By Ron Evans

Cory Pearson is a local artist who has been busily digging through bins of rusted old cigar tins, busted tools, steam gauges and random metal bits. With a bit of a mad-scientist flair, Pearson pieces together little critters, robots and scenes with clever arrangement and a good dose of humor. He’s also a skilled woodworker and has dabbled in acrylic and spray paintings ranging from sci-fi spacey scenes to the abstract. I wanted to know his process and how he got into making his army of mini-bots and how he’s handling creativity during a pandemic.

Tell us a bit about your background as an artist and how you arrived at the found-object assemblage technique?

I've always been interested in art since I was young. I would draw and doodle all the time and then woodworking came into my life in junior high and I focused on that for most of my teen years. But it wasn't until my early 30's that I really focused on art. I taught myself how to do spray paint art, with some help from YouTube. I then moved to more conventional painting. Well I guess I wouldn't call it conventional, more like wacky weird inspiration. Recently I've gone back to woodworking as a side hobby and started to teach myself how to carve wood.

I would say it was actually a couple years after I met you that I discovered the found object art world. You were having a themed show at the RadarSation and while talking to you about ideas for the show you mentioned maybe doing some sort of figure or sculpture rather than another painting. I instantly ran with that idea and found myself creating my first of many bots, as I like to call them. So a big thank you!

I’d completely forgotten that. Honored to have contributed!

Where do you get your parts for your pieces and do you have a stockpile to rummage through - or are you typically on the hunt for the perfect piece to finish a work in progress?

I have a decent amount of parts and pieces stocked up. I tend to grab a lot of free electronics and motor parts, disassemble them and use what ever inner workings I think will look good. I also do a lot of thrift store and yard sale shopping looking for all those unwanted items that most people think have no life left in them. I've had many pieces though that I couldn't finish until I went out and found that one perfect part to add to it.

Do you have images in your head of final pieces, sketch things out at all or just dig through the parts and components and see what inspiration strikes?

A lot of times I will think of something in my head and then go rummage through my stock and kind of lay things out piece by piece until I'm satisfied with how it looks. Other times it's just looking through an assortment of chaos until a couple things catch my eye that look good together.

Do you have a dedicated studio space?

I have a wonderful little shop that my parents let me borrow to do my mad scientist work in. It's just right for what I do.

How frequently are you working on new art?

I would say I work on a new piece or two at least every week. Sometimes one of my sculptures will take a couple weeks to finish though because I'm waiting to find that one perfect part to finish it off with.

How does assemblage art compare to creating a painting from scratch in terms of process?

I find that creating a found object sculpture comes much easier to me than beginning a painting. With painting I could sit there for an hour or two and only just begin one and usually painting over and over on one area trying to get it just right. Whereas with building my bots I could lay multiple pieces out and end up constructing more than just one at a time, which in many cases I do or atleast get a good idea for another piece.

Clockwise from top left: “For Love”, “Desperation”, “Squirt”, “Kuksha Bushcraft Cup”

Has the virus of doom slowed down your process or are you busy tinkering away as per usual?

Covid has actually helped in some ways because already being an introvert it means I just get to stay home and think of what to build next. It has definitely given me more time to work in the shop.

In the past I've had my art around the Wenatchee valley in a few places. I've done the monthly show at Lemolo's Cafe and had my art in the RadarStation Art Gallery. At this time you can find my art at Lynnart Gardens at 302 N. Miller st. Wenatchee and at Pan’s Grotto on Wenatchee Avenue.

Any events (pending COVID stuff) planned ahead?

I have no events planned at this time but hopefully when Covid ends more opportunities will arise.

You can find Cory’s bots and more on his Instagram:

@bots_n_lotz