How are you, Lucas? A chat with Kansas’ favorite rural art town.

“Gift Horse” by Erika Nelson (collage)

Getting to know a place, especially one you’ve only heard of, is all about navigation. Inside vs. outside information, expectations of what you’ll find vs. what’s revealed, a town through your own lens vs. a town as it’s presented by others. The narratives shift and change, depending on the viewer, the audience, the time, and the place.

For our snapshot of Lucas, Kansas, a rural town with an arts reputation, we’ll hear from three voices who come to Lucas from their own times and places, with their own histories and navigating their own relationships. Lacie Austin, co-founder of Switchgrass Artist CoOp, talks about establishing community with artists. Lori Brack, author, speaks to memory and family roots with her piece “Clearing the Line.” Koomah, a multidisciplinary artist based in Houston, shares stories from the Tex-Kan Artist Retreat, which brings Texas artists to a family farm in Kansas.

We sat down for a chat with town of Lucas, where these stories intersect:

 ERIKA NELSON: How are you, Lucas?

LUCAS, KANSAS: Great! Everything’s great. Things are going really really well with me. 

I know that’s what you’re posting on the socials, but really, dude, how are you feeling?

Oh, I’m just fine. Totally fine.

Are you eating well? Getting your meat-n-three?

Oh, yeah, I’ve got a Diner out by the filling station, so that’s good, and there’s a meat market still. The grocery store closed, so I’m maybe not getting the fresh food as much, but that’s fine. There’s pizza at the convenience store, and they’re bringing in some more staple-type stuff, but yeah, maybe I need to eat a little better. I do pick up groceries whenever I visit my neighbor, Salina, but that’s oh, 70 miles or so. But it’s okay. 

Man, that sounds tough. Can I send you something? Anything you need?

Nah, man, like I said, I’m good. As long as I don’t go vegetarian. Or vegan. Or have any allergies. Come to think of it, maybe some miso soup or things that are (naturally) green? That’d be great. Oh man, and a nice juicy orange. Or a banana. Anything, really, that is fresh. That’d be so awesome right now. 

How’s the community holding up–all your peeps?

Oh, we’re all great—super great! I mean, it’s a little tough right now in the winter months, but still. We’re great. We’ve got some drama going on, but you know, that’s how it is. There’s a few folks really down on their luck, but I think they’re okay. Most everyone has a job. Or three jobs. We’ve got no shortage of work needing to be done! Maybe not the best paid work, but there’s plenty to do. And there’s some hubbub with that last note I had to send out with the City Bill about raising some rates, but it is what it is. We’re doing what we can with what we have. I just wish there was a little more to go around, you know? We do have those feral packs of kids that are kinda’ getting into things when they’re on their own, but what are you gonna do? 

Don’t you have code enforcement? Can’t you call the cops or something?

Naw, I’m chill. I’ve tried hiring some code enforcement officers, but they usually only last a few months before, well, let’s just say they don’t last. But that’s kinda what makes me cool. I don’t come with those big town rules! People love that about me. Although sometimes… sometimes I wonder if I should start having some more, you know, guidelines. I don’t know. We’ve got a lot of pretty “out there” folks in town, and usually it’s great, but sometimes… man. I don’t know if I’m just reading it wrong, but some of the things people are doing… 

What do you mean? 

Well, I’m an Art Town, right? So I’ve got a lot of art. And artists. I don’t know much about art, but I know that people come here to see it, the more, uh, “eccentric” the better. But I’m not sure I like it. Some of it, I just don’t get. But then my neighbor, Lincoln, is all like “Man! What we wouldn’t give to have all that art going on. You’re so lucky!” I know I am, but I just don’t know if it’s, like, GOOD. Like, how can I tell? I don’t want to keep saying “Hey! Lookit me!” if other towns are going to make fun.

That’s not what I hear about you, Lucas. Do you think people are making fun of you?

I hear it sometimes, or read about it on NextDoor when something unexpected or new happens. It’s especially hard when neighbors start trashing neighbors, riling up their friends to join in. Some of the complaints are legit, but some of it escalates beyond disagreement and festers until there’s nothing but dissatisfaction and yelling.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on comment threads. They can be so mean, just to be mean. What do YOU think?

It makes me question some things. It’s like I’ve got two voices, saying “Yeah! Look at this cool thing we’re making!” and another voice saying “What is that shit?”  And I don’t know which voice to listen to sometimes. 

What do your folks think?

