Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Five years ago, Clifton park game developer Steve Derrick, like so many others, found himself working from home. 5 years removed from the pandemic. I caught up with Steve Derek in that same basement studio, along with his two small dogs, with one adamant about my presence throughout our conversation. So you'll hear him sometimes in the background. It was in that basement studio that he took the time to advance his own portraits of people looking for subject matter. Across Instagram, he found a kinship seeing the world of COVID through the faces of frontline healthcare workers. For months, Steve Derek captured those portraits of those essential workers, putting pencil and color onto matte pages and then forwarding those portraits to those key caring individuals.
In his own way, Steve Derek helped so many health care workers make it through some of the toughest times in their careers and even found himself impacting me and my own family.
Steve Derrick, tell me your story.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: So I know of your work beginning five years ago.
Where were you in your life five years ago before?
You know, we're a week out from the first confirmed case in New York State.
So where were you five years ago?
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Five years ago. So it came at an interesting time. So my company, we had our founders left, they created a new company and went through a leadership change. And I was part of the senior leadership team. And so there's a big changes going on with that and we were merging in with Blizzard. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on, right, that was happening. So from a change management perspective, a lot of stuff going on at work, and then on top of that, we get put into lockdown. I'm a people person. You know, it was all about helping, developing and growing people. My job right now is all in learning and development and supporting leadership development. So it was a big transition for me even before the pandemic. As soon as the pandemic hit, it was like, oh, man, now what am I going to do? I'm locked in this, you know, my house by myself.
What do I do? So that's the kind of state of mind I was at just before the pandemic.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: And we're here to talk about your artwork and really such meaningful outwork that you were out artwork you were creating during, during the pandemic. Your. Your artistry. Have you always been an artist as a kid? Is that something that you grew into or was it a natural?
[00:03:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I've always been an artist. I have a fine art degree and a computer animation degree. But I think before the pandemic.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: I.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: Was more of a. Into nature and scenes and Wasn't really good. I wouldn't consider myself very good at drawing people.
So one of the things the Pandemic did was, hey, you've got a lot of time on your hands. You can make sourdough bread like a lot of people did, right? You make sourdough bread, you'll start learning things. I thought, well, I've got some time. Maybe I'll start learning how to draw people better. Not that I didn't know how to. I sketch all the time, but I didn't think I was that great.
So that's where I was.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: And the subject matter is so unique. I mean, we're here to talk about your work that touched so many people. And we talked briefly locally, nationally, internationally. These Frontline employees, these Frontline people that were delving into this every day, they couldn't get away from it.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Yeah, it was part of our lives. Right. It was front and center.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Where did what. You know, where did the first. The first one come from? That first design, that first sketch, that first, you know, sketch and then color that for that first Frontline worker.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: I think. So I started out, we're trying to get better at drawing people. And I started painting and drawing people that I know, friends and family going on to Facebook. And it just got really boring, really quick, because there's no. There's no real emotion in some of those. You know, you don't. There's a story sometimes, but it's just.
It didn't feel inspiring.
And surfing through Instagram, I came across times People of the Year, Person of the Year. I don't know if it was people or Person of the Year was the Frontline workers. And it had a few of their.
Few of the first ones that were showing, you know, the really bruised faces with all the masks they've had on for, like, 15, 16 hours straight. And then they go home, have to wear them. And so it was just really touching. And I thought, oh, yeah, you know, that that's. There's some emotion in that. I really enjoy emotion, the emotion as part of the portrait.
So I had their Instagrams on there, their Instagram, you know, tagging this person. This person. This person is the persons of the year.
So I painted a portrait and sent it to. On their Instagram and said, hey, if you're interested, I'll send you the original. And then they're like, wow, thank you very much. This is amazing. And then I posted it, and then I did that with maybe six or seven. And then I started getting emails from Instagram, messages from Others saying, hey, here's my story, here's what goes with that. And I think I got up to about a hundred of just people sending in their stories. And I had some qualifications I didn't want, you know, cutesy, like I'm in the restroom with my duck face, you know, kind of portraits. I wanted real, real portraits, real, real experiences. And everyone that came in were tied to a story of. This is a picture of me after I lost three patients. This is a picture of me after, you know, this horrible experience. And it was.
Well, I get choked up here even talking about it, but it was, it was impactful, right where people were sharing these like, wow, this, these, these are true heroes.
And then it got picked up by CBS News and, you know, took off and locally we did a portraits of the pandemic, the healing portrait of the pandemic for the art center down in Albany. That was.
Yeah, and it was great. That's where it kind of took off was from that original one time person of the year.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: As a photographer, you know, many part of my duties is absolutely appreciate the candid versus the Sears portrait studio, anything posed, you know, in Facebook, you know, as well as the duck and things like that. It's always when we're out there, we're always looking for that moment and you always hope it's a bright moment, but sometimes it's not.
Was there a, was there. So was there a relationship with these first responders, these frontline people in your background and your dealings and things like that where, where it was either, you know, police, fire, you know, doctors, nurses, prior to capturing, seeing the time and having it ring through to you?
[00:08:13] Speaker C: No, not really. No. It's just I saw these people as people that were serving and helping and that resonated with me. I can't do anything. I'm sitting at home. What am I going to do to help, you know, with any other stuff out there? So it was kind of a vicarious way of supporting and doing things. But no, I haven't, I don't have any nurses in my. Well, I do have a sister that's now a nurse, but I didn't have, you know, nurses and doctors and whatever that were in my family that resonated, made this happen.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: How was it for you? Because again, the people that you're portraying that you're creating this artwork of, again, so many cases they couldn't get away from, they're dealing with it at work and then they're going home and it's going to the store with a mask on getting everything through Amazon, door deliveries, taking care of parents, moving in with parents to take care of them. So in a sense, they couldn't get away from it. For you, you're almost like diving into it.
Were you okay with that? Was this kind of like your way to get through the pandemic?
[00:09:29] Speaker C: It was the way for me to get through. It was one way for. I mean, my wife was a. Was working in an office supply store and everybody was working from home. No one had supplies. So her business, she was considered one of the essential workers.
She was coming home with horror stories of how horrible things are and how much work sucks and how people treat you. Really boring. For me, I was getting these inspiring stories and I was getting this opportunity to share things with others.
And it was. I was being buoyed up, right? I was feeling empowered and excited and kind of spiritually lifted rather than mentally drained where I would have been just with the same thing as my wife. I mean, she looks back as one of the most horrible things. And for me, it was strengthening. You know, it was a wow, look how amazing people are. Look how great, you know, people are under pressure and do these things. So it was. And it's not just nurses and doctors. There were police officers, there were firefighters or paramedics. I think I have like three or four portraits of morticians that were called in because there was so many people they were dealing with that they, you know, dealing with stacked up bodies. And I don't want to get into specifics because it's just some of those are really gut wrenching stories. But, yeah, it was.
Brought me through the pandemic.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: How many do you. How many portraits do you think you completed during that time period? And then what was, was there an exit plan? What was the exit plan?
[00:11:14] Speaker C: I had a spreadsheet with stories that were coming in and how many. Which ones I've done and then the addresses, where to mail it out to, because they would mail them their portraits. And, you know, depending on where it was, it could be, you know, in England and Turkey and Germany and you could. It was interesting seeing it start in like, Spain and then the UK and then New York City. Crazy New York City. And then Texas, Florida. You know, you'd see these kind of spots popping up and you get more and more from different areas. And a lot of these are traveling nurses.
I forgot where, where we were, where.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Was, where was like, what was it? Was there an exit plan?
[00:11:56] Speaker C: Oh, it was an exit plan, yes.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: So how many, how many did you do?
[00:11:59] Speaker C: So I Started this spreadsheet, and I got up to around 400 portraits that I'd done. Wow. And it was.
We're starting to see the pandemic doing better and getting less and less. And I thought, you know, there's got to be a time where eventually, 400. That's. I was doing at least a portrait every day, and a portrait's not, you know, 15 minutes. It's more like three hours minimum to do one of these portraits. So it was a lot of time. And one of the things I started doing was I'm. I'm. I stopped accepting responses unless there was something just really, wow, that was just. That story is pretty impactful.
And then for about two weeks, I didn't do any portraits, and then I switched to a series that was Everyday Beauty. It was like a cleansing. So send me in a portrait of the most happy experience you can think of that you have captured on a picture. So I would do. You know, there's a couple over there. You can see them in there at the beach, and there's a couple here. They're kids, and, you know, so I'd have a lot of these very positive things coming in. It was almost like a.
Okay, breathe. Bring in something else. And then that one, I only did maybe 50 or so, but then I was like, okay, I'm done doing people there for now.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: The.
What have you done? You. You went through. And I refer to it as the dark times, because it was. It was for so many of us. We're all impacted for. This is Covid. Covid is just the other C word. You know, cancers. Everybody's been impacted by cancer some way, shape or form throughout your life, you. You've been impacted. Cove is kind of like that same other C word. What.
How. Where have you gone since then in your artwork? And obviously, we talked briefly about your professional career, and that's been. The names keep on adding up, successful mergers and things like that. So where's your artwork gone? You know, probably like the last three and a half years.
[00:14:21] Speaker C: I do a lot of traveling, and I carry a sketchbook with me everywhere I go. So I have a travel sketchbook, and travel. I paint, and I sketch in my sketchbook. So I have a multiple sketchbooks of just people that I see, you know, and I paint them and draw them. And a lot of times, my wife and I were just. Craft show last week, and business was a little slow, and I'm sketching, and I sketch the people next to me in the next booth, and they're like, oh, that's amazing. I just cut it out of my sketchbook. Here you go. I have that. And so I do a lot of that. I don't do commission work that often because I have a regular job. So I paint and draw for my mental sanity, for just keeping, you know, keeping sane and doing things. So I. I still do a lot of painting.
Probably within the last three months. I've been doing a lot of art nouveau versions of stuff.
Did like, a portrait of my daughter. Here's all the things that are important to her around. It's right behind you where you can see what. You know, the things that are important to her, and in kind of an art nouveau style. That's the latest thing, but I'll find something interesting and then switch into that for a while. And.
Yeah, that's probably most recent. Just continuing.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Regarding artwork, you said that, you know, at that point in time, you were working on portraits and perfecting, you know, advancing. I don't think perfecting has ever happened for an artist. Advancing your portrait work. What was that challenge when predominantly.
[00:16:14] Speaker C: You.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Were doing port, you were advancing your portrait work. And then so much of your artwork includes the first responders, the frontline, people in masks. And also there's such a focus on the eyes, and people I've talked to appreciate that work, that time, and the way you represented the eyes. So what was. Was there something harder or deeper, different that you had experienced before with people on the front lines? Like I said, with some of the marks and then the mask. And then also talk a little bit about the. The eye work. That's so appreciated.
[00:16:49] Speaker C: Yeah. I think one of the things that Steve, when he did the interview with the CBS News guys, it's like, oh, you don't. You don't draw them in the way that they necessarily like to be drawn. You know, you're showing all the warts and wrinkles and the poor. You know, he said you're not showing them at their best. Right.
And. Wow. One of the things that I had mentioned at the time was I think I am showing them at their best. So they're the most kind of their beat and their eyes show that. That frustration and that pain that they're going through that is, you know, that's. That's bringing out that strength. Right. So I think no matter what portrait I do, I look for more of the realism. Capturing that. And being a photographer, you're not really capturing their personality when you're having them posed and it looks just so. But when you catch them at that moment where there's some kind of emotion, and you can see it in their eyes. It's subtle, but you can tell a big difference when there's that spark.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: So I'm stepping away from the mic for one second because we're going to cover the driving point behind this interview for me. So. One second.
So.
[00:18:10] Speaker C: I recognize those envelopes.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Yes, you do.
So I'm going to give you that.
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: So what I have in my early one, my possession, is a Steve Derek original of my wife Rita as she was a patient, patient care on ICU at Saratoga Hospital. And she has on her mask and her glasses and her cap.
And I have the envelope that Steve not only created her. Her. Not her likeness, but he captured my wife Rita and then mailed it. And again, the response from now on, my wife, her brother, you know, who she scanned and sent him a photo. But so many of those women and men that worked on ICU and what it meant to them. And then when I mentioned the anniversary and talking about you and wanting to get together, she's like, you've got to. You've got to. She was adamant, you know. Again, you said that's an early one.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: You know, was that just because it just kind of started and Sarah local and things like that and.
[00:19:30] Speaker C: Well, it was most. The early ones were mostly.
Well, they did full faces, but also sometimes when the eyes were just like. Yeah, that one's a good one. Just to. I. So I did some. Just. Just eyes. And this is from the nose up. Right. From those to the forehead, there's no.
There's no mouth. There's nothing in there. So it's just that. But that's all we were seeing for a while of people. You know, if you're out in the store, out in anywhere you're going, all you saw were people's eyes and the bridge of their nose.
You didn't see if they were smiling except unless their cheek moved up a little bit. You can see underneath that. Oh, they're smiling. I could see. But their eyes. Right. So that's where it kind of started was. Was with all the eyes telling the stories and the. The emotions.
Yeah, the early ones were a lot of eyes.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: The. And I know.
Yeah. It's that I see again, you did. You had the showing, you know, through. Through Albany Med, and you had a lot up there. And then part of that, the carrying came up with, you know, uppity poster. Right. And I'm.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: So.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: So read is number two. She's. She's right up on there. So she'll be thrilled with that. But just you look at the array because you have again, like kind of the evolution of those early eyes and then we go into seeing more full faces and masks and then we see the clear screen and then we see, then we see the wear and tear on the face and things like that.
Is this, I think, you know, as this was a hundred year pandemic, you know, there was Spanish flu that so few survived or saw. Are you hoping that this is it for your foray into something like this, or do you think that there's something else that may come up that may draw you to it? I don't know. I don't. This is a cause or a call. Was this a cause or a calling or.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: I don't know. It was, I mean, because it was something that happened and it affected me. It became part of what I did. So I'm hoping that we don't have anything big like this happen again. But if something like this did happen, it's going to affect me and I will probably react in the way that I would react and I don't know, documenting is the wrong word, but just noting, you know, this is, these are my emotions, this is how I cope. This is how I think. So it would be.
Would it happen again? Probably if we had something major like this happen again, I would probably end up doing the same thing. I don't probably learn different logistics and execution going forward, but I could see that easily happening. Yeah.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: The. I know locally you talked to one of the nurses that you drew that was up.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: Only one I've met in person. I was just gonna say no, I've met two. Two in person.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: Okay. And have others reached out? I mean, obviously you've gotten the, you know, thank yous and things like that and.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: Yeah. But I still have only met two.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: In. In person.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: The reaction, you know, albeit distance, you know, non formal surprise. You like the international, you know, when after CBS and again building up to 3, 400 requests and eventually saying I'm sorry, you know, were you surprised that your work is now. It was worldwide then and still is now.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I kind of surprised me because I didn't think I'm. I'm not that amazing of an artist. There's some really amazing portrait artists out there that do just crazy amount of work and mine was more quantity than quality in some cases. I don't know if, you know, if I really wanted to spend more time on it, I could have done a better job. But yeah, I was a little surprised at how much how much it took off. I mean, I'm just. Look at. I'm here in my bunker of a studio basement in upstate New York.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: So the.
When you share your artwork or your story gets shared and people put it together that you're. That Steve, you know, what's the reception like when the connection comes? Because again, we're five years and in our world now, five years, it seems like a lifetime. We forget so soon, so many things that have happened and which I think as we age, we lament as our parents did, you know, remember when I missed the good old days. But, you know, from that event to now, when people connect, what's that reception been like?
[00:24:35] Speaker C: I guess it depends on the person that's remembering it. So. So if they were at that same craft show I was at last week, I drew those pictures for those. The people. And she said, oh, hey, this is that person that, you know, did the portraits during the pandemic. She was like, oh, that's right. And she was a rn. And then she told me her story and how, you know, she dealt with the pandemic and how she remembered seeing it on the news. And it was not just CBS News, it was also all the affiliates picked it up and the newspapers, different newspapers picked it up. So she knew about it.
Makes me a little uncomfortable because it's.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Like.
[00:25:12] Speaker C: I don't think I'm that great, but people do remember it, which was nice.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: The.
We're almost there to the tough question, the last question, the tough question. But where are you at right now? I know you said as you travel so much, you know, you're still sketching and painting and things like that, but how much has the back to work life changed? Which is, I think is important because you have such a. People say to me, I have the coolest job in the world. I'm not going to argue with them.
But you operate in a world that's beyond international.
So what's changed, you know, for you in the. Since. Since, you know, you've been able to be back and travel and be in offices and things like that? I know your industry has gone through a ton of changes. So where. Where are you at right now? What, what. What's changed out of COVID for you and your businesses? I do we call it game design. Do we call what. Take us through that.
[00:26:14] Speaker C: Well, game development. So I don't make the games anymore. I've been there. This is my 26th year, so I've been in the trenches doing. Making the games for a long time. And then Got into studio leadership and making, you know, developing people. That what has changed over time for me and one of the classes that I teach is on purpose and values.
What is it that drives you? What makes you want to come to work, what makes you want to do this and, you know, do what you do.
My job transitioned into developing and helping growing people and making them good at their jobs. I like seeing people succeed, I like seeing people develop, which kind of goes into the same thing with my, my artwork as well.
So I think, where, where am I now? What is my, From a, from a me perspective, I'm still doing the same thing. It's just now I'm doing it through, helping, helping others in at work through leadership development or through coaching or through hands on, you know, training.
But, you know, our company's going back to work. We're still hybrid, but there are people that are, you know, still working through the. Working from home, some part at work part here.
I don't know if we're fully out of that. I mean, unless maybe just now, the new norm is much different and we'll never be back to what it was before in the before days, you know, the pre pandemic. But it's a, it's a different world now.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: When you speak of growth, growth and development and you look at your time spent, you know, during the pandemic, where again, and we're downstairs in your office. It is an office. It is below ground. So yeah, we can call it the Bunker.
[00:28:02] Speaker C: But yeah, well, I call it the Bunker. My, my middle name is Bunker. So I, I, My Instagram is S. Derek Bunker Boy. So I'm.
It's a little bit of a play on words.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Did that help with, you know, for, for growth and expansion, to have the ability to be, to work remote where it's not like by the time you leave the office, by the time you plan dinner and get home, then you want to work on your art, you're like, ah, geez, I'm kind of gassed. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow. Did that hybrid, I mean, fully remote and then. And then expanding into hybrid. That, that help you? Do you think that may help people in their own growth and different personalities? I think certain personalities fill a room.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: I think certain personalities shrink in a room. So is hybrid maybe a good medium?
[00:28:59] Speaker C: I prefer working at work, but I think it's a, one of the things that I think I struggled with and probably struggle with now is if I'm spending eight hours a Day at this desk, and then the work's done. Unless I have something project that I'm really interested and excited about, I don't necessarily want to come back in this studio and switch desks over to my art side, because I'm kind of done with this room. But I think that's one of the things that was somewhat damaging is that, you know, unless you have different spaces, some people work out of their. Their. Their room at home, you know, in their desk at home, in their bedroom.
And if they're there eight hours a day and they don't want to go back in that room, they're just kind of. I'm done with that. And there's not really a place you can transition out into somewhere different, get out of a different headspace. So hybrid may work for some folks, but for other folks, where they don't have that opportunity to separate out work and life, it might be more challenging.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Do you separate it here? I mean, they're on two different walls, so you really can't see one to another. And it's. Your art space is anti feng shui, where your back is to the world, but then you're creating the world in front of you. In a way, I feel.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: So is that why it worked? That's why the bunker works.
[00:30:21] Speaker C: But you can see my walls. There's not any space that doesn't have a portrait on or a picture on it somewhere. Right. So I bring it back. It's. Bring it in. So at my office at work, even I have an office at work. Same thing. I just. They're all plastered with artwork. So I. Instead of work taking over, it's my artwork taking over. So it's a bringing in some positive into my. My work is also positive, but it's just. It's a good work life balance for me.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: So we're gonna get you out on the tough one.
It's always. Sometimes it's tough, sometimes it isn't. But it's always kind of like how we've kind of finished up things is what's next.
And that's why I said sometimes this is the toughest one, because we're asking to look to the future, but what's. What's next, both in the work life and then in the art life and any projects or things like that, you know, professors, I say, what are you gonna do on the sabbatical? But, you know, for a lot of us, we don't have that gracious opportunity to work, you know, in that type of atmosphere. So what's next for you?
[00:31:32] Speaker C: I think the next is whatever.
Anything that I see that I think might be exciting. Like I said, with the Art Nouveau, we've been doing that for maybe three weeks or so, and it's a lot of fun. I can show you some of the pictures, but that kind of style resonates with me right now, and I might move into more of that, but that could last two weeks, and then I'm into something else. But it's always still.
There's got to be an emotional response to the work. Otherwise, it's just not exciting for me. And at work, we got by Microsoft. There's a lot of change going on, and I'm traveling internationally and doing training and seeing people and helping them. That still excites me. So that's in a good spot. It'll continue for a while.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: On behalf of myself and my wife and for everyone she's worked with and you touched, I just can't thank you enough for the time you took to create these everlasting memories that we've shared with family and friends and the work that you've done. And I say kiddingly, but seriously, there's one or two things that came out of COVID that weren't horrible, and your artwork was definitely one of them. So I thank you for coming on.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: I appreciate that. Thank you.
