Visiting Artist: Corey Pemberton

Corey Pemberton spent three days embedded in the RIT College of Art and Design's creative community in February 2025, leading an artist talk, studio visits with MFA candidates, glassblowing demos, and a solo exhibition in Bevier Gallery.

About Corey Pemberton

As a queer person of mixed race, Corey Pemberton often feels other. Knowing nothing about his African roots and very little about his European heritage, the artist considers lineage and the idea of connectedness in his glass art, paintings, and other works on paper. Pemberton’s vessels, blown glass baskets based on those of his presumed ancestors, are made in a European style that borrows forms and patterns from the sweetgrass weavers of South Africa. “I use color and pattern as vehicles to describe situations where society has used a person’s uniqueness against them; where people have been labeled or categorized based on physical characteristics in an effort to hold them back," he said. "Can we, as a society, find a way to unite in our otherness?”

Born in Reston, Va., and currently residing in Los Angeles, Pemberton splits time between production glassblowing, his painting practice, and Crafting the Future (CTF), an organization he co-founded with furniture artist Annie Evelyn in early 2019. CTF partners with organizations across the country such as Louisiana’s Young Aspirations/Young Artists, known as YAYA; Kentucky’s STEAM Exchange; North Carolina’s Penland School of Craft; and Maine’s Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, with the goal of increasing access to education and opportunity for underrepresented artists in order to help them develop thriving careers.

Pemberton's engagement on the RIT campus was made possible by the School of Art's Anna Ballarian Visiting Artist Series.