Rate My Professor Ricky Drew

Ricky Drew serves as the leading hand signwriter in the Building Services unit at the University of Otago, where he manages all aspects of signage solutions including consultation, design, digital printing, vinyl cutting, installation, and removal. Accessible via mobile at +64 21 225 4855, telephone at +64 3 479 8003, or email at tradeservices.signage@otago.ac.nz, Drew plays a key role in delivering coordinated building services across campus facilities. His expertise ensures quality execution in signage projects, supporting the university's property services operations.

Born and raised in Dunedin, Drew attended Kings High School, studying art and mastering perspective and depth. Around age 20, he completed a signwriting apprenticeship in Australia. He subsequently spent 10 years at Williams Signs + Graphix in Dunedin, focusing on pictorial signwork such as painting cows on trucks. For approximately 20 years, he ran his own signwriting business, producing prominent murals including a car bursting through the wall of Castle Street Panelbeaters, a stagecoach at the Strath Taieri Hotel in Middlemarch, a tiger advertising Tiger Tea on the Caversham Physiotherapy Building, and recreations of historic signs like Tiger Tea, Lane's Bottled Sunshine, and Ward's Ice Cream at the Ravensbourne Store. In around 2003, encouraged by his wife Rose—a senior administrator at the University of Otago—and friend Geoff Williams, Drew transitioned to canvas painting, starting with still lifes of apples, capsicums, bananas, and mandarins. He has exhibited at the Rosslyn Gallery on George Street. Specializing in contemporary realism with acrylics, his works evoke moods through overgrown cars, old buildings, alleyways, night-time cityscapes, and kiwiana themes; about 80% incorporate words, letters, or numbers, echoing his signwriting roots. Paintings require 20 to 80 hours each. In 2022, his 100cm x 80cm acrylic 'No. 2,' portraying a shed on Fryatt Street, auctioned via Fishmob for over $9000 to support Ukrainian children through Ein Herz für Kinder, contributing to a $100,000 total from 18 artworks. A former rugby player and boxer, Drew won the New Zealand amateur featherweight title, New Zealand vs. Australia amateur featherweight title, and Victorian state amateur featherweight title.