Meet Derrick White | Artist & Art Professor/Department Chair

We had the good fortune of connecting with Derrick White and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Derrick, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I was inspired to pursue a creative career by attending Cedar Valley Community College after high school and meeting ceramic artist, Randy Brodnax. Randy inspires people to be themselves and seek creativity. I remember thinking he was the first adult I had met who enjoyed what he was doing for a living. I set out to pursue art and teaching as he did and hopefully inspire others as he inspired me. I transferred to The University of North Texas and earned both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree. Now, I have been teaching art at Tyler Junior College since 2001.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am constantly working on my art and taking ideas and inspirations from my daily life and the lives and world around me. I am attracted to the unstructured results of actions and the inherent nature of materials, for example, drips of paint or the flow of wood grain. I want my work to be engaging and fun but to also reveal its sincerity through the form. The biggest lesson I have learned in my art career is perseverance. One must appreciate the good things and opportunities when they arrive but also endure and commit to one’s artistic pursuits even when things don’t seem to be falling into place. I have exhibited my work in hundreds of exhibitions over the last three decades and have been honored with several Best in Show awards. The show I am most proud of is my solo exhibition at the Tyler Museum of Art in 2011. I want to actively engage viewers with the composition of my paintings and have them develop their own interpretations but also sense a connection to me and my processes. I work and re-work paintings (acting and reacting to mark-making) and address difficulties, comedies, and anxieties of life. I hope people feel these connections in my work and know they are not alone.

I have the good fortune of working with students and encouraging them to become their true selves and embrace the joy and satisfaction, with all its pitfalls, of pursuing art. At Tyler Junior College when a student gets inspired to change their major to art, an expression we have is “Derrick White Ruined My Life.” This is in reference to an exhibition of my paintings where I discussed being an artist has not ruined my life but actually saved it and given me the best, creatively healthy, life I can imagine.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I enjoy the art shows at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery on North Tyler Street, located in the historic Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. Artist, Steve Cruz, started the gallery in 2004 to provide an alternative space for innovative and underrepresented artists. I can also check out what is happening around the corner at The Kessler Theater (on Davis) and grab something to eat or a cocktail in the Bishop Arts District or nearby Trinity Groves.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Randy Brodnax inspired me. I was encouraged in my painting by professors Robert Jessup, Vince Falsetta, and Ed Blackburn (who passed away in 2022) at The University of North Texas. I work with the most talented and supportive art faculty members I have ever met at Tyler Junior College (Paul Jones, Chance Dunlap, Paula McDermott, Amanda Slaughter, Rebecca Hollen, and many more) where we create a safe and nurturing environment for students to be vulnerable and discover their unique creative voices. I also gain inventiveness from the students I work with by helping them solve their artistic problems, it energizes my own pursuits.

Website: www.canvashead.net

Instagram: @canvashead

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DerrickWhiteRuinedMyLife/

Image Credits
Derrick White Studio photo by Victor Texcucano