued collaboration as we all collectively nurture intercultural exchange toward building responsible and durable relationships between the Winona region and Dakota people.

This Spillway Fellowship artwork was made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

04/29/2026

04/29/2026

Flock around and find out! Join us with Fire in the Village for a spirited night of connection and community! ❤️‍🔥 RSVP at tinyurl.com/FITVMay14

When: Thursday, May 14, 6:00-8:00pm Central
Where: Winona County History Center (160 Johnson St, Winona)
Facebook Save the Date: Printmaking, Music, & Fashion Show with Fire in the Village

During this free-to-attend gathering, make and take a printed fabric patch, and hear music and stories from Anishinaabe artist Annie Humphrey (Leech Lake Reservation), who will also share her thrifted and upcycled clothing designs, modeled by local community members. Always be brave!

Fire in the Village is a collective of artists and cultural organizers that build and sustain spiritual fires of connection where they live in Anishinaabe territory or rural northern Minnesota, and with arts and music communities around the region.
To learn more and connect, visit fireinthevillage.org

Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

During this free-to-attend gathering, make and take a printed fabric patch, and hear music and stories from Anishinaabe artist Annie Humphrey (Leech Lake Reservation), who will also share her thrifted and upcycled clothing designs, modeled by local community members. Always be brave!

04/27/2026

New episode out now! 🌾 In this episode of the Art of the Rural podcast, meet Donna Neuwirth and Jay Salinas, co-Founders of , a cross-sector arts and culture organization rooted in Sauk County, Wisconsin, in the heart of the Driftless region of the Upper Midwest.

Over thirty years ago, Jay and Donna made a leap of faith, leaving behind Chicago and the city’s vibrant arts scene for a forty-acre dairy farm in Wisconsin. Out of this experiment grew one of the most inventive and influential models for artistic, cultural, and agricultural stewardship in rural communities.

“We invented something where we could be who we are and could be products of our urban environment and bring some attention to these spaces, ways of life, and important land uses that we believe more people should pay attention to in urban areas as well as in rural areas,” reflects Donna.

🔈 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, and visit the link in our bio or artoftherural.org/podcast to find episode resources.

We are grateful to folks across the country who have made tax-deductible contributions to Art of the Rural to make this conversation possible, and to the Ford Foundation and Good Chaos Foundation for their support of Art of the Rural’s media programs.