Derek M Dick

Artist Statement

My drawings reflect the uncontrollable outside forces that can have a direct effect upon our lives and our approach to it. The processes and techniques used to create my portraits are unpredictable and therefore have a direct input on the final outcome of the work. The rationale for this is to remove the unhealthy pressures of always needing to get it right as well as preventing being over precious about achieving perfection and to be accepting of chance and risk as external influences.

The intricate portraits I draw are of people I meet randomly whilst doing my street photography and are predominantly drawn onto archival tissue paper using either a 0.5 or a 0.2 mechanical pencil. Rips and tears in the paper are inevitable and totally unavoidable; an overly heavy-handed swipe of the pencil could cause the loss of hours of work and detail. Once completed the delicate drawings are then pasted on to a weathered or aged wooden board. At this stage there is a risk of further damage or even total loss of the work. Finally a thin coat of varnish is applied so both the drawings and boards are fixed and sealed, but again this is not without risk. Some boards are framed whilst others are left with exposed edges and my ...

Artist Biography

I graduated with a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 1986, followed by an MA in 1999. As a practicing artist I have had studios across the North of England, exhibiting at various galleries and my work in a number of private collections both in the UK and Europe. I taught in schools, colleges and universities before becoming a curator and exhibition designer, working at a number of museums and galleries. My work, both in education and the arts heritage sector, has been recognised with a number of awards.

During my career within the museums and heritage sector I devoted more and more of my time to developing audiences and encouraging engagement in the arts at all levels, as well as continuing to support and mentor emerging artists. In the latter part of this period my work often revolved around working with young adults exploring and highlighting, through the arts, some of the mental health issues and pressures they faced. I created secure and creative outlets for expressing, as well as addressing, some of these issues.

This work along with teaching, curating and mentoring sapped me of his creative energy and subsequently I began producing less and less of my own work until it finally stopped. But in 2018, following a ...

https://www.notawordart.com/exhibitions