About
Artist Statement:
I approach my work process-driven and experimental, striving to blend turbulence and joy. Drawing inspiration from nature, history, and design elements, I explore themes, colors, materials and objects in my mixed-media creations.
For me, the act of creating art and being fully immersed in the present process is as important as the finished product. My ultimate goal is to be creative and inspire myself and others about the result of the art. As time goes on, my layered abstractions come to life and transform into something unique. I use a variety of media, textures, and gestures to explore different aspects