Art

Letterpress printed broadsides from Ben Blount.

I’m a printmaker and book artist with a practice that revolves around narrative relief prints and crankies. In my work, I explore themes of looking for safety, finding courage, and the folly of blind naivete. I draw inspiration from folktales, ghost stories, children’s books, music, and the ancient beauty of the Appalachian mountains, where my current work and research are rooted.

Incorporating textiles is important to my work because these techniques resonate with most of us and therefore have the potential of being an effective tool of communication.

During my childhood, I traveled to the Caribbean sea with my parents. That is where I saw coral reefs for the first time.

Poverty is associated with darkness, gray, and hopelessness—but out of necessity and lack, substance is developed, ideas are conceived, and artists are born.

The Anthropocene is here, and I hope that is the message people walk away with when they see my work.