Best Practices for Large Scale and Public Art Mosaics with Julie Richey

A graduate of the University of Dallas and a 1987 Rotary Foundation Graduate Scholar to Italy, Julie began making mosaics in 1991. Working in diverse mosaic media she has completed many residential, commercial and public art projects in Texas, New Mexico, Virginia, Minnesota, Mexico, Italy and Spain. Most recently, her commissions have included the 325-square-foot marble and Italian glass mosaic in the lobby of the Grand Galvez hotel in Galveston, Texas; “Pamplona Rose,” a three-dimensional sculpture and complementary mosaic in the entryway of the AC Marriott Hotel in downtown Fort Worth; and an ambitious installation across the campus of the new Fort Worth North Animal Care and Control facility.

During the challenge of the pandemic in 2020-2021, she completed a 144-s.f. Italian and Mexican glass smalti façade mosaic called “First In” for the City of Mesquite’s new fire station #4. 

In 2017, she and a team of mosaic conservators repaired the interior and façade mosaics at St. Jude Chapel in downtown Dallas. In 2013, she completed an 8 x 8-foot mosaic, designed by Professor Emeritus Lyle Novinski, of the Transfiguration of Christ for the Chapel of the Transfiguration at the University of Dallas Eugene Constantin Campus in Rome.

While she is well known for her many architectural mosaic installations in places such as the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geological Sciences and at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, her true passion for mosaics is most evident in her fine art sculptures.

She exhibited in the Society of American Mosaic Artists Mosaic Arts International juried exhibition for 11 years. Her mosaics have been included in juried shows throughout the US and in Italy, including the international “Opere del Mondo” exhibition as part of the 2011 Ravenna Mosaico Biennial festival. She has won Best 3-D Mosaic in 2011 for “La Corrente,” a sculptural dress mosaic; Juror’s Choice for “Night Shirt” in the 2009 and Members’ Choice for “L’Ambasciatrice” in the 2007 Mosaic Arts International. In September 2009, “Night Shirt” was awarded the international Grand Prize from Orsoni Smalti Veneziani. As part of the award, Orsoni displayed the “Night Shirt” in its Venice headquarters for three months and gave Julie a weeklong trip to Venice, Italy.

Julie’s work has appeared in national and international publications such as Architectural Digest – Russia, American Craft, AmericanStyle, Dallas Modern Luxury, Mosaic Art NOW Magazine, Luxe Magazine, Dallas Home Design,The Dallas Morning News, Glass Tile Inspirations for Kitchens and Baths, and Mosaic Art Today. She’s been a featured speaker at the Society of American Mosaic Artists annual conferences, Mosaic Art School of Sydney, the University of Dallas School of Ministry Conference and the Colorado Mosaic Artists guild. 

A frequent traveler to Italy, Julie leads Mosaic Masterpiece Tours to Rome, Florence, Venice and Ravenna. She takes her guests on behind-the-scenes tours of artists’ studios, Italian manufacturers, culinary centers and museums. In June, 2015 Julie was one of 11 international artists invited to Friuli, Italy to create a “re-imagined” chair for the First International Symposium of Mosaic, hosted by Clauiano Mosaics & More. In August, 2016 she joined CMM as a guest artist in Sardinia for the two-week Sardus Pater -themed International mosaic symposium.

Church commissions include works at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Plano, University of Dallas and Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, University of Dallas in Rome, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in El Paso, St. Philip the Apostle in Falls Church, VA, St. Patrick in Edina, MN and First English Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, PA.