Beyond the Art

About Beyond the Art

BEYOND THE ART is hosted by Cray Bauxmont-Flynn who strives to highlight a diversity of roles and voices across the Native American art world, from artists to museum directors and everyone in between.

Publisher

KOSU

Category

arts · arts · arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Jan 2023

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

103 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Eighth Generation: Louie Gong on Art, Native Identity, and Building Economic Sovereignty

   Louie Gong’s story begins in Ruskin, British Columbia, in a house surrounded by cedar trees with no running water. Raised primarily by his Coast Salish grandmother and Chinese grandfather, Louie learned resourcefulness early, using sticks and his surrounding natural environment as his primary playground and tools. Living in a full, welcoming house where his grandfather cooked multi-course meals on a Coleman camp stove for anyone in need, Louie absorbed early lessons about community, resilience, and making "one plus one equal three". His father, a champion kickboxer, introduced him to martial arts at a young age, consistently pushing him past his comfort zone and instilling the discipline, courage, and tolerance for failure that later defined his career. At age ten, his family moved eight miles across the border to the Nooksack tribal community in Washington State—navigating a political line drawn over their traditional homeland. Experiencing the complexities of being Canadian, Indigenous to the U.S., and mixed-race led Louie into community advocacy, coordinating bone marrow donor drives for mixed-heritage people and eventually leading the organization Maven. His path into art was entirely accidental: while working in education at Muckleshoot Tribal College, he was asked to paint hand drums for an inter-tribal canoe journey. Painting 30 drums unlocked a deep passion for Coast Salish design, leading him to try painting custom shoes and eventually founding Eighth Generation in 2008. Through years of bootstrapping without business loans or formal gallery backing, Louie grew Eighth Generation from a shoe customization project into a thriving brand housed in a 35,000-square-foot Seattle warehouse and brick-and-mortar store. In 2019, Louie achieved a milestone for Indigenous business by selling Eighth Generation to the Snoqualmie Tribe, ensuring long-term tribal ownership and community stewardship. Today, Louie continues to evolve his creative voice—shifting to watercolor and ink for an upcoming illustrated novel—while embracing fatherhood and mentoring future generations of artists.

2. 

   10 Sept 2026

   In Light and Shadow: Brian Adams and Sarah Stacke on Indigenous Photography, Agency, and Reclamation

   The collaboration behind the book In Light and Shadow stems from a decade-long friendship between Alaskan Inuit photographer Brian Adams and non-Indigenous archival researcher Sarah Stacke. The duo first met in 2017 at a National Geographic Seminar in Washington, D.C.. Recognizing a shared commitment to honoring overlooked histories, they launched the 400 Years Project in 2020 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival. This initial initiative—featuring commissioned photo stories, licensed works, and a digital archive—served as Sarah's long-term education in understanding that Indigenous visual history is fundamentally about reclamation rather than simple compilation. Growing up as an Indigenous photographer in Alaska, Brian Adams experienced firsthand the lack of relatable resources or visible representation in the field. His early exposure to photography was dominated by external narratives and encyclopedia imagery that failed to reflect his community. Years later, when a publisher approached the pair to expand their digital database into a comprehensive photographic history, Brian and Sarah spent three years turning the initiative into a tangible print resource. Throughout the project's evolution, Brian and Sarah navigated their cross-cultural collaboration with deep mutual trust, constant communication, and clear accountability. Every entry in the book underwent rigorous review alongside living photographers, descendants, and community-run archives to ensure ethical representation. Today, their journey stands as a model for collaborative storytelling, providing young Indigenous visual artists with the representation and career roadmap that Brian lacked in his youth.

3. 

   25 Jun 2026

   Petala Ironcloud on Indigenous Sovereignty, Media, and Art Criticism

   In this episode, Petala Ironcloud outlines the rigorous, analytical methods he uses to dissect contemporary media frameworks and examine the systems that control indigenous representation. His professional philosophy is anchored by the definitive belief that "representation is never neutral." Petala details how his writing process involves looking past the surface aesthetic of a piece of art to interrogate the underlying power structures, analyzing who funded the project, who tells the story, and who ultimately benefits from the narrative. Tactically, Petala approaches cultural criticism with a sharp focus on language, intent, and institutional accountability. He highlights his previous community organizing work, which included helping establish the very first American Indian cultural district in the United States. This structural process required navigating complex city bureaucracies, managing public policy pipelines, and building intentional alliances to ensure that physical geographic boundaries were legally designated to protect and celebrate indigenous presence. For emerging writers and advocates seeking to build an audience and expose systemic biases, Petala emphasizes the tactical value of digital platforms and cloud accessibility. He discusses his upcoming literary collaborations, including a highly anticipated project with the prestigious art book publisher Taschen. By systematically organizing his critiques and prioritizing absolute clarity of intent, Petala demonstrates how marginalized creators can leverage low-overhead digital tools to counter paid corporate public relations campaigns and rewrite mainstream cultural history.

Who has been a guest on Beyond the Art

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Kent Monkman
• Keri Ataumbi
• Neil Ambrose-Smith

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

21,416

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 69 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

85

Engagement

68

Contact Beyond the Art

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.