Host Wendy Solganik introduces season 6, episode 3 guestGloria Gelo, a Cleveland-raised contemporary abstract mixed media artist now based in Calgary and a new Fodder School 6 teacher. Gloria shares her Croatian immigrant family background, early love of art and typography, and how adiscouraging community college instructor derailed her confidence and pushed her into business school and corporate roles, including foreign currency trading at Citibank in New York and a creative resume-led job at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. After moving to Calgary, raising three sons, and laterdivorcing and remarrying, she received a 2018 corporate payout that enabled her to return to art full time, experiment across media, and develop a layered, minimalist collage practice using self-made papers and asemic writing. She now teaches in person and online, is gallery-represented, and previews her Fodder School “Line to Layer” challenge and a concertina book project focused on creating personal collage papers blending analog and digital methods.
00:00 Meet Gloria Gelo
02:06 Podcast Intro and Format
03:44 Nerves and Zoom Setup
04:34 Life in Calgary
06:13 Cleveland Roots and Canada
10:17 Fodder School Connection
11:36 Immigrant Family Story
15:08 Croatian Traditions and Food
20:27 Early Art Spark
23:28 Art School Confidence Crash
28:13 Business Pivot and Corporate Life
32:13 Wall Street to LA Move
34:56 Universal Studios Creativity Win
36:59 LA Life and Cabinet Business
38:43 Life in the Valley
39:52 Business Sold Suddenly
40:33 Move Back to Calgary
42:16 Divorce and Remarriage
43:05 Layoff Sparks Art
45:00 Finding Mixed Media
49:36 From Process to Selling
52:33 Gallery Representation
55:50 Teaching Goes Online
01:00:19 Art as Communication
01:08:07 Typography Origins
01:13:58 Asemic Writing Tips
01:16:48 Fodder School Projects
01:20:49 Final Wrap and Goodbye
