9. Gary Drostle on Smashing Tiles – Part 2

Today we have the incredible artist, Gary Drostle, back on the podcast. Back in February, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary. The episode with the first half of our conversation dropped on Monday. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, definitely go back and do that now, because it was so much fun and it really informs the rest of the conversation that you’ll get to listen to today. In the last episode, we talked about Gary’s beginnings as a muralist and mosaic artist, where Gary gets his artistic inspiration, and the stories behind two of Gary’s major works – a floor mosaic at a hospital and a public mosaic sculpture. In this episode, the second half of our conversation, we go into more of Gary’s most satisfying moments in his career so far, including a couple of mosaics for the University of Iowa, and a collaborative community project in Colombia. Gary also generously shares his daily work routine, how he organizes his studio workflow, and how he gets most of his projects. Based in Southeast London, UK, Gary Drostle has over 30 years of experience in public art, working primarily with painting and mosaic techniques. His mosaic work in particular has won several prestigious awards and gained international recognition – he has completed major commissions in Iowa, Chicago, California, and Washington DC. Gary has also worked on community projects in Chile and Colombia. In addition, Gary continues to create major public artworks at his home in London, including commissions for TFL – Transport for London, Chester City Council, London Borough of Bexley, The Royal College of General Practitioners and many more. I met Gary at the first International Urban Mosaic Intervention in Chile in 2014, and later that year we both participated in the Second Biennial of Muralism and Public Art in Cali, Colombia. He is a much awaited and requested guest for this podcast, and it’s an honor to have him on! Links: Gary’s website: https://www.drostle.com/ Follow Gary on Instagram: @garydrostle https://www.instagram.com/garydrostle/ Works Mentioned in this Episode: • River of Life https://www.drostle.com/the-river-of-life-mosaic/ • Movement and Vitality (swirly sports) https://www.drostle.com/movement-vitality-mosaic/ • Las Manos de Todos (Colombia) https://www.drostle.com/las-manos-de-todos/ • Gary’s Work at the Biennale in Cali, Colombia: https://www.drostle.com/la-peurta-mosaic/ Gary’s Domestika Course, Introduction to Mosaic Artwork! https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/2097-introduction-to-mosaic-artwork Follow the podcast on Instagram! @beyondthewall.muralpodcast Support the podcast on Patreon: www.patreon.com/shannonmcevoy Music from the album, INTERVALO by @kevtomas Thank you!