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Corey Pemberton

They // Them // Theirs
He // Him // His

Multidisciplinary Artist

Los Angeles, California

Corey is sitting in an office chair in his studio with his chin resting on one hand, wearing a white t-shirt with a graphic map design on it and a teal and purple African print brimmed hat. Behind him is a painting of a man wearing prints in a striped room. 

Photo courtesy of the artist. 

“I create portraits, decorative objects, and sculpture representing people of color, or people whose bodies fall outside the boundaries of traditional portraiture, as whole and complex beings.”

Corey Pemberton (American b. Reston, VA, 1990) received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. Pemberton has completed residencies at The Pittsburgh Glass Center, Bruket, Alfred University, and a Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts. He has exhibited work at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, The Contemporary Museum of Art in Raleigh, and has work in the permanent collections of The Museum of Art and Design, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Chrysler Museum of Art. 

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he splits his time between the nonprofit arts organization Crafting the Future, painting, and his glass practice. Pemberton strives to bring together people of all backgrounds and identities, breaking down stereotypes and building bridges, not only through his work with Crafting The Future but with his personal artistic practice as well. 

Donor -This award was generously supported by Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts.

This artist page was last updated on: 01.14.2026

Craft
Three vessels photographed on a smoky, rose-colored surface with the same color background. The first vessel is barrel shaped with a small neck and small circular handle with a pink and orange quilt motif painted on its surface and a face with two eyes, a nose, and lips. The second vessel is a tall rounded cone shape, wider at the bottom, with a small cylindrical neck and small circular handle. It has a similar motif and face painted on its surface in shades of blue and gray. The third has a small base and wide, high shoulders with a small cylindrical neck and six small circular handles that look sort of like hair. Its motif and face are painted in shades of green and gold.

Painted Log Cabin Face Jugs by Corey Pemberton, 2024.

Photo by Ruben Diaz.

A painting of the artist and his partner laying in bed. The artist is wearing nothing but black underwear and his partner is wearing nothing. They lay atop a blanket adorned with a ginkgo leaf motif. A wonky log cabin quilt hangs on the wall above the half round headboard. There is a face jug and vase on a shelf above a record player. There is a window and a single table lamp casting a triangular beam of light onto the dusty blue walls.

Jacumba by Corey Pemberton, 2025.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Seven people sit in a circle and one person stands on the floor of a house-like structure made of quilts of a variety of patterns and colors. Outside the door-shaped opening of the structure, another person is seen looking at paintings hung on the green wall of a gallery.

Inside the community quilt house by Corey Pemberton, 2024.

Photo courtesy of the artist.