DEREK HARRISON

Awards Jurist and Featured Artist

We are pleased to announce Derek Harrison as the Featured Artist and Awards Jurist for the 15^th Anniversary SLOPOKE Art of the West Exhibition and sale. SLOPOKE is set for the weekend of November 1^st and 2^nd with the Opening Reception on Friday October 31^st from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Octagon Barn Event Center in San Luis Obispo, California.

Derek Harrison joins an august group of professional artists serving as Awards Jurist and Featured Artists. He is a full-time realist painter residing and working in Santa Barbara, a juried member of the California Art Club, and he was featured by Southwest Magazine as one of the 21 artists under 31 collectors should watch. After studying at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Derek continued learning at workshops, seminars, and mentoring with well-known western artists Jeremy Lipking, and Morgan Weistling as well as popular figurative painter Sean Cheetham.

Derek’s work focuses on the human form in western landscape settings with a nod to 19^th century painting but with a 21^st century flare. He has received significant recognition as a young artist in print, film and social media. Typically creating 10 major works a year, he has shown in numerous art fairs and gallery exhibitions worldwide, has had his work featured in several magazines and books and has won awards for his portrait and figurative pieces. An adjunct professor at Westmont College, he also teaches at the Los Angeles Academy of Fine Arts, the Scottsdale Artists School, and at his own workshops in southern California. Be sure to attend SLOPOKE 2025 to see some of the work of this inspiring local artist. Some of his work below left.