Michael A. Cummings
Visual artist Michael A. Cummings was born on November 28, 1945 in Los Angeles, California to Arthur Cummings and Dorothy Dent. Cummings graduated from John C. Fremont Senior High School in Los Angeles in 1963. While Cummings attended Los Angeles City College for business administration from 1963 to 1966, and Woodbury College for design from 1968 to 1969, he earned his B.A. degree in art history from SUNY-Empire State College in 1979. Before graduating, Cummings enrolled in the New School for Social Research in 1973, completing the Workshop in African Arts and Crafts program at The American Museum of Natural History in 1976.
Cummings began his career in 1972 as a technical director for the New York Department of Cultural Affairs. In his spare time, he worked as a collage artist and painter. He discovered his passion for quilting after creating a cloth banner for an exhibition in 1973. He taught himself to quilt by studying the works of local quilters and how-to quilt books. In 1974, Cummings became the purchasing manager assistant for The American Museum of Natural History. He served as an arts administration assistant for The Children’s Art Carnival in 1976; and that same year, held his first solo exhibition at the Studio Museum of Harlem. Cummings was the artist-in-residence for the New York Foundation for the Arts from 1977 to 1979, and joined the New York State Council on the Arts as an arts program analyst in 1980, working in contract administration. Cummings’ solo exhibitions showed at the Francine Seders Gallery (1992), the Akron Art Museum (1993), Bates College (1998), Nobis Gallery (2007), the International Quilt Festival in Japan (2011), and the Artquilt Gallery (2014).
Cummings quilt work, which adheres to the narrative, story-telling tradition, has been commissioned by the American Embassy Art program, the City of Knoxville, Tennessee, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Home Box Office (HBO), The White House, and the House of Seagram, among others. His work was also included in the public collections at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, the California African American Museum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and in the private collections of stars like George C. Wolfe, Whoopi Goldberg, and Alonzo and Tracy Mourning.
Cummings received the 2001 Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award, the 2001 Excellence in Design Award from the City of New York City Art Commission, and the 2001 Children’s Book of Distinction award from the Riverbank Review. He was interviewed for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in 2012, and by the ART CART: SAVING THE LEGACY project at The Research Center for Arts and Culture, an affiliate of The Actor’s Fund, in 2013.
Michael A. Cummings was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 9, 2016.
A2016.109
Male
11/09/2016
Cummings
Single
Arthur
Hooper Avenue Elementary School
Samuel Gompers Middle School
John C. Fremont High School
Los Angeles City College
Art Students League of New York
State University of New York at Albany
Thomas Jefferson High School
99th Street Elementary School
Michael
Los Angeles
CUM01
All Seasons
California
International Travel
This Too Shall Pass.

New York
11/28/1945
New York
USA
Fruits, Vegetables
Visual artist Michael A. Cummings (1945 - ) served as an arts program analyst for the New York State Council on the Arts, starting in 1980. His quilt work is in collections at the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, among others.
Children's Art Carnival
NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs
NYS Council on the Arts
NYS Concil on the Arts
Malcolm-King Community College
New York Foundation for the Arts
Cultural Council Foundation/CETA Artists Project
The Children's Art Carnival
The American Museum of Natural History
Department of Cultural Affairs of Parks
The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, produced by Miriam Colon
Bright Colors
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669137">Tape: 1 Slating of Michael A. Cummings' interview</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669138">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings lists his favorites</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669139">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings describes his mother's family background</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669140">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings talks about the jazz scene in South Central Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669141">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings remembers his community in South Central Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669142">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings describes his earliest childhood memory</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669143">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings talks about his parents' professions</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669144">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings describes the sights and sounds of his childhood</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669145">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings remembers buying a motorcycle as his first vehicle</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669146">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings talks about his mother's marriages</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669147">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings recalls the drug culture in Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669148">Tape: 1 Michael A. Cummings talks about his childhood illnesses</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669149">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings remembers developing an interest in art</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669150">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings remembers his relatives' career advice</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669151">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings talks about his early artwork</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669152">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings remembers his social life in Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669153">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings describes his experiences of integration in Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669154">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings reflects upon his experiences of peer pressure</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669155">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings remembers the Watts riots in Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669156">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings remembers the black arts community in Los Angeles, California</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669157">Tape: 2 Michael A. Cummings recalls his decision to move to New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669158">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings remembers moving to New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669159">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings remembers his apartments in the Meatpacking District of New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669160">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings describes the Meatpacking District of New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669161">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings talks about his jobs in New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669162">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings remembers working at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669163">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings recalls his start as a fabric artist</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669164">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings remembers the influence of Romare Bearden</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669165">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings recalls learning to sew</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669166">Tape: 3 Michael A. Cummings remembers his first quilt series 'Springtime in Memphis'</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669167">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers researching African American history and culture</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669168">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings recalls moving to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669169">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers purchasing a brownstone in New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669170">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings describes the tenants of his brownstone building</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669171">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers his exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669172">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers exhibiting his work at the Cinque Gallery</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669173">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings talks about the spaces for black artists in New York City</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669174">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers Sister Gertrude Morgan</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669175">Tape: 4 Michael A. Cummings remembers his paternal grandmother's religious faith</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669176">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings talks about the interest in black folk art during the 1980s</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669177">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings describes his transition from collage to quilting</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669178">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings reflects upon his early artistic influences</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669179">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings describes his quilting process</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669180">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings talks about the 'African Jazz' quilt series</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669181">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings remembers joining the Women of Color Quilters Network</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669182">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings describes the history of quilting in the United States</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669183">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings talks about the value of quilt artwork</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669184">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings remembers showing his artwork at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in Seattle, Washington</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/669185">Tape: 5 Michael A. Cummings talks about his decision to represent his own artwork</a>
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