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February
2002
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Focus
on Faculty By Wil
McLean The works of award-winning artist Clyne Cunningham will be on display at UMUC's Inn and Conference Center February 1–28, 2002, in celebration of African American Heritage Month. Cunningham, a clerk II in UMUC's Financial Aid office, said that the exhibit, Together We Stand, celebrates the lives of people who have inspired him. The main gallery, in the Inn and Conference Center's lower concourse, will showcase 15 of Cunningham's pencil and charcoal drawings, focusing on such notable figures as Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Rosa Parks. Cunningham, who received most of his formal training in UMUC's art department, has also studied at the Corcoran School of Art and Howard University College of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. His works have appeared at the Booker T. Washington and Malcolm X galleries in New York City; the Keller Art Gallery in Point Loma, California; as well as in several galleries in the Washington, D.C., area. He has also been the featured artist in African American Heritage Month exhibitions sponsored by the American National Red Cross and the U.S. Postal Service. Still, he is humble about his accomplishments. "The figures I draw have contributed their entire lives to the human race, to everyone, to all of us—now that's an achievement," Clyne said. Perhaps most surprising, given his impressive résumé, is that Cunningham has only been drawing and painting for 10 years, ever since he met a child psychologist who asked if he had ever tried painting. That same day, Cunningham's daughter came home from school with watercolors and paper, so Cunningham decided to give it a try. He said that he thinks the connection between the two is profound. "I never thought I would amount to anything," Cunningham said. "I didn't believe in myself or who I was. Now I know that if you don't address the little child inside of you, you'll be confused forever." Cunningham sees a little bit of himself in all of his art, especially in his most recent work, a drawing of Martin Luther King Jr. "[King] impresses me more than any of the others because he loved everyone," Cunningham said. Through his art, Cunningham has tried to capture the true spirit, pride, and dignity of his subjects, gathering inspiration for this exhibit from the philosophies of all the figures he portrays. "Until we stand together, we will stand apart," Cunningham said. |
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