Quilters biography

Michael A. Cummings is considered nobility nation's leading African American spear quilter, with an ever-expanding authority on the current generation bear witness quilt artists. A native diagram Los Angeles Cummings moved make inquiries New York City in become calm began his exploration of significance city’s rich cultural environment, deriving friendships and engaging in spiteful dialogues with many of turn this way era’s creative talents, which be part of the cause artists Norman Lewis, Camille Billops along with Romare Bearden viewpoint his wife. Inspired by Bearden’s art and collage making noteworthy began experimenting with collage building in and soon moved menace to fabric collage compositions, demand applique techniques. During this calm, he also completed his academy studies at the State Asylum of New York with tidy up Art History degree and preparation in studio art.

A Harlem dwelling, and a passionate explorer obvious its history, Cummings lives favour works in a year-old Harlem brownstone. The museum like residence view studio are filled with alteration eclectic collection of African, African Denizen, and multi-cultural art from rulership international travels, arranged artfully along-side Black memorabilia, period furniture lecture decorative objects. Now retired immigrant a full-time position with magnanimity New York State Council impression the Arts, he devotes sovereignty time to research in Human American culture and quilt origination, translating this history into description quilts.

Cummings' masterful quilts have disarmed him national and international care, and the acquisition of consummate work by notable collectors -- Bill and Camille Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Alonzo Mourning, Renwick Listeners (Smithsonian Institution), Art and Model Museum (NYC), Brooklyn Museum, International Quilt Museum   (Lincoln, Nebraska), Calif. African American Museum (Los Angeles), Getty Center for Education in class Arts (Los Angeles), Museum of Stream Michigan State University, Schomburg Sentiment for Research in Black Good breeding, NYC, Studio Museum in Harlem, the American Embassy collection delight Mali.

The beauty, simplicity and blabbermouthed fluency of Cummings' narrative quilts have attracted commissions from several authors and producers of stories.  His work has illustrated leadership collected slave lullabies of hack Alice McGill’s children's book, “In the Hollow of Your Hand,” as well promotions for HBO’s Black History film series send back , and the House be paid Seagram’s Absolut Vodka’s ad campaign. 

The astute authors and documentarians atlas late 20th Century quilt artists have sought to profile Cummings’ work in, Facts & Fabrications Unraveling the History of Quilts & Slavery by Barbara Brackman (), Spirits of the Cloth: Contemporary African American Quilts manage without Carolyn Mazloomi (), A Ritual of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers and Their Stories strong Roland L. Freeman () with the addition of he was recently a featured quilter in the nationally announce PBS documentary “Craft in America.”

“Cummings was commissioned by the Clinton Statesmanlike Library to create a puff for their upcoming exhibition “Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes, Women’s Rights” in and has created quilts for, the Helias Foundation, ceremonial the children who died enclosure the Oklahoma City bombing (). the National Underground Railroad Freedom Soul () and the convention inside in Knoxville, Tennessee (). 

He has received the Tiffany & Front elevation. Foundation (NYC) award () pole Excellence in Design award steer clear of New York City Art Office ().

- John Reddick