Its been a year of upheaval for all of us, so...

"I make art that offers you a safe place to forge a deep reconnection to yourself, to others, and to nature itself. We all have a belonging that is ancient, so I invite you to see yourself in my art and to see the wild in us all."

Or, at least that is what my elevator-pitch mission statement says right now. I'm working on it.

The truth is, like a lot of artists, I am going through a transition. I am responding to an awareness that started, for me, around about 2019 when it was becoming increasingly more apparent that our climate crisis was turning into a climate emergency.

Then Covid hit.

People were dying. I was so filled with fear, anger, despair, and compassion. I started a garden and threw my whole self, Frugoli style, into it. But still, it wasn't enough. Russia invaded Ukraine and I found myself sobbing while planting my seedlings.

Studying art in college, I used my art to express my angst. I needed it! But after my Masters in Art Therapy and practice for 10 years, I thought I had it kind of figured out. All I wanted to do was become a better painter and to bring beauty and joy to others through representational artwork. But, fast forward to 2020, and I didn't see why the world needed another pretty painting.

Beauty wasn't enough anymore.

After suffering for most of that year, I finally realized I had the tool all along. As a trained art therapist I should have known right away, I needed the healing power of art. Finally something broke free in me and I knew that making art from a place of honesty and compassion about these true human emotions would not only help me, it might touch others deep enough to be healing as well.

So I have been on a 5 year journey to transform my art into what it needed to become. More on that in my next email.

I hope my new art gives you just as much joy as my old art and, don't worry, I will still do my plein air work. There is still something so immediate and fulfilling about painting out of doors.

I have a year packed with plein air shows, group shows, and TWO solo shows (whew) and, get this, I've been filming to start a Youtube channel: Art, Breathe, Paint, Air with Tracey Frugoli. (More on that soon.)

I want whatever time I have left on this Earth to mean something and art is what I was put here to do.

I'm grateful that my art has touched so many and I hope it continues to do so.

-Tracey

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook, I've been sharing a lot:)