During the past year and a half, I have taken more classes online than I can count. One of the first was taught by Derek Weisberg through Greenwich House Pottery in New York City. I ended up taking every ceramic history course he offered on line, despite them almost always starting at 7 AM Pacific Time (for me). I was genuinely bummed when his classes ended. Derek has such a nice way about him. He teaches as a storyteller, not someone just spewing out facts. I loved every one of his classes so much that I even wrote a fan letter to the head of the pottery, asking them to treat Derek well, as he is such a treasure.

While researching what was going on in New York, during my first post pandemic trip, I noticed, of all things, a Derek Weisberg solo show at Trotter & Sholer, just around the corner from my hotel. I was so curious and excited to see Derek’s own work in person.

I go to a lot of galleries, large and small. I’m not sure what the people who work there are so busily doing at their computers. More often than not, getting them to even say hello is a stretch. I grew up in the Midwest, so at minimum I like a “hello.” Jenna Ferrey, founder and president at Trotter & Sholer won the prize for the nicest and most welcoming of any gallery during my visit. We had such a nice conversation about Derek and his work.

The exciting thing about the vast art world, is realizing how small it truly is. After seeing the Alice Mackler show, and reading up on her, I learned that Derek had been one of Mackler’s instructors at Greenwich House, and that they had a joint show together in 2019. Here is a great article about them.