Lucas Sr. and Grandma Blue Stem? I think they’re wondering what’s going on. For instance, when THEY were Lucas, Main Street looked a lot different. They were the “Saturday Night Town.” All the shops stayed open late; people hung out and ate, played pool—you know, did stuff. Gradually, bottom lines got tighter and stores cut hours, then people started retiring without someone to take over, and stores started to close. Downtown started emptying out. 

Now, I’ve got all these artists moving into the vacant spaces. They’re fixing buildings, but it’s not the same, and the folks don’t get it. I just wanted to try something else, you know, something up-to-date, but they just keep telling me about “the way it was” and “when I was in charge, we did it THIS way…” I keep telling them, “just because you’ve always done something doesn’t mean you always have to do something”—not because I’m dissing what they built or how things used to work, but times change. My people have changed. Which means I need to adapt, but whose rules do I play by? 

Do they support you, support your ideas?

My folks? A lot of the time they do, but it’s weird. They REALLY like that people come over to look and see and spend money, but they still don’t get how the Artists work. Same with my peeps, especially the ones that went to high school here. They are built-in volunteers and really WANT more people moving here, but then changes happen and they balk, especially when they are non-mainstream changes. Artists’ changes. Like in all those downtown buildings.... “What are they doing in there? Why aren’t their spaces all ‘open’ like things used to be? How are they making money if they’re not selling things to tourists?” No one is quite sure how the art happens, why it takes so long. I think it's uncomfortable, having all that uncertainty and un-knowing-ness. 

I think, deep down, my folks trust me to get through it. But it doesn’t stop them from giving me fifty-year-old advice, or mourning how things used to be. It doesn’t stop the nine-to-fivers questioning the validity of creative types who are sometimes noon-to-midnighters.

It’s a work model that people wanna know more about, but don’t know how (or who) to ask without feeling ignorant. Some of these artists are selling online, or working online, and it’s their studios that are occupying Main Street, not storefronts. That’s a tough navigation point, too, even for an Art Town. Being your own kind of artist with your own kind of plan. And now, a wider world connection is changing all of it! It’s given me a lot of freedom to re-imagine, but it’s also taken away work models tied to a specific geography.

I get it. I hear the same, though  in Metro—the change in possibilities rendering some physical spaces obsolete. IF you can connect, it’s ripe for reimagining. Some of those 1960s ‘burbs don’t even have decent connections—I bet you’re starving for decent speeds!

Oh, no, I’m way lucky on that front—fiber direct to everyone, baby! I’ve got a lot of families have moved here just because of that, but there’s still that reputation for being backwards idiot that I just can’t shake. It makes it hard for people to think about me as an option. I’ve got high speed digital highways, I’ve got affordable spaces, I’ve got good roads. I’m mostly starving for access to other things, like vegetables. Or healthcare. Or meeting spaces that aren’t someone’s garage bar.

How’s that going, by the way? You were a mean drunk a few years ago…

Better. I mean, there are some relapses, and sometimes some meth, but no major drunken brawls lately. Okay, so there are some, er—confrontations. Everyone’s got friction. Not all neighbors have the same ideas about what’s neighborly, and it can escalate. I get stuck on how to make everyone happy, so I ignore some of the problems, but then that just amplifies them and there’s not an obvious way out of the fight. I’m still not great at figuring out how to deal with the emotional stuff. When I really fuck up and get called on it, I get defensive when I really should be apologizing. I’m trying to get better, but you know? I’m just really stressed sometimes.

What’s stressing you out? 

Usually money. Money and health resources. I don’t always feel so good. But I just got the water problems sorted, so that should help a lot, and the electric grid is strong, so I’m keeping comfy. There’s some food access efforts that are bringing in healthier options. People are stepping up and helping neighbors, despite the sore spots. Activity-wise, there’s a lot going on, even if it’s sometimes not what was originally planned. So I’m not bored. There are movies each weekend, there are potlucks. There’s just not always a way to connect for people who haven’t already connected, so it can be lonely too.

Hopefully you’ve got someone to talk to when things get difficult, someone who cares.

Sorta. I mean, I feel like I’m the only one out here sometimes, going through what I’m going through, but then I remember to connect to other towns, see what they’re doing, and that’s a good reminder that there are others out there like me. They just aren’t right here, right now. It’s hard to talk about the hard stuff. I’m afraid I’ll not be as cool if other towns know that it’s not all perfect, that some of the things I’ve tried failed, that I sometimes struggle to keep it all together. But then, some days are just beautiful and the skies fill with stars. Some days, people come through and fall in love. Some days, everything’s strangely fine. And that makes it all better. Ad Astra Per Aspera, you know?