Gary Drostle


Gary Drostle is a British artist specialising in public art, sculpture and mosaic as well as mural painting and drawing. He was also President of the British Association for Modern Mosaic, a lecturer at The Chicago Mosaic School. and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Mosaics.

Early Years and Education

Born in Woolwich, London, United Kingdom, the son of Docker and Trade Union activist Frederick Drostle. He studied art at the St Martin's School of Art and Hornsey College of Art where he undertook a Bachelor of Arts.
His graduate work was selected for the Christies 'Pick of the New Graduate Art' exhibition in 1984.

Public Art career

Haringey Hospitals Mural Project
After leaving art college in 1984 he worked on a Government employment program creating murals for Haringey Hospitals.
Haringey Mural Workshop
In 1987 he founded 'Haringey Mural Workshop' with four other members of the Hospital Arts Program: Ruth Priestly; Hilary Leobner; Joanne White and Paul Beaumont. They designed and painted their first major public commission 'History of the Peoples Palace' mural series for Alexandra Palace in London in 1987.
Wallscpaes
When the Haringey Mural Workshop disbanded in 1989 Gary set up the Arts Group 'Wallscapes' initially with Belfast artist Ruth Priestly, together receiving their first public mosaic commission in 1990 from London Borough of Islington. In 1990 Ruth returned to Belfast and Gary was joined by fellow St Martins colleague, artist Rob Turner. He worked with Rob Turner from 1990 to 2001 completing many major public art commissions across the UK including works for Sutton in Surrey, Gloucester city centre and Chingford Library for Waltham Forest Council.
Drostle Public Arts
In 2001 the Wallscapes partnership was dissolved and Gary set up a new studio in Greenwich to creating public art and mosaics. Since 2001 he has continued designing and making large scale public artworks, murals and mosaics across the UK and in the USA. He now works from a studio at The Lakeside Centre, a Bow Arts Trust and Peabody Trust partnership Arts Centre in Thamesmead, south-east London
In 2006 he received a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust award to further study mosaic making at the famous Orsoni Mosaic Works in Venice. In 2015 he undertook the major restoration and replacement works of the Eduardo Paolozzi Mosaics on the Central Line platforms at Tottenham Court Road tube station.

Notable works