Derek Reese

Derek Reese is a visual artist who was born in Morgantown, West Virginia in 1981. He is interested in a post-disciplinary approach to painting which involves an exploration of various media with painting as a jump off point. Reese’s artwork explores personal identity through materials and imagery inspired by his childhood home, the Appalachian region, and blue collar-ism.

Reese received his BFA from West Virginia University and completed an MFA from Ohio State University. In 2009 through 2010 he was an adjunct professor of art at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia. In 2011, Reese crossed the Mason-Dixon Line in order to make art and teach in the burgeoning national art-city of Pittsburgh, PA. Reese exhibits his art work nationally, and has given guest artist lectures at Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State University. In 2011, he was the recipient of the Pittsburgh Pop-Up Grant creating installations in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District fusing visual art and music in collaboration with Pittsburgh’s Freya String Quartet. Currently, Reese is a 2014 fellow at Flight School, the professional development program for Pittsburgh artists at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.