Meet Luigi Gobbo

I grew up in a small town near Venice, Italy and studied mosaic tile arts at the Scuola Artigiana in Motta Di Livenza, province of Treviso. I enjoyed the arts and worked on several projects on display in my hometown and even won an award at the age of sixteen for a “Madonna” mosaic. As did many others from Europe at the time, I immigrated to the United States in search of new opportunities and began working as a tile apprentice at a large company in upstate New York.

In my spare time I enjoyed my other passion—playing soccer and soon met my wife and became a United States citizen. I became more experienced in the trade and eventually started my own tile contracting business. During this time, I made only a few mosaics for family and friends mostly as gifts.

Later, I was commissioned to make a mosaic for St. John’s Ukrainian Church in Johnson City which would be my first large-scale mosaic project in the United States and my most complex piece to date. I setup a workshop in the basement of my home with all the drawing supplies, cutting tools, tiles, and materials to set the mosaic on a panel to be installed later.

This led to many new opportunities to continue my artwork. I created a mosaic at the gateway to Little Italy Endicott depicting the tradition of wine-making which inspired a similar-themed piece for Visions Federal Credit in the Finger Lakes region.

I have made many types of mosaics over the years for both commercial clients and private collectors across the country. The works have ranged from portraits of legendary musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Michael Jackson, as well as famous structures like the Statue of Liberty, Rialto Bridge, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I have made many still life pieces in addition to dogs, cats, birds, and other animals. In addition, I have completed numerous customized requests for business and sport team logos.

Over the years, I have continued to hone my craft by experimenting with abstract style of art and through the use of very bright and contrasting colored glass tiles. I find it inspiring to use my hands to make a drawing and with very little equipment and tools to bring a picture to life from my vision. To have that ability to take your artist expression from conception to completion is very uplifting. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and love of mosaic artwork to the students.