Quick Facts
Biography
Maureen Cummins (born 1963 in New York City) is an American artist. She studied printmaking and book arts, receiving a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art. Since 1993, when she created her own studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn, she has produced over twenty-five limited edition artist's books. Her work is held in over one hundred international art museums. She currently lives and works in High Falls, New York.
Themes
Cummins works mainly with printed matter, such as newspapers, letters, and checks. While initially she focused on everyday ephemera (self-described "dumpster diving" in Brooklyn), her later work turns to institutional collections, working to get readers to question their assumptions about the nature of historical authority, focusing on historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials or disasters like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. This work focuses particularly on "social issues like women’s rights, race relations, human oppression and torture, poverty, identity, and mental illness," and Cummins hopes to "snare" viewers by showing them familiar images before surprising them with new information.
Awards
- Pollock-Krasner Award, 2009
- "Anatomy of Insanity": Pyramid Atlantic Book Fair Critic’s Award, 2008
- Puffin Foundation Individual Artist Grant, 2003
- New York State Council of the Arts, 2002
- New Art Forum Book Award for “creative excellence” in an artist’s book, 2000.