"MEMORY IS A LIVING THING AND MAKES ALIVE
CHIYUVIM
I create works of art that are emotional and psychological self-portraits. Through my work I aim to make sense of my life, my experiences, and the times I live. I do not wish to represent like a photo, instead to achieve an innerness. My goal is to create images, which are accessible and allow the viewer to have an experience which can not be easily articulated, but felt. Simultaneously igniting contemplation, reflection and a lasting relationship with the work. I attempt to express basic human qualities, which are universal and timeless. At its core the works reflect humanist ideology; searching for truth and universal morality based on the commonality of the human condition.
Through thought, feelings become knowledge. To know ones feelings is to know ones self. especially through experiencing feelings, which are uncomfortable and unfamiliar: pain melancholy, etc. When my mother passed away I began to include these feelings as well as themes of death, afterlife, spirituality and the metaphysical into my work. While still philosophically closer to a secular point of view, for my mother's sake, I want to believe in an afterlife. In traditional Jewish thought, The voyage of the soul is dependent upon the actions of the ones who are living. in my case the actions are carried out through making my art. Making this work became a ritual to continue the existence of my mother or at least a spiritual existence. The actions are meant to bless, help, and accompany the deceased on its journey.
To experience death is to experience the most unique situation in life; it is simultaneously completely familiar and alien, definitive and confusing, guaranteed and mysterious. This work Is a combination of all those things and has been a way to help me navigate through and reconcile with the loss of my mother."
Derek Weisberg
Education
2005, BFA in ceramics, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland CA
Awards
2008
Searchlight Artist, 1 of 10 nationally selected emerging Craftsmen/women
2004
Best of Junior Review
All College Honors Marjorie Benedict Scholarship
Clayfolk West Coast Regional Scholarship
2003
Honorable mention at "Visions in Clay," Reynolds Gallery, Stockton, CA
Collections
Public:
Oakland Museum of California
Glasshoff Sculpture Ranch
CHIYUVIM
I create works of art that are emotional and psychological self-portraits. Through my work I aim to make sense of my life, my experiences, and the times I live. I do not wish to represent like a photo, instead to achieve an innerness. My goal is to create images, which are accessible and allow the viewer to have an experience which can not be easily articulated, but felt. Simultaneously igniting contemplation, reflection and a lasting relationship with the work. I attempt to express basic human qualities, which are universal and timeless. At its core the works reflect humanist ideology; searching for truth and universal morality based on the commonality of the human condition.
Through thought, feelings become knowledge. To know ones feelings is to know ones self. especially through experiencing feelings, which are uncomfortable and unfamiliar: pain melancholy, etc. When my mother passed away I began to include these feelings as well as themes of death, afterlife, spirituality and the metaphysical into my work. While still philosophically closer to a secular point of view, for my mother's sake, I want to believe in an afterlife. In traditional Jewish thought, The voyage of the soul is dependent upon the actions of the ones who are living. in my case the actions are carried out through making my art. Making this work became a ritual to continue the existence of my mother or at least a spiritual existence. The actions are meant to bless, help, and accompany the deceased on its journey.
To experience death is to experience the most unique situation in life; it is simultaneously completely familiar and alien, definitive and confusing, guaranteed and mysterious. This work Is a combination of all those things and has been a way to help me navigate through and reconcile with the loss of my mother."
Derek Weisberg
Education
2005, BFA in ceramics, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland CA
Awards
2008
Searchlight Artist, 1 of 10 nationally selected emerging Craftsmen/women
2004
Best of Junior Review
All College Honors Marjorie Benedict Scholarship
Clayfolk West Coast Regional Scholarship
2003
Honorable mention at "Visions in Clay," Reynolds Gallery, Stockton, CA
Collections
Public:
Oakland Museum of California
Glasshoff Sculpture Ranch
© Derek Weisberg
