Yesterday and Today -  at The Southern
Channel: thesouthern.gallery
Date: 2017-06-15

Artist and Contemporary Quilter Ben Venom, in Charleston for his opening of "DOWN AND DIRTY" at The Southern gallery, visits with The Charleston Museum's Curator of Textiles, Jan Hiester - both at the Museum and at the gallery, discussing what historic and contemporary quilting may or may not have in common. 

Ben Venom was born in Charleston, South Carolina, then grew up in Marietta and Atlanta, Georgia. He has been interviewed by NPR: All Things Considered, Playboy, Juxtapoz Magazine, KQED, Maxim, and CBS Sunday Morning. Recently, he was the artist in residence at San Francisco’s de Young Museum and is currently visiting faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Working with repurposed materials to create textile-based pieces, Venom contrasts the often menacing and aggressive counterculture components of gangs, punk/metal music, and the occult with the comforts of domesticity. This collision of traditional quilting techniques with elements tied to the fringes of society re-envisions the story of the material through a softer lens.
The reclaimed fabrics used in Venom’s work contain a multitude of personal histories and everyone’s unexplained stain, tear, or rip is included. These salvaged pieces are sewn into a larger narrative and become a part of a collective history within the work. The fragility of the materials and their assaulting imagery are brought together in the form of a functional piece of art.

EXHIBITS:

"DOWN AND DIRTY"
FEAT. KEVIN EARL TAYLOR & BEN VENOM, MAY 26 – JULY 2, 2017
at The Southern gallery of contemporary art
2 Carlson Court, (Meeting and Line Streets)
(843) 642-8020
http://www.thesouthern.gallery

"Piece by Piece: Quilts inspired by Nature"
at The Charleston Museum
360 Meeting Street
(843) 722-2996
http://www.charlestonmuseum.org

The Charleston Museum’s Textile Gallery will present a unique display of themed historic quilts from its extensive quilt collection. First on display will be Piece by Piece: Quilts Inspired by Nature, consisting of beautiful handworked quilts from the early 19th century to the late 20th century in which the makers expressed their appreciation of the natural world through the intricate botanical designs adorned on these pieces.

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