It was 2014, eight years into Pharaoh Brooks’ incarceration in the California prison system and he was determined to make the most of his time. Pharaoh Brooks as Julius Caesar in the Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar at Solano State Prison. He had taken up composing poetry and writing children’s books when he came across a poster from Marin Shakespeare Company. It was advertising a production of Julius Caesar taking place inside the prison’s walls, performed and produced entirely by and for the men incarcerated in Solano State Prison. Thinking that it would help advanc ..read more

Gunner Jules, a Siċaƞġu Lak̇ot̄a rapper and artist, took the runway at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall/Winter show during the Paris Fashion Week in January 2024. “It was really a ‘right place at the right time’ moment,” shares Jules, who calls Rosebud Reservation home. Photo Credit: Thunder Revolution / Courtesy of Gunner Jules Renowned producer and musician Pharrell Williams (left) and rapper Gunner Jules. He was in Paris to collaborate with renowned folk band Mumford & Sons for a musical performance. Jules is among five other Native artists featured on single “Good People” with the Brit ..read more

This article was originally published in Little Village’s December 2023 issue as a part of Peak Iowa, a collection of fascinating state stories, sites and people. From kindergarten through sixth grade, I spent countless hours staring at a wall in the Horn Elementary School library, daydreaming while an adult read a book to the class. Far more compelling than a fire alarm or a poster of LeVar Burton, I would fixate on a massive mural mounted on the wall of the library’s story well, painted just a decade earlier by one of the quintessential American pop artists. In the ’80s, Horn art teache ..read more

During the height of social distancing, Mercedes Yarbrough was starting a new job as an intervention specialist at a St. Paul, Minnesota elementary school and striving to form connections with her students — whom she’d never met in person — over the computer screen.  When Black History Month rolled around, her school asked Mercedes to create a lesson plan. Fed up with the often negative or partial portrayal of Black history she observed in standard curriculum, Mercedes decided to create a series on the history of Black hair with a focus on how people used cornrows to hide seeds and inform ..read more

There’s nothing like spring in the Midwest after a long, cold winter. To celebrate, several museums across the region take inspiration from the turn of season with a show of ephemeral art: flowers.   “I think the simplest way to describe Art in Bloom is that it’s floral artistry that’s inspired by art,” says Ann M. Keeling, co-chair of Art in Bloom at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The Cincinnati Art Museum has been doing a bi-annual Art in Bloom event for 20 years. This year, over 60 flower arrangements inspired by art from the museum’s permanent collection are set to be displayed, paired wi ..read more

This story was originally published by Project Optimist. For more solutions-focused news, local art, and community conversations from greater Minnesota, visit projectoptimist.us. Suree Sompamitwong, a 29-year-old artist, created her latest piece to embody feminine energy and Mother Nature’s pain and dexterity. “This is a representation of my viewpoint toward the world and its treatment of nature; I’m an empath and I feel deeply for both the environment and the empowerment of women worldwide,” Sompamitwong said. “Women and Mother Nature have a bunch of things in common but their main ..read more

Mary Oliver’s Devotions has been a companion for the last few months, especially in the afternoons when I feel like I need a little change from staring at the computer screen. The Ohio native—who won the National Book Award (1992) and the Pulitzer Prize (1984) for poetry—captured life, the everyday, and the natural world in simple and astute ways. It’s made me visit her work regularly; a new practice for someone who isn’t naturally drawn to poems. Over the weekend, I read these lines in ‘Storage’ from her collection of works in Felicity (2015): “… Things! Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful ..read more

The following transcript is from an episode of Points North, a narrative podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. Listen to more episodes at pointsnorthpodcast.org. DAN WANSCHURA, HOST: This is Points North, a podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. I’m Dan Wanschura. (musical notes) These piano notes aren’t coming from any musician – at least not any human one. This is the music of a sequoia tree sapling. (musical notes with guitar accompaniment) The guitar chords, on the other hand, are played by the tree’s band mate: Tom Wall, a guy ..read more

When Pooja Pittie moved to the U.S. in 1999 from India, she didn’t set out to be an artist, but unbeknownst to her at the time, she was already absorbing sights and impressions that would lead to a full-time creative practice—and help her to navigate a life-changing diagnosis. Growing up in Mumbai, elements of what would later inform Pittie’s artmaking were taking shape. “I spent summers in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where my family is from,” she says. “Bright colors, the cacophony of the city, and the neutral sands of the desert are all part of my visual language.” She was always drawing, teaching h ..read more

About an hour’s drive southwest of Chicago, nestled in the Illinois River basin, is a ten-acre oasis called Bray Grove Farm.  The property stands out amongst the surrounding monocrop fields of “big ag” farms. Half of it is a wild meadow where many species of wildlife congregate; the other half is home to a young fruit tree grove, vineyard, and row crops — including squash, arugula, ochre, and traditional Japanese vegetables such as edamame and shiso — that are planted amongst wild vegetation. After spending most of her life in Chicago, artist Joanne Aono purchased the farm with her husban ..read more