YNST Magazine

05/26/2026

Some stories demand more than a camera crew.

For Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, adapting Ron Rash’s haunting short story "The Ascent" meant trekking deep into the snowy Cranberry Wilderness in search of a real airplane crash site hidden beneath the red spruce. Snowmobiles, snowshoes, subzero temperatures and a whole lot of determination carried the crew through failed routes, brutal conditions and long days in the backcountry.

What emerged is a film rooted in Appalachia’s landscape and in its spirit: collaborative, resourceful and deeply human.

From local guides and filmmakers to neighbors opening their homes, The Ascent became what Elaine calls “a real team effort”—a reminder that in West Virginia, people still show up for each other and for art.

Read the full feature in Issue 11 and see more of Justin Harris's behind the scenes photography.

✍️: Amanda Larch Hinchman

05/20/2026

Amber Purdy’s work begins with what’s been left behind. Based in Knoxville, TN, she draws from decades of design experience to create collage and mixed media pieces built from vintage books, photographs and fragments of ephemera.

Everything comes together by hand. Cut, layered and reimagined, these materials carry traces of past lives, forming images that feel both familiar and slightly out of reach.

Find more of Amber’s work in Issue 11 of YNST! 🌀

05/19/2026

So grateful to The Real WV for spotlighting us!

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV WHEELING, WV – “It no longer feels like you have to leave to do cool sh*t,” says Adam Payne of Wheeling. “You can stay in West

05/15/2026

Annesley Bug blends illustration with traditional quilting, creating vibrant, whole-cloth works that center joy, comfort and care.

In contrast to minimalism, these pieces embrace fullness. Pattern, color and texture come together in ways that feel both playful and intentional.

As a disabled, q***r artist, Annesley lets their body set the pace. Slowness becomes part of the work, shaping each piece with attention and care.

See more of Annesley’s pieces featured in YNST Issue 11 🧵

05/14/2026

Clover-Lynn didn’t set out to reinvent Appalachian music. In fact, she was trying to distance herself from it.

Growing up in rural Virginia, bluegrass and old-time music felt tied to a version of home she wasn’t sure she belonged in. It wasn’t until she left that she realized how deeply it was already part of her and how much it hurt to hear it reduced to a joke. So she came back to it, on her own terms.

Hillbilly Gothic is what she built from that return — a sound rooted in Appalachian tradition, pulled into darker keys, shaped by metal and rock influences and grounded in her experience as a trans woman. It doesn’t reject where she’s from. It expands it.

Because the story of Appalachia has never been just one thing. It’s joy and sorrow. Tradition and reinvention. Belonging and becoming.

And sometimes, it sounds like a banjo tuned just a little darker.

Read more about how Clover-Lynn built Hillbilly Gothic in Issue 11. 🖤

05/13/2026

On a small farm in southwest Virginia, just a stone’s throw from Kentucky, Issue 11 cover artist JJ Cromer creates intricate works on paper using ink, colored pencil and collage.

Animals, symbols and stories weave through each composition, building scenes that feel deeply rooted in place while drifting into something dreamlike and surreal.

Created in the rhythm of rural life, JJ’s work invites viewers into a universe where the everyday becomes a little more mythic.

See more of JJ’s work only when you grab a copy of Issue 11!

05/08/2026

Krisha Redillas paints worlds that feel alive and interconnected. As an oil painter based in Morgantown, WV, her work is defined by saturated color, dynamic brushwork and layered, symbolic landscapes.

Influenced by Filipino animism and Ta***ic yoga, Krisha’s paintings reflect a q***r, diasporic perspective rooted in nature, movement and spirit.

Check out more of Krisha’s work in YNST Issue 11! 🌈

05/06/2026

“The way that people grapple with these stereotypes around poverty, there’s a lot of deep, deep pride, you know, and just like, straight up joy to be had in talking about Appalachian food.”

At Lost Creek Farm, that pride starts in the soil.

Amy Dawson and Mike Costello aren’t just cooking, they’re collecting heirloom seeds, preserving regional foodways and building a space where those stories can be shared. Each seed, each dish, each gathering becomes part of a larger effort to reconnect people to land, to history and to each other.

Because Appalachian food has never just been about what’s on the table. It’s about community. It’s about memory. And it’s about carrying something forward—together.

Read more, only when you grab a copy of Issue 11. 👁️‍🗨️

✍️ Ryleigh Nucilli
📸 Photos courtesy of Kristian Thacker / provided by Lost Creek Farm

05/06/2026

“If we can get people to see that these little pieces of their culture are not something to be ashamed of or something to run away from, then we have more power… right?”

At Lost Creek Farm, Amy Dawson and Mike Costello are changing the way we see Appalachian food without changing what it is. A familiar dish, plated differently, becomes something else entirely: not elevated, but recontextualized.

Because it was never unworthy to begin with.

Sometimes all it takes is a new lens to realize the beauty, creativity and care that’s been there all along.

Read more about in Issue 11 via the link in bio.

✍️
📸 provided by Lost Creek Farm

05/05/2026

No piece of food arrives on a plate without a story to tell. At Lost Creek Farm, Amy Dawson and Mike Costello are making sure those stories don’t get lost.

From soup beans and salt rising bread to vinegar pie and chow chow, the foods many Appalachians were taught to outgrow are being reexamined—not as symbols of lack, but as proof of ingenuity, resilience and care.

Every dish at their Farm & Forage Supper Club comes with a narrative: of family, of land, of survival, of pride.

Because what if the story we’ve been telling ourselves about Appalachian food is incomplete? What if it’s not something to move beyond, but something to return to, to reclaim, to celebrate?

In Amy and Mike’s kitchen, tradition isn’t being elevated. It’s being understood and honored the way it always deserved.

Read more of our feature on Lost Creek Farm in Issue 11 🌾

✍️
📸 provided by Lost Creek Farm