Ambitious things are happening right now in the Cuyama Valley of northeastern Santa Barbara County, from the Blue Sky Center’s blend of rustic hospitality and rural resiliency to the recently reimagined Cuyama Buckhorn, an inn, restaurant, market, and community hub that’s bringing both hipsters and hope to the region. These forces conspired to publish Rural, Issue 2: New Cuyama, the second edition of designer-photographer-author Kim Sutherland’s quest to uplift the understanding of remote farming communities around the United States. (Her first book focused on Joseph in eastern Oregon.)
To produce each book, Sutherland places herself as an artist-in-residence at a lodging place in town and then spends time getting to know the people, place, and issues of the day. The books are then given to the host hotel (the Buckhorn, in this case), the nearby library, and the people featured in the book, who also become free subscribers for future editions. A critical move was translating the book into Spanish by Blanca S. Villalobos, opening doors to further enjoyment and education across cultures.
Sutherland answered a few of my questions below.