Delta College Alumni Exhibition 2024
Cory Morrison
Cory Morrison (b. 1995) is a mixed media and multidisciplinary artist and educator from California’s Central Valley. From a young age, he developed a strong appreciation for natural history, ecology, and wilderness studies which eventually became the inspiration for his art. In 2014, he began studying at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California. Here he developed an appreciation for education taking classes such as anthropology, archaeology, and botany alongside art courses. From Delta College, he received associate’s degrees in art, teacher preparation, and interdisciplinary studies.
In 2017 he began undergraduate studies at California State University Stanislaus in
Turlock and it is here where he was challenged to develop his artistic style. Advancing his education in art and art history, Cory became influenced by artists of the Minimalist, Earth Art, Process Art, and Postmodernist movements. He also continued his studies in anthropology, taking classes in prehistory and early human development.
Cory received his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and is currently a member of the artist
co-op at the Grand Theatre in Tracy, CA, and a teacher candidate enrolled at California State University East Bay. Cory continues to practice and explore his art through sculpture, installation, print, and photography with the ultimate goal of communicating humankind’s connection to nature’s mysterious past, present, and future.
My artwork focuses on the relationship between humanity and nature. Using a multidisciplinary approach, I confront modern society with the environmental pressures that surround it. In many ways, I aim to connect today’s humans with those of our ancient past.
For hundreds of thousands of years, humankind existed exclusively within Earth’s wilderness. In contrast, our current society is now devoid of many, if not all, natural elements. It is in exploring this relationship that my art finds its inspiration. Using this connection, my art takes on environmental and ecological overtones accomplished through minimalist compositions. In much of my work, the media I use is gathered from natural elements that are then juxtaposed with human ones. Completed, my work is often sculptural, printed, photographic, or somewhere in between, and always finds importance in the process or concept.
My work Carbon Footprints (Four Hundred and Sixteen Tons) for example uses charcoal made from a fallen tree and was created by taking four hundred and sixteen footsteps across the paper to visualize my personal carbon emissions over my lifetime. In my piece, Deforested, a miniature and minimalist landscape is divided by a trail through tree stumps. With nothing left but the stumps and a bird’s-eye view, Deforested asks the viewer to ponder the forest that used to be. In more simple pieces, such as Where I Live, I reflect on the diminishing native grasslands through a self-portrait. In these pieces, and many others, significant influence can be found from Robert Smithson, Richard Long, Cecilia Vicuña, and Andy Goldsworthy — all of whom have provided strong precursory examples of Process Art, Land Art, and Minimalism.
For myself, creating art is a form of personal, cultural, and anthropological exploration driven by a strong desire to understand our place in nature. For the viewer, I aim to communicate and investigate nature's importance and mystery in a time when it has become increasingly forgotten by humanity.
1
Carbon Footprints (Four Hundred and Sixteen Tons)
Charcoal on paper
25” x 19” paper / 30” x 24” frame
2022
$500
2, 2a, 2b
Deforested
Diorama/Mixed Media
9” x 20” x 2”
2023
$350
Where I Live
Acrylic on canvas
16” x 20” canvas / 18” x 22” frame
2023
$350