We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Glayson LeRoy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Glayson below.

Glayson, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

As a graphic designer I have always had a passion for arts and with the amount of artists friends who do a lot of murals it seemed like the right move. It started by producing an art show in Delray Beach FL in 2017 called Stairwell Visuals. The show featured over 10 artists from South Fl who all have had a hand in the South FL graffiti and street art scene. After that we started to get more into mural curations for private clients such as development companies as well as private citizens. In that same year we curated a large wall in Wynwood facing the tracks and called it Trackside walls. We featured artists from all over the Nation as well as other parts of the world. From there we eventually merged with a few other collectives in Wynwood to form Wynwood Mural Fest (WMF). By forming WMF we now have a community lead effort with multiple collectives bringing in artists from around the world to showcase their skills during Art Basel and Miami Art Week. WMF21 brought in over 100 artists and produced around 70 murals. The murals were a mix of graffiti and street art murals. You can see all of the murals on Instagram @wynwoodmuralfest.

Glayson, 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?

A little about me. I am a graphic designer and now art and mural curator as mentioned before. I got into curating by being around talented muralists and seeing the amazing work they all put into it. Our main focus as an artist first collective is to bridge the gap between artists and clients by providing the artists with our skills. Which are negotiating projects, applying to multiple call to artists projects and putting together showcases such as WMF for them to be in front of as many eyes of potential collectors and or clients looking for murals.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

So as a person who doesn’t paint I had to really be resilient on my approach to gain the artists trust. So that I can produce work for them in the future. Let me tell you that t was a big challenge. First I had to learn a lot about the mural industry as far as pricing, mural style, insurance and equipment. So I went heavy on speaking with artists and collectives on what their process was. I have to say that all of them were very welcoming and helpful with amazing knowledge. Specially my good friend Alex Vaughn who owns Cushy Gigs. His knowledge as an artist an business owner helped me shape the way I run Galera Collective and also how I go about producing Wynwood Mural fest. And speaking of Wynwood Mural fest which is a huge undertaking; I have to give a big thank you to my partner Stephanie Kass. She is an incredible person and super talented event and mural producer. Her knowledge of event production, mural production and amazing organization skills are above most humans and again I couldn’t be more thankful for her.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I really had to learn how to check my ego and work from a place of empathy. Growing up playing then coaching soccer I become very competitive and some what ego driven. Take it I was a very young coach and had a lot of success so I now see where the inflation of the ego came from. So as I ventured into the mural arts world I took the humble approach which was not easy, but it was the right call. By being humble knowing that I needed to learn a lot I have been able to steadily grow and expand the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.galeracollective.com
• Instagram: @glaysonleroy @galeracollective @wynwoodmuralfest
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glayson.leroy
• Twitter: glaysonleroy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQJDmq391HC4wP9a_ZF4uw

Image Credits
Photos by David Sepa and Robert Exelbierd