Cori Matyas

Dr. Cori Matyas is a geoscientist and visual artist living in Gainesville, Florida. They aim to convey scientific knowledge about Earth systems primarily through sculpture to extend their reach beyond lectures and journal articles. Learning to weld has reignited their passion for sculpture after putting art aside to develop a career as a researcher and teacher. Alongside metal, they infuse clay, paper, wood, and fibers into their artwork. They received their BS in Environmental Geoscience and minor in Sculpture and their graduate degrees in Geography after which they became a professor at the University of Florida, conducting research in and teaching about the atmosphere. Recently, their artworks have been shown at the Working Method Contemporary in Tallahassee, Florida, Cade Museum and Gainesville Fine Arts Association in Gainesville, Florida, Postcards from Utopia organized by the Italy international Center, Arvada Center in Arvada, Colorado, and the Long Island Museum of Contemporary Art in Patchogue, NY.

Inhale. Exhale. We don’t remember our first breath and can’t remember our last, but in-between we must honor the systems that make life on Earth possible. Trees provide oxygen, water, nutrients, shelter, records of past climates, and a bridge from Earth to sky upon which to dream. As a geoscientist and visual artist, I convey knowledge about environment-human relationships through sculpture and trees are a recurring theme in my art as I physically and conceptually change instruments that record the environment and use fire to create pieces that interact with air, water, and Earth. The transfer of energy through vibration or currents of air or water requires a medium as does changing phase from solid to liquid to gas and back. Similarly, artworks serve as media for the transmission of ideas and the energy of creation and I hope viewers receive and utilize these to enrich each other and the planet.

Florida

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