Walden5

After driving off the highway for sometime along a sequence of roads that became decreasingly trafficked and gradually less paved my GPS finally chirped, “You have reached your final destination!”. I had? I was on a dirt road, next to a driveway that winded away behind some tall trees in the middle of farmland. No signs or indications of an artist community or of any life at all for that matter. Then, up the driveway a bit, I caught sight of what appeared to be a sculpture of a chicken. Emboldened, I turned my car into the driveway.

After wandering around for awhile, I happened upon a guy (or maybe he happened upon me) and he called for Ed.

Ed is the director of Art Farm Nebraska and he was gracious enough to spend some time telling me about the residency program he’s building and to show me around the farm.

I asked my first question:

Q: What is Art Farm?
A: Paradise :)

He said this with a grin. When I asked him to embellish he said that Art Farm Nebraska is his contribution to “alternative agriculture”. He also said this with a grin and seemed to be making reference to the eco-sustainable-green-organic-alternative frenzy that has hit this country. But in all truth, Art Farm Nebraska and some ways in which Ed leads his own life add an interesting layer to the notion of sustainability and how the art world might intersect with ideas of the local and the global.

The Art Farm lies on 60 acres of land, half of which is still farmed (by Ed’s nephew) for corn and beans to provide revenue for the artist residency program. The other half of the land houses a variety of studios, housing and installation/performance spaces as well as a large sculpture garden. Ed grew up on this land.

Residents are provided free accommodations and studio space in exchange for 12 hours of work each week (3 hours x 4 days). The program attracts artists internationally for 2-3 month residencies.

Art Farm Nebraska embodies several interesting aspects of local and global trends. Many of the structures on the property have been “rescued” from the surrounding environs - often purchased for a few hundred dollars and then relocated by flatbed truck. As such, the grounds act as a kind of archive of local architecture. Although, the archive is living and breathing as the structures are slowly renovated at the aesthetic whim of the artist work force. The main building itself is an architectural mashup of sorts incorporating parts of 4 different barns into the original farmhouse. Local building materials and equipment are also rescued and recycled - both into the renovation work and as raw materials used by the artists in their projects.

Ed recounted a funny anecdote to me about a time that he was at the Brooklyn Art Museum and struck up a conversation with a few women in one of the galleries. When they found out that he was from Nebraska one of them immediately asked him if he knew about this place called “Art Farm Nebraska”. Ironically, Ed pointed out that most people in Nebraska don’t know that the Art Farm even exists. Despite this, the residency program brings together artists from around the globe.

Like many farms in the US, Ed’s crop choice (corns and beans) is driven by government subsidies, available equipment and other effects of Economies of scale. Despite a relatively small acreage, his farming decisions are made largely at the whim of farm equipment manufacturers and the global food economy.

Ed also spoke humorously about the irony and unfortunate relationship between the language he has chosen to describe this project - residency, work, farm - and the current culture of fear that we live in. He regularly has to coach foreign artists on using the right language when speaking with immigration and homeland security officials to avoid setting off red flags and visa problems. With all of the controversy over our immigration policy these days, “residency” has become a bad word.

The Art Farm is a perpetual work in progress. At the time of my visit (June 18, 2008) there were no heated buildings yet, so residencies occur between June and November. A writer’s house is currently being renovated and will eventually provide support for 4 winter writing residencies. The main building offers a dark room and wood shop and plans to support metal working and printmaking are underway.

Ed and his Art Farm are situated at an interesting conflux of global and local issues. Ed himself leads an interesting life. In the winter months, when it is too cold for art production on the farm, he often does work exchanges in Brooklyn New York. He’ll trade his carpentry skills by doing custom furniture design and building renovations in exchange for room and board. He strikes me as some kind of migrant art laborer - a product of the global art market. I appreciate how he does not cast off global as bad and local as good - but rather integrates the two into a pleasant balancing act that seems to approach the challenge of sustainability in a meaningful and pragmatic manner.

I visited this place on June 18, 2008.
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