About the Artist
Barbara McCullough is a filmmaker who emerged from the UCLA Los Angeles Rebellion experience to create works emblematic of the reality of African American life, seen beyond the usual stereotypic view. Her UCLA contemporaries who also worked on Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot include: Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry and Julie Dash to name a few, along with Johnny Simmons and Al Santana. Other projects include – Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space, a 58 minute video that her mentor Shirley Clarke proclaimed, “the title wouldn’t fit the marque,” Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite Of Purification, and World Saxophone Quartet and Fragments. Her works strive to extract the essence of the seemingly mundane to expose its magic and poetry. Horace is another part of that examination. Previously McCullough worked in the visual effects industry for over 20 years and from 2010 until 2016 she was chair of the visual effects department at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
liquid blackness in conversation with Barbara McCullough
SELECT WORKS
Visual effects
1996 The Nutty Professor (production manager: Rhythm & Hues)
1995 Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (production manager: Rhythm & Hues, Inc.)
1994 Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (digital production manager: Digital Domain)
1994 Color of Night (visual effects production manager)
1993 Heart and Souls (production manager: Pacific Data Images, Inc.)
1992 Toys (production manager: PDI)
1987 Made in Heaven (visual effects production coordinator)
Director
2017 Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot (Documentary)
1981 Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (Video)
1980 World Saxophone Quartet
1980 Fragments (Short)
1979 Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (Short)
1977 Chephren-Khafra: Two Years of a Dynasty
Production Manager
1998 The Prince of Egypt (digital operations manager)
1993 Freaked (production manager)
Producer
2017 Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot (Documentary) (executive producer)
Other
1982 A Different Image (Sound Assistant)
SELECT SCREENINGS
Horace Tapscott: A Musical Griot Screening at MOCA
SELECT REVIEWS
Crombie, Zoe. “The Revolutionary Cinema of the Female LA Rebellion Directors.” The Digital Fix, December 31, 2020. https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/feature/the-revolutionary-cinema-of-the-female-la-rebellion-directors/
Duersten, Matthew. “A Member of L.A.’s Most Famous Black Film Movement Returns with a Doc About Jazz Legend Horace Tapscott.” LA Weekly, February 2, 2017. https://www.laweekly.com/a-member-of-l-a-s-most-famous-black-film-movement-returns-with-a-doc-about-jazz-legend-horace-tapscott/
SELECT INTERVIEWS
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 1 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKGVAjEMnI
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 2 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OegvM61gklw
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 3 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do0Ulze5Gts
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 4 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLh8erm-qao
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 5 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSEmYCl9ljc
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 6 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geUG2xjUe_4
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 7 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-1O9irMnB4
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 8 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_q_wCdNYo
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 9 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzG5UPXzzRE
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 10 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q6I6wQveo8
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 11 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSERopHtcw4
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 12 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqeWcyFqIzw
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 13 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUEkFY85pg
“Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History: Part 14 of 14.” Youtube, uploaded by Getty Research Institute, May 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGyPpZLwUKc
