Guest Blog: Derrick’s Story Through Art
We’re excited to launch the first installment of our new guest blog series, which will spotlight the artists, stories, and experiences that make Heartshare’s Artshare program so special. Artshare creates opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities to explore their creativity, develop artistic skills, and share their unique perspective through art.
In this series, Artshare teaching artist Mitchel Coffman offers an inside look at the program, highlighting the talented artists he works with and the meaningful connections, growth, and self-expression that take place in the studio every day.
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“Do you like reggae?”
Before Derrick had picked up a pencil in my classroom, before he’d painted a single thing, that was his opening question to me. Then came Afrika Bambaataa. Then AZ. He wasn’t asking to make conversation; he was testing me. He’d never shown interest in art class before, and I don’t think he was planning to start.
I said yes to all three and meant it. So, he asked if we could play that music while we worked. I said of course, and just like that, Derrick was in. Not because I taught him a technique or gave him an assignment, but because I said yes to who he already was.
That’s my teaching philosophy, really. Before I get to Derrick’s story properly, let me back up and tell you why that moment is exactly what my teaching looks like when I get to work with the artists/individuals at Heartshare.
I’ve been an artist in NYC for 17 years, creating large-scale narrative paintings, murals, film, and even a memorial for a military base. The theme of my work always comes back to the same thing: people who’ve fought through real adversity, carried a legacy forward, or just have a story that needs to be told. I’m drawn to those stories because I grew up watching one play out in my own house.
My dad was an award-winning illustrator. He went to art school, then got drafted into Vietnam. When he came home, he couldn’t find his way back to where he’d left off, so he set the dream aside to raise a family. He spent my whole childhood telling me: don’t give up on your dream like I did. When I was eight years old, he sent me to study under a professional animator, Walter Storozuk, and that was it. I never stopped.
In college, I trained under master artist Jorge Alvarez, who sharpened my skills, gave my passion an actual direction, and a legacy to carry on, even if I did not fully realize it at the time. Alongside my art, I was a founding member of my college’s men’s lacrosse program, which eventually turned into a grad school scholarship and a job as the school's first graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach. I still train six days a week at 45. That athletic background, the discipline, and the drive to see things through show up in everything I do, including how I teach.
These days, I put all of that (the art, the coaching mindset, and the stubbornness) into my part-time work with the Artshare program at Heartshare, teaching art to adults with developmental disabilities.
My teaching philosophy is simple: I don’t tell anyone what to do.
My job is to hand people as many tools and techniques as I can and then get out of the way. I’ve always had a problem with authority and certainly never liked being told how to be creative myself, so I’m not going to do that to someone else. The artists I work with have lived lives most of us can only try to understand. Their job is to tell their own stories, their own way. My job is to listen, teach technique, and build a consistent, welcoming environment where people feel confident enough to make something real. I tell them constantly: you’re an artist, same as any other, and your story matters.
This blog is where I get to prove that. With each post, I’ll spotlight one of the artists I work with: their stories, their work, and what makes them who they are. First up is someone who didn’t just start making art. He started a whole scene.
Once that music deal was struck, Derrick gravitated naturally toward the subjects he already loved: musicians, DJs, and the culture he grew up in. His first piece was a drawing of the legendary DJ Kid Capri. Not long after, he painted two Wu-Tang Clan logos using a classical complementary color scheme technique I learned early in my own art education, a skill he was picking up without even realizing it.
I’ve kept pushing him to dig into where he’s from and who shaped his love of music, and it’s paying off. At one of our gallery shows, he sold a large-format painting of rappers and DJs from Brooklyn.
Alongside those personal projects, we’ve worked through grayscale studies, color mixing, and even classical still life works with him and his friends in the program, just to build up his range. And his creativity hasn’t stayed on the canvas; Derrick has gone on to DJ at several of our gallery openings and community events himself.
Watching him grow has been one of the best parts of this job. He shows up enthusiastic and ready to work every single time we’re together. He’s become a real force in our little corner of the art world, and honestly, I have no idea what he’s going to do next. That’s the fun part.
This is the first of many stories I hope to share about our community of artists at Heartshare. Next time, I’ll introduce you to another incredible individual who makes this work so rewarding.
Mitchel Coffman is a New York City-based artist working across painting, murals, and film. He serves as an instructor in Heartshare’s Artshare program, where he helps participants with developmental disabilities to explore their creativity, develop their artistic skills, and share their stories through art.