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58: Why Rural Stories Get Erased—And What Activist Artist Organizers Like Matthew Fluharty Are Doing to Stop It – Part 2
Description
Episode 58: Matthew Fluharty - Art of the Rural - Chapter 2
This is our second episode focusing on Matthew Fluharty's work at Art of the Rural. In it we explore the continuing story of Sauget Illinois, the power of nostalgia, the iconic importance of Busch Light beer, and the amazing legacy of Family Video.
Listen to Art of the Rural Chapter 1 HERE
BIO
Matthew is the Founder and Executive Director of Art of the Rural, a member of M12 Studio, and faculty on the Rural Environments Field School. His work flows between the fields of art, design, humanities, policy, and community development.
His poetry and essays have been published widely, and his work with his colleagues in the American Bottom region of the Mississippi River has been featured in Art in America. Matthew is the organizing curator for High Visibility: On Location in Rural America and Indian Country, a longterm collaboration with the Plains Art Museum. He recently received a Curatorial Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for this ongoing work.
Born into a seventh-generation farming family in Appalachian Ohio, Matthew’s upbringing instilled a belief that everyday, multigenerational knowledge can teach us about where have been, where we are, and where we might be going. Those lessons led him to take vows with the Zen Garland Order, a community that is a part of what’s known as the Socially Engaged Buddhist movement.
Website // Email // Twitter // Instagram // LinkedIn
Notable Mentions
Change the Story Collection: : Arts-based community development comes in many flavors: dancers, and painters working with children and youth; poets and potters collaborating with incarcerated artists: cultural organizers in service to communities addressing racial injustice, all this and much, much more.
Many of our listeners have told us they would like to dig deeper into art and change stories that focus on specific issues, constituencies, or disciplines. Others have shared that they are using the podcast as a learning resource and would appreciate categories and cross-references for our stories.
Karl Unnasch: is a sculptor with a rugged farm upbringing streaked with a penchant for the surreal: Unnasch’s smaller-scale work has been exhibited as far as Europe and acclaimed in publications such as the New York Times and Art in London Magazine, while his larger-scale, award-winning public art has been featured on the likes of NBC’s Today show, Reader’s Digest and Voice of America
The Dying Gaul: is an ancient Roman marble semi-recumbent statue now in the Capitoline Mus