Tom Tracy Art

Tom Tracy was born in Portland, Maine where he developed a fascination for the sea and boats. These early influences have profoundly affected his art. He captures his love of the sea and old New England in his paintings and drawings. Tom showed artistic promise early in his life. He began formal art training in the Portland Museum School at age eleven. During his high school years in Manchester, New Hampshire, he studied at the Art Institute. He went on to the University of New Hampshire (Class of 1955) where he continued his studies in art. Tom began his graduate work in 1957 at UNH. From there he continued his graduate studies at Syracuse University and the Instituto de Allende, San Miguel de Allende, the University of Guanajuanto/Mexico where he completed his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. Tom's first teaching positions were in New Hampshire and then in New York. In 1969, he was appointed Director of Art for the Winchester, Massachusetts Public Schools. He held this post for 20 years. In July 1988, he left art education to devote full time to his own art. Tom established his gallery in the Cape Ann region of Massachusetts in 1982. The gallery was located in Rockport, Massachusetts on Bearskin Neck. Over the years, Tom has had many art involvements. He owned and operated a private art school and gallery in Saratoga Springs, New York. He established a gallery in Kennebunkport, Maine. In the early sixties, Tom was the artist-in-residence for the U.S. Forest Service, White Mountain National Forest (NH). He instructed adult studio art classes in New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts. He was a guest lecturer at Skidmore College. Tom's style is unique and diversified. It is more interpretive than representational. It has evolved through many years of striving to develop a style that is his own. Tom has never been content with traditional approaches to art. He believes the creative artist must go a step beyond. Once the basic skills of drawing and composition have been mastered, the artist must develop his own originality in visual art expression.