Meet the Maker
Hello Everyone!
You’ll get to know me through my work as Rust Belt Artistry but my name is Andrew Walck, some of you will also know me as Gordy. I was born and raised in North Tonawanda // Western New York Bills Country. I went to college for Landscape Architecture at SUNY ESF (Shoutout all the Stumpies out there, I love you all). I then moved to Pittsburgh for almost 4 years working for WSP USA as a Federal Planner. Art has always been a passion of mine. During High School I was lucky enough to be a part of the Academy of Engineering and Architecture which allowed me to pursue more art, tech, and computer/drafting classes than in a regular curriculum. This sparked something in me of always wanting to create and be creative. For me that is why I went to SUNY ESF to pursue Landscape Architecture, to find a way to be creative but also improve lives through design. Along the way I grew and learned so much more than I could have ever imagined. Landscape Architecture became graphic design, sociology, environmentalism, the list could go on for hours. My mind and view of what was possible expanded beyond my wildest dreams. After college trying to find a first job is, let’s go with, a fun experience. You don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into. You find yourself dumped into the fire trying to figure it out, and by the time you do figure it out you think to yourself maybe this isn’t what I really want to be doing. That’s a hard realization to come to and a difficult one to really grasp and deal with. But I did, and I looked back and tried to find what I was passionate about, what gave me the drive and motivation to get up and do things every day that would fulfill that drive within myself. The answer was always being creative and having the freedom to express myself. So how could I take what I was trained in, what I practiced for years and make it into something that I could share with the world? These are the questions that I was asking myself. It led me to here, writing this journal entry on a site I built, and launching a brand that I am SO proud of. Taking graphic design, art, creativity, and my love for people and their passions and creativity, wrapping it all up into Rust Belt Artistry right here. This is just the beginning of Rust Belt Artistry and this journey that we are going to go on together. I am so proud and glad to be here steering this ship. Know that you are in good hands and I will do everything in my power to make sure that everything is perfect for you.
As always, cheers, and please be good to each other, let’s all practice more empathy
Andrew “Gordy” Walck
