Derek Wilson Artist Profile
Derek, a native of the East Bay Area is a multifaceted artist with a rich background in various creative pursuits. He grew up in a most inspired family. His great-grandfather was a blacksmith who created custom wrought iron items for homes for the Blackhawk community; his father built custom hot rods that won awards at the Oakland Roadster shows; and his mother, who attended Mills College (on scholarship while being a single mom), was a voice and piano instructor, who performed and directed plays and musicals in Woodminster Ampitheater and other theatrical outlets in the Bay Area.
Exposure to the arts from an early age sparked curiosity and passion for creativity and artistic endeavors in Derek. His mother took him to see many plays and performances from a very young age so it was not surprising he grew up interested in pursuing the arts and seriously devoting time to learn as much as he could. Derek honed his craft at CCAC, earning two BFAs with distinction -with an emphasis in Fine Art Drawing, and Editorial Illustration- while residing in West Oakland. His diverse career path has taken him from machinist in Oakland to working as a Tool & Die maker in Santa Cruz, to working at a Model shop making prototypes (from ABS plastic) for computer and medical companies, and ultimately to professor of arts at the College of Marin.
In 2001 he started teaching Digital Arts and Multimedia in the Art Department at the College of Marin. There he met his wife, Bobbi, who is also an artist, and they decided they wanted to live in Sonoma County, moving to Sebastopol in 2004. They immediately felt at home with the community known as “West Berkeley” and have lived there ever since.
Derek recently retired and is as busy as ever dealing with fallen trees from the recent storms, getting the house ready for the upcoming wedding of their daughter and delving into a new chapter of rediscovery and expanded creative exploration. With time on his side he wants to dive into a myriad of mediums, from revisiting his passion for life drawing to his love of creating ceramic figures. And, if you’re lucky to have him at a party, he may even share some of his tasty home brews which have won accolades from the Sonoma Harvest Fair for many years.
At Saffron we are very happy to have Derek as a collaborator in the arts and wish him success in his creative endeavors and fulfillment in the unfettered pursuit of his artistic vision.
