South Carolina native Arun Drummond doesn’t want to define his art using just one category.
“I’m a multi-disciplinary artist. A lot of my work does draw from Gullah traditions,” he said. “But I also like to focus on Southern history, contemporary Black culture.
“I do work that does not incorporate Gullah traditions, and that is all about storytelling and symbolism.”
Drummond, has lived in Charleston for 21 years, but this year is his year participating in Piccolo Spoleto, where he will display work as a featured artist at Marion Square and Cannon Street Arts Center.
“The festival throughout the years has been something that I have aspired to be a part of,” Drummond said. “I hope that being a part of (it) allows my work to be seen by a broader audience.”
In his art, Drummond often incorporates basketweaving traditions with painted canvas to explore a variety of themes, each categorized as a series: the nature series, the convergence series and the matriarch series. The last is inspired by the women who raised him, including his grandmother, Miss Dorothy.
“I feel like all of us can relate to having that person in their family that is sort of the glue that holds everything together. So I continue to honor her through this work and … my mother, my two aunts,” Drummond said. “Without those women, I wouldn’t be who I am.”
Outside of Piccolo, Drummond’s work is part of the museum shop at the International African American Museum (IAAM).
“At the museum, we talk a lot about sort of emphasizing the idea of cultural preservation and what it really means to pass on an art practice, to pass on the story,” said Brandon Reid, a public historian at IAAM. “Through his artwork, he’s able to portray aspects of the African American experience by being very intentional about how he designs and sort of creates and frames the individuals portrayed in his pieces.”
Drummond is also working on opening his own space later this year on Line Street, Drummond Studio Gallery. He said it will feature artists from across the country at different stages in their careers.
“I want to continue storytelling because I feel like it’s one of the most powerful ways to communicate,” Drummond said. “When I realized that I had a platform where people actually are listening to me and paying attention, then I knew that I had to use that platform for a higher purpose.”
The gallery’s motto is ‘art, culture and community,’ and is meant to be a space where everyone feels welcome. For Drummond, art is meant to serve as a historical document of our respective moment in time.
“It’s a snapshot of the things we are creating,” he said, “the things we are observing and the changes happening in our environment every day.”
Drummond is a vendor at the Charleton Farmers Market, and will be one of the craft exhibitors at Marion Square on May 25 and June 1. His work will also be on view at Cannon Street Arts Center from May 28 to June 8.
Ally Watkinson is an arts, style and culture journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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