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.

Dr. Kate Beane is a public historian, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and the Vice Chair of Vision Maker Media. In 2020, she was appointed by Governor Walz to serve on the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, which oversees Capitol complex preservation and development. Previously, Kate served on the leadership team at the Minnesota Historical Society, where she was the Director of Native American Initiatives, engaging in both Native American communities and tribes, and advocating for the implementation of indigenous interpretation & involvement at historical sites throughout the state. She holds a PhD in American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota.

In this episode, Kate shares her journey into the public art realm, including her work with Dakota name restoration at Bde Maka Ska. She reflects on the importance of public art as "more than just text on a plaque" - it plays a key role in sharing & shaping narratives, knowledge, and solidarity with Native communities.

Episode Resources

• Episode webpage
• Episode transcript
• Vision Maker Media
  • Ohiyesa: The Soul of an Indian film
• Minnesota Museum of American Art
  • Queering Indigeneity exhibition
• Penny Kagigebi
• DJ Justis Brokenrope
• Buddy Red Bow
• University of Minnesota Dakota Language Program

Subscribe to 5 Plain Questions wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Art of the Rural is honored to support 5 Plain Questions. We are grateful to individual donors across the country, the Ford Foundation, and Good Chaos for making these conversations possible. Learn more about our work and show your support at artoftherural.org

On this episode of the Art of the Rural podcast, meet Autumn Cavender. She is a Wahpetunwan Dakota midwife, artist, and community leader focusing on the intersections of art, birth, and storytelling.

Raised amidst community historians, Autumn initially focused on Dakota language and cultural revitalization. This background brought a unique perspective to her birth work, first as a doula, and then as a student midwife. After establishing a private midwifery practice, she joined forces with Indigenous midwives nationally, culminating in the creation of the National Indigenous Midwifery Alliance, geared towards addressing reproductive care barriers and perinatal health disparities in Indian country.

Autumn’s artistic journey began as a porcupine quillwork apprentice under Elder Master artists rooted in her oral history training. She focused on Dakota artistic methodology, resulting in globally recognized digital art. Her work has graced prestigious exhibitions like Miami Art Basel and earned her the National Indigenous Media Arts Experimental Moving Image Award.

She is a 2024 Bush Foundation Fellow and also currently an Art of the Rural Spillway Fellow. We are honored to present her exhibition Hinapapi — Emerging this fall at the Winona County History Center, and we are grateful for the support of the Jerome Foundation in this work.

Autumn lives near her home reservation of Upper Sioux with her partner, two kids, a German Shepherd, and the occasional chicken.

During this podcast, Autumn shares her personal journey and artistic practice as one animated by a commitment towards care and cultural revitalization. In this wide-ranging conversation, she discusses how blockchain, decolonization, storytelling, and childbirth are connected points in her practice and the futures it brings into being.

We move in this space from talking about NFTs to Native sovereignty to the legacy of Oscar Howe in a way that feels both truly unique, but also deeply grounded in cultural tradition and contemporary experience. Our conversation concludes with Autumn’s thoughts on how the phases of childbirth might offer us teachings on how to navigate and to be with the overwhelming complexity of this current moment in the world.

Episode Resources

• Episode transcript
• Autumn Cavender’s website & Instagram
• Autumn Cavender: Hinapapi — Emerging exhibition
• Juleana Enright, “Glitching the Glass Wall: A Conversation with Autumn Cavender-Wilson” (Mn Artists)
• “The Howe Legacy Across Four Generations Exhibition” (University of South Dakota University Art Galleries)

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 conversation dwells on many of these projects, including his recent recording Words and Silences, which is a musical portrait of Kentucky monk and writer Thomas Merton that combines archival recordings of Merton's voice with newly composed music.

Since 2010, many of Harnetty’s projects have brought together myth, history, ecology, and economy in Appalachian Ohio, informed by his family's roots there. Brian has released 10 albums and EPs, and his installations have been exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award, two Map Fund awards, and the Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially-Engaged Art, among many other honors.

Resources

• Episode transcript
• Episode webpage
• From Brian:
  • Brian's website
  • Sound is Magic Substack & podcast
  • Noisy Memory: Recording Sound, Performing Archives (University of North Carolina Press, 2025)
  • Shawnee, Ohio (2021)
  • Words and Silences (2022)
    • “Who Is This I?”
  • The Workbench (2024)
• Lewis Hyde, The Gift (1983)
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance (2024)
• Mallory Catlett & Aaron Landsman, The City We Make Together (2022)

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.