>> We started the show with a family getaway to the country.

Let's meet some artists for whom time in the heartland is having a real impact on their work.

It's all part of a program that seeks to encourage and inspire young artists in a rural setting.

Our Akiba Howard takes us to the Nebraska Art Farm.

♪♪ >> There are images and sounds we usually associate with life in the heartland... >> But there are also, images and sounds that make some places unique.

>>Here's space, do what you want.

And you don't have to worry about someone looking over your shoulder.

If you are doing this you can experiment.

I encourage experimentation.

>>Welcome to the art farm.

>> Created in 1993, this artistic enclave sits on half of Ed Dadey's farm a couple hours west of Omaha.

Ed's nephew works the "production" side of this land - growing corn and soybeans.

And while that farm work goes on, visiting artists spend their time appreciating the rhythms of rural life.

>> That's sort of typical the way artists work around here.

Like, long periods of thought, trying to go through the process.

It's the reason why I sort of recommend they come for two months, cause it takes one month to get through all the other stuff.

Then they work.

>> On this late spring morning, a poet and two painters have immersed themselves in the farm's creative atmosphere.

>> On the website Art Farm seemed kind of like strange and adventurous.

Not like your average residency.

>> 29-year-old Rebecca Johnson is an impressionist artist from Asheville, North Carolina.

The Art Farm gives her a window on a world that's different from her usual environment.

>> And there's just something strange and amazing about walking down a dirt road and just being able to see for miles and knowing that like you can walk and walk all day, and you'll be on that same dirt road and it'll pretty much look the same.

>> 24-year-old Amy DiPlacido traveled 1600 miles from Middleton, Massachusetts.

She found the pace of the farm fueled her passion for linear art.

>> It really slows you down here.

I think that's really important to learn too, especially coming from the city and just knowing like the hustle and bustle it doesn't really matter.

>> The geography also inspired her artwork of straight lines.

>> And seeing those lines of cornfields and soybeans.

And you can see right down, everything's placed in a grid.

So, I'm very inspired by these man made geographical lines on the landscape.

>> Sycamore.

Lone mare under the arched limb.

Here a list of yellow things.

>> For poet Meredith Clark of Seattle, the Art Farm offered a new look at her view of writing.

>> I think it's been a real life changing experience in a lot of ways.

Learning an awful lot about the way that I work.

You know I think a lot of people make the mistake sometimes of coming to a residency assuming that they're going to turn something out.

>> She also had to learn the "process" of printing her poetry... the old fashioned way.

>> This has probably taken me an hour and a half to two hours.

And it's just six lines of type.

>> The Art Farm has welcomed artists from 10 different countries.

Space is limited to fewer than two dozen residencies a year.

And in exchange for room and board the artisans help work the farm.

A current project is restoring old barns which see duty as studios and living quarters.

>> On this day, an old bathtub became a spa of sorts.

>> And it gets hot here during the day, so we're going to fill it up when we need to cool off.

Jump in the tub, go back to our studio and work.

We're already doing that with the hose occasionaly but this will be better.

>> The landscape has become a repository of artwork completed by previous residents.

>> Carole and Bernard Smith say they make the pilgrimage from Indiana on a regular basis to see what's new.

>> I remember when Ed first started this and it was "How's he going to get people to come here?"

But it just never stops.

I mean it just seems like every year he's got more and more and more.

And it's wonderful.

>> Perhaps it's the liberation of open space, perhaps it's the serenity to be found here.

Ed and the artists will tell you it's inspiration without encumbrance.

>> It's the experience that you can try something, you can experiment and not worry about failing.

♪♪