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ARTIST |
I work in an abstract or semi-abstract style, using a wide variety of media to create imagery, often following a kind of narrative within myself to achieve a personal resolution or an answer by the end of the process. I typically engage my surfaces with encaustic paint, dammar varnish and wax utilizing various combinations of porous substrate materials including handmade paper, clay bisque, wood and found objects in deep relief or sculptural form. When drawing I find that oil pastel and graphite media flow and blend in such a way as to give me a sort of meditative freedom as well as serving as a guide in the use of encaustic for the larger works. My conceptual concern is focused on human interactions and natural world influences and inspirations. Through focus on the intersection of form/shape and a specific intangible or enigmatic issue, I attempt to make statements, to examine assumptions or pose questions in order to perceive and comprehend the spirit and mysterious energy underlying (my) life on the planet. I also find myself wondering and making art about how artwork can lead a viewer to an original idea or insight apart from or in addition to the artist’s original conception and awareness of process. The art making process is equally as important to me as the finished work; each action taken, each layering or removing of a layer in the paint or wax or clay, all congregation of marks, shapes and forms are the path leading away from the quandary of all that could be and leading toward some sort of release or rescue from a state of uncertainty and incongruity, however temporary. I have been creating paintings, sculpture, installations, performance pieces, storytelling or writing for over 20 years and often find myself influenced by the Abstract Expressionism movement as well as 50s and 60s era artists & writers such as Rauschenberg, Hesse and Golding. In some work I employ humor as a method of exposing a tender underbelly to a serious statement or question. Life is often very funny and a stop motion look at small elements of our culture through art or writing, allows me to explore and expunge a stereotype or prejudice that I see in myself or others. Bio: Tracy Leavitt holds a BFA degree from Maine College of Art (MECA). She is the director of Visions Story and Art Center which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the arts in education, professional and family life. In this capacity she has traveled widely designing and conducting artist residencies and workshops in visual and literary arts for children and adults including Visions Arts Camps and the Hudson Valley Storytelling Festival and art workshops at the International Schools in Jojakarta, Indonesia. Last fall Tracy was awarded a fellowship from Woman’s Studio Workshop in which she began a series of encaustic on clay pieces entitled, “Women Working.” In the past she has taken large scale commission pieces for various institutions and foundations such as: Staatsburgh State Historic Site, NY; a One-Woman Show focusing on the subject of family farms of NY through Cornell Cooperative Extention – funded by a fellowship award from NYFA and Dutchess County Arts Council; Tracy is also a member of Millrock Writers Collective, a group gathered to support high quality book publishing. One of her children’s stories is currently in the process of publication. She is also on the visual art faculty of High Meadow School, a small independent school in Stone Ridge, New York. Recent exhibitions
Tracy Leavitt
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