April 4, 2025
*Yokel is accepting new submissions for a 2026 publication!!!
Like many who have been busy raising a family, freelance artist and designer Rachel Grunert has felt the persistence of parental responsibility and professional obligations that often outweigh her need for collaboration and feedback. She accomplished her last ten years of freelance work without input from others. Her clients specify their needs, and she fulfills them. Her work requires much artistry; however, she draws from her own creative base. This, along with her natural introversion, Rachel has often felt alone in her work, thinking it the price artists had to pay for their craft.
A creative’s way of thinking often labels them as “different.” This is a label Rachel earned in her own family. Being a consumer of art, Rachel soon learned the close association of art with creative savants. Additionally, being alone can be trying for anyone. It was COVID that made her realize how much she needed others. Rachel has seen the diversity of talent in the area and often wondered about the creators. Knowing that such creativity exists in the North Country, she decided to seek out the artists–but not just any artists or creatives. Rachel seeks those who have consistently been known as “different.” Her compadres!
Rachel’s need to connect with and reveal her community’s hidden talent gave her the idea of creating a forum for those talents, where the public could view their work. Her main obstacle was funding. This is what prompted her to apply for a grant from St. Lawrence County Arts Council!* Once she received her grant, she made a call for “craftspeople, cultivators and characters of all kinds” on the website of what she calls Yokel.
Yokel will feature fiction, interviews, poetry, and art by (mostly) local people, in a perfect bound, slick, and designed publication – of which each contributor gets one hard copy and access to a digital copy of the publication for one year.
Her plans are to display area talent in a glossy, swank magazine – a collection of things that make sense on the page. She is not ruling out online aspects either. While she did not seek funding for more than one magazine, she would like to continue if the interest and the funding become available.
By using the slang term yokel, Rachel is reclaiming the historically derogatory term and making it preferable to be a yokel. A yokel by any other name is a bumpkin, a yahoo, a hick, a hayseed, or a hillbilly. Yokels are the heart of their community. Yokels know things. They speak the language of their people. They know the accent. They know the crops. They know all the shortcuts. They make things. They fix things. They know which road to take in the winter for various kinds of weather. They understand their communities. They represent their communities. We should all strive to be yokels. Submitters can be a yokel, be living now as a yokel, know a yokel, or just believe in the beauty of yokels to submit. At right see Rachel’s pictorial wish list of weird.
Rachel indicates that “anything not seen as typical or normal is the path to take here.” She says her call for submission is her Siren’s Song for all the misfits. She categorizes yokels into three: creatives, characters, and cultivators. She sees creatives as “people who see something in their mind and bring it to life in a way that demands attention.” They create because they must. They do what famed mythologist Joseph Campbell called following their bliss—their craft takes over and time ceases to exist when they are in their creative zone.
When she says cultivators, she means people who grow things, like food or community; characters have a story to tell, or someone can tell their story for them. Characters are not selling anything. Instead, they make statements about what they do, who they are, or how they create. They are the “weird and wonderful,” the quirky; those who travel off the beaten path. Rachel’s passion is to collect people and their passions, communities and their legends, and stories and their heroes. She sees material all around. For instance, did you know that Lyons Falls has a water monster: The Black River Monster? There is even a plaque there! She knows of a woman from Brazil living in the North Country who sees things a bit differently than those of us born here. Or she knows of a man who created a complete paper diorama of a village. She says that if you have an idea, pitch it. If you are not a writer, use photos. If you have an idea and want to share it, Rachel will interview you. If you need help, just ask! Email Rachel here! The deadline to submit is June 30, 2025. Also view the Facebook page.
Yokel is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.
More about Rachel
Viewers can see Rachel’s art all around the North Country! In service of her community, Rachel designed a postcard for Croghan, and then the town commissioned her for a billboard. Next thing she knew, she had designed a series of community mural installations throughout Lewis County in partnership with Discover Tug Hill.Viewers can see her murals in person in Croghan, Harrisville, Lyons Falls, New Bremen, Copenhagen, and (soon) Turin. Her billboard designs use iconic imagery from local hotspots for each village—Croghan has Wishy’s ice cream, the IGA, Croghan Railroad, and Croghan Bologna, among others – so you can see her desire to highlight the gems in the community in these designs as well. Thompson Park Zoo is another business for which she has designed. Below the photos, is a short video of her interactive, animated art from Lowville’s Art in the Park. For more, visit: Rachel Grunert
Tug Hill Artist Network 