We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brian Gilbert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

It seams I was destined to become an artist. I grew up with my grandfather in an Atlanta suburb. My grandfather worked on the original Superman, Popeye, and Betty Boop cartoons in the early 40’s with Fleischer Brothers Studios in Miami, FL. After stint’s as a pastor and educator, he settled on a full time profession as a sign painter. I was happy to help out as early as 10 years old. I would paint the backgrounds on 4’x8′ sheets of plywood. Afterwards, he would use a “pounce pattern” to transfer the graphics onto the surface, and then he would dip his red sable brush into One Shot Sign-Painters paint and free-hand each letter adding a “shadow” at the end of the process to make it look 3 dimensional.

On many occasions, I would come home from school, and I would see a wrecker, race car, school bus, etc. in the driveway. My job would be to get the surface clean with Windex and get the chalk line “chalked up” and ready for him to space out the lettering. The final step of the prep would be for him to use a stick of willow bark charcoal to “rough-out” the letters before applying the paint.

I loved working with him and I developed a “good eye” and passion for graphics, color combos, and composition.

Brian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a mixed media artist working at my studio/gallery in the heart of Savannah, GA in the City Market Arts Center. My gallery number is 104, and we have a great co-op of artists that continually support one another. I studied art at Jacksonville State University, and I aways knew when I was able to break away from corporate life, I would dive head first into creating art that was very different and fun. I’m an abstract expressionist, and my work focuses on atmospheric skyscapes with explosions of color. Most of my work starts out as photos of sunrise and sunsets at the beaches close to me. They include Tybee Island, Saint Simons Island, Jekyll Island, and Amelia Island. I manipulate the photos focusing on color and mood and print the result by sending a fiber board through a UV printer. Afterwards, I embellish on the print using encaustic, oil, and acrylic paints including spray paint. They goal is to create lots of layers to add depth. The result has been very well received. I was recently chosen for the second time to participate in the FAAA Telfair Museum’s Small Works Show.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

During the pandemic, I decided to create a social media presence called Daily Dose of Coast. The idea was to post daily coastal themes from my work and the work of other artists. It started with pixel capture of the ocean color from beach cams along the southeast GA and Northeast FL coasts. All the beaches were closed, and this action was my way bring some joy to my followers. Most of my followers follow me on my personal Facebook page, but I’m starting to get traction on Instagram @daildoseofcoast. I plan to start using paid social ads in 2024 to expand my reach.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the best thing cities, towns, organizations, etc. can do is create artists in residence programs that let artists focus solely on their work. I know there are some that make it a criteria at the end of the residency that the artist must give a work to the community at large like a mural, park sculpture, painting for a municipal building, etc. It’s so hard to work a full time job and pursue art as a side hustle. I think there are so many beautiful works we have missed out on because talented artists didn’t have the time or energy to create to their full potential.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dailydoseofcoast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.gilbert.3382

Image Credits
All images are the property of Brian Gilbert