CV
Curriculum Vitae



Amirah Cunningham
Amirahcunningham@yahoo.com


Education 

2023                MFA, Print Media and Photography, Kent, OH
2018                 BFA, Drawing, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2018                 BFA, Printmaking, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

Academic Appointments and Work experience 

2024-25           Assistant Director of First Year Student Success, Cleveland Institute of Art, OH
2023-24           Admissions counselor, Cleveland Institute of Art, OH
2023                Adjust Professor, 2D design, Kent State University, OH
2023                Adjust professor, Observational drawing, Cleveland Institute of art
2021- 23          Graduate Teaching Assistant, Kent State University, Kent, OH (course taught: Introduction to Printmaking [instructor of record], Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, Fall 2022 and Spring 2023) 

Awards/Grants/Fellowships 

2025               Studio Teaching Assistantship, Reductive Print workshop, Penland school of Craft, NC ($3,000)  
2024               Artist Appreciation Fund, Vargas Foundation, Cleveland, OH ($600) 
2023               Anthony Bartholomew Award, Kent State University, Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH($500)
2021               Thomas D Little Prize, Kent State University, Kent, OH ($1000)
2019              Sponsored Coursework Award, International Print Center of New York (IPCNY), New York City, New York ($750)
  
2016              Empower Challenge Scholarship($500)
2014 - 18 Cleveland Institute of Art Scholastics Award($30,000)
2014              Scholastics Gold Key

Artist Residencies 

2023 Anthony Bartholomew Residency, ,Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH

Solo Exhibitions 

2023              Magical Bodies – Those Who See and Those Who Don’t, MFA Thesis Exhibition, CVA Gallery, Kent, Ohio

Collaborative Projects

2021              A Tradition co curated by Alex Anthes, Brittany Gorelick, Amirah Cunningham and J Leigh, Garcia, Summit Art Space, Akron, OH.

Group Exhibitions 

2023              Fresh Pressed, Asterisk Coffee Bar, Cuyahoga Falls, OH. (invited by Taryn McMahon and Micah Kraus).

2022              Reciprocity: KSU Print Media, The William J. and Pearl F. Lemmon Visiting Artist Gallery, Kent State University Stark Campus, Stark, OH.

2022              Exploring Dialogues between Diverse Voices and Spaces, Center for Visual Arts, Kent State University, Kent, OH.

2022              Change is God, Soo visual arts center, Minneapolis, MI

2021              Printers Select, Heights Arts, Cleveland, OH

2021              Cross generations; bridging the gap of artists, Museum of creative human art x The Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland, OH

2021              New Beginnings, Waterloo arts, Cleveland, OH

2019              UMBRA: New Prints for a Dark Age, International Print Center of New York, NYC (Selected by 2019/Summer artist-juror Alison Saar) 

2019             Printmaking as Resistance, Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland, OH

2018             BLCK______AGGIN, Thesis Exhibition, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

2017             The Fine Print, Gallery 1 Point 618, Cleveland, OH

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021              Threshold, Drawn to paint, The yards project, Cleveland, OH

2021              Sonata No. 6, Survival kit, Cleveland, OH

2019               What Goes Up…, Waterloo Arts Gallery, Cleveland, OH

2019               WHOA, BAYarts Gallery, Cleveland, OH

Exchange Portfolio

2022               Through the Narrative (curated by Maggie Denk Leigh, Artist)

Professional Activities

2025             Curator, The Bake Shop, Cleveland, OH
2025             Studio Teaching assistantship, Penland school of Craft, North Carolina
2023             Artist Panel at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Painting & Drawing dept., Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH 
2022              BIG INK, Large Scale Woodblock Printing, Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, OH.

2018              Co Instructor, CCJDC, Cleveland, OH 

2017              Co Instructor, Drawing Beyond the Pencil, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH 

2016               Co Instructor, Drawing Beyond the Pencil, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH


Bibliography 

2023 "In Our Skin Black Scholars & Artists Inaugural Black History Month Exhibition." Cleveland Institute of Art. https://www.cia.edu/events/2023/02/in-our-skin.

2022 "Through the Narrative." Mapc22.Com. https://www.mapc2022.com/through-the-narrative.

2022 Staff, Racket . "Freeloader Friday: 69 Free Things To Do This Weekend." Racket, (2024). Accessed June 10, https://racketmn.com/freeloader-friday-69-free-things-to-do-this-weekend.

2022 "Amirah Cunningham." Soo Visual Arts Center. July 15, 2022. Video, https://youtu.be/aIyxt4iHMwY.

2021 A TRADITION: KENT STATE PRINT MEDIA, Summit art spacehttp://canjournal.org/2021/11/cross-pollenating-abstraction-sonata-no-6-project-at-survival-kit/.
2021 "Sonata #6 - Amirah Cunningham." Ryan Charles Ramer. November 18, 2021. Video, https://youtu.be/V1okmlHRqkE.

2021 "Living Figuratively Episode 43 New Beginnings at Waterloo." Judy Takacs. January 21, 2021. Video, 0:17:43, https://youtu.be/mF-dNaoZdRE.

2020 "Link Magazine - Summer 2020." ISSUU. Cleveland Institute of Art, August 19, 2020. https://issuu.com/ciacollege/docs/19-20_ia_link_summer_aug6/3.


Online Periodicals

2022 "Change Is God-Take Root Among the Stars: Black Abstraction in the Midwest." SOO Visual Arts Center. https://www.soovac.org/take-root-among-the-stars.

2021 Gill, Michael. "CROSS-POLLENATING ABSTRACTION: SONATA NO. 6 PROJECT AT SURVIVAL KIT." Can Journal, (2021). Accessed August 23, 2021. 

2019 "Printmaking and Propaganda.” By Joseph Clark, April 17, 2019 

Technical Abilities 

2021 - 2023 Print shop Technician (Organization and Inventory, safety knowledge of a variety of equipment, professional print advisor for students)  
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