Rogger Cummings

Born:1968

Birth City, State, Country: Cleveland, OH

Currently resides (City & State): Minneapolis, MN

Undergraduate School/year/degree:

University of Minnesota

Selected Exhibitions:

2007 Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN

St. Paul’s Western Sculpture Park, St. Paul, MN

2000 Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN

Selected Collections:

Chambers Hotel, Minneapolis, MN

St. Paul’s Western Sculpture Park, St. Paul, MN

Selected Awards:

2007 Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Collaboration Grant

2008 James P. Shannon Leadership fellowship

2000 FSP/Jerome Fellowship Artist

Artist Statement:

Rogger Cummings is a public artist and educator whose work is informed by his knowledge and passion for urban culture and social justice.
Rogger is best known as the artistic director of Juxtaposition Arts, where he has mentored hundreds of North Minneapolis youth since co-founding the organization in 1995. He has lectured, participated in symposiums, and conducted workshops at major educational and cultural institutions including Macalester College, the College of St. Catherine, the University of Minnesota, the Walker Art Center, the Weisman Museum, the Children’s Theater, the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, and Intermedia Arts.

Rogger’s artistic direction gravitates towards large-scale public works and functional art. He is best known for creating murals, customized textiles, and sculpture. He is a lifelong Twin Citian who has worked individually and collectively to design and install dozens of works of public art over the span of his twenty-year career. In 2001, he was awarded a commission to carve a park bench out of kasota stone salvaged from the Wabasha Bridge on site at Western Sculpture Park in St. Paul. In 2004 he was commissioned by the City of Minneapolis to fabricate a permanent public sculpture commemorating John Biggers’ Celebration of Life mural that stood at Highway 55 and Lyndale Ave. until 2002. Most recently, local developer and art collector Ralph Burnet hired Cummings to create a four-story mural in the art-boutique Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Rogger has also received awards and honors from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, and COMPAS.

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