Derek Larsen has been an artist his whole life and a ceramist since his sophomore year of high school. Larsen grew up in Maryland and went to Boston University. Although he already had a passionate devotion to ceramics, he went to school for advertising and did not rediscover ceramics for another twenty years. After school he started an MFA program for sequential art at SCAD hoping to create a graphic novel but he struggled to hit his stride and had an unexpected child that further complicated his responsibilities. After graduating from SCAD, he started working for the schools admissions office but left the job awhile later. He struggled to create with full time responsibilities and an ever increasing depressive spiral. Eventually, he hit a point where he knew he needed to turn things around and slowly worked on building back his life.
That was back in 2019, around the same time he signed up for a ceramics class and rediscovered what he had been missing, with a new mindset. Now, he makes work to stay in the present, check his ego, and enjoy the process. Currently, Larsen is showing work mostly around Savannah but his work is in collections across the country.