Magazinehouse’s web magazine Colocal featured both Studio Kura and Itoshima Arts Farm. You can read a lot about Hiro’s experience since he decided to begin this project. Please give it a read if you can understand Japanese.

Art at the rice paddies!? Local community connects art and agriculture

Here’s an excerpt translated to English:

The Arts Farm means building a place for people to meet, and then create something together.
This may result in agriculturists becoming artists, and artists becoming agriculturists. Or it may not. It’s OK to have different cases.

I would be happy if our community and society became half agriculture, half something else.
A place where agriculturists and artists coexist.
I like the idea of creative blood mixing into the community of a rural, agricultural place.
Itoshima Arts Farm is an art festival created by both the community and the artists, using art as a medium to show Itoshima’s everyday sights such as food and agriculture.
Two artists a month are staying at Itoshima and next year is already almost complete.