Born and raised in Philadelphia, Morgan initially pursued commercial art before, almost humorously, misunderstanding “painting” as house painting, an anecdote highlighting his unawareness of the fine arts at the time. His artistic direction shifted when an instructor suggested he attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where he studied from 1971 to 1975. (1).

Morgan began his teaching career at East Carolina University in 1978, remaining there until 1992. That year, he joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Art in Minneapolis, where he became department chair (2004–2010) and later Head of Drawing and Painting (until 2022). Former students considered him to be an engaged and compassionate educator who allowed students to discover their strengths. He has since integrated his time increasingly into a full-time studio practice, earning the title Professor Emeritus, and is based in Chicago. Morgan has also produced prints at Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, NM; Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis, MN; Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia; and Patton Printmaking Studio/Workshop at the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado.

The core of Morgan’s work lies in painting, drawing, and printmaking, media he uses to navigate the interplay between structure and chaos. (This is something he expands on in the film clip that has been included on this page.) His art frequently incorporates geometric abstraction and biomorphic forms, assembled intuitively to reveal underlying visual rhythms. As Jan Estep articulates, Morgan’s abstractions blend “discernible patterns and predictable progressions” with “chance events and anomalous marks”—creating visual fields that feel both poetic and primal.(2)

In 2018, Robert Cozzolino, the Patrick and Aimee Butler, Curator of Paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, wrote an essay that accompanied the work Critical Nostalgia, a work of watercolor crayon, and pencil,  which likens Morgan’s work to a palimpsest. Even though he is discussing this specific painting, it is an apt comparison to much of his body of work.

“Drawings made thirty years ago (1988) form the ground on which he had added a layer fresh from the vantage point of 2018. Morgan’s own past provides the matrix upon which he adds, subtracts, overlays, obfuscates, and paradoxically reveals. These new superimposed forms set the dormant marks alight, and they reanimate in response to possibilities offered by difference” (3)

He goes on to say,

“Morgan’s drawings bear associations embodied in the history of manuscripts and a perpetual search for knowledge. They read like palimpsests, an earlier text scraped down from its parchment support in order to allow for a new passage or imagery to take its place. As with Morgan’s drawings, these traces of the past are often never fully eradicated. They seep through to appear as ghosts, asserting their presence behind the new. That emanation might add energy to the present, a dynamic electricity that shows what is possible through transformation, change, and growth.”(4)

I don’t think there is a more eloquent way to describe Morgan’s work. Creating is Clarence Morgan’s lifeblood, and that is undoubtedly reflected in his extensive list of achievements over five decades. He is still finding joy in his studio today. His practice remains as vital as ever, rooted in curiosity and a quiet insistence that the act of making is never truly finished.

1.  Jon, Dennis Michael, et al. “A History & Catalogue, 2001–2021.” Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 1 Mar. 2020, highpoint-editions.netlify.app/catalogue/morgan/.

2. “Clarence Morgan.” BOMB Magazine, bombmagazine.org/articles/2005/10/01/clarence-morgan/. Accessed 9 Sept. 2025.

3. “Palimpsest.” Morgan, www.clarence-morgan.com/palimpsest-robertcozzolino. Accessed 9 Sept. 2025.

4. Ibid

Selected Exhibitions

A Tender Spirit, A Vital Form: Arlene Burke-Morgan & Clarence Morgan, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University Of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2023

Thought Notes, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2023 (solo)

In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is., Ralph Arnold Gallery, Loyola University, Chicago, IL, 2022

Our Stories: African American Prints and Drawings, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, 2014

Material Traces: Painting & Works on Paper; Fairbanks Gallery, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 2012 (solo)

Cosmos: Paintings & Drawings by Clarence Morgan | UALAR Fine Arts Gallery II; University of Arkansas Little Rock, 2007

Highpoint: Five Years of Printmaking, Highpoint Editions, The Minneapolis Foundation; Minneapolis, MN, 2006

Necessary Differences, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota; Minneapolis, MN, 1996

The Next Generation: Southern Black Aesthetic, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art; Winston-Salem, NC, 1990

Recent Paintings & Collages: Clarence Morgan, Seigfred Gallery, School of Art, Ohio University; Athens, OH, 1980 (solo)

Flight of the Myth Makers, Fine Arts Gallery, Howard University; Washington, DC, 1978

Photo by Joshua Taylor, 2023