SPARC Bids Farewell to International Guest Fellow/Artist from Scotland, Richie Cumming
February 25, 2014
“The thing that has struck me the most about LA is the diversity of peoples, the economic divisions between them and the positive collaborations across ethnicities.”
Sponsored by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, National Galleries of Scotland and the British Council, SPARC was honored to host Richie Cumming, Scottish Artist/Activist. During his 3 week residency at SPARC, Richie assisted in the facilitation of a youth arts workshop at LAUSD’s Judith F. Baca Arts Academy and the production of a 5′ x 55′ mural at SPARC entitled: ‘Birds Don’t Recognize Borders’. Our guest fellow shares his experience on his blog
February 3, 2014
Welcome Richie Cumming
A Message from our International Guest:
“I applied to the Cultural Exchange International program to fund a period of study/work at SPARC as I wanted to learn about the impressive history of an organization who have been producing public artworks in complicated social and political contexts for over 30 years.
As an artist and as Outreach Officer for the National Galleries of Scotland, I work with communities across Scotland to produce work which is of social interest and relevance, work that gives people a public platform to express their thoughts and concerns about issues that affect them. I felt SPARC could provide me with evidence and a renewed confidence and conviction of the importance of artworks presented and produced by and for communities out with the confines of galleries and art markets. I was also interested in learning production methods utilized by the UCLA@SPARC Digital Mural Lab in order to apply them to future productions I am involved in with the Blameless collective.
I am blogging about my LA experience here and there is information, films and images of the National Galleries of Scotland’s Outreach project, The Nation//Live currently on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery here.” – Richie Cumming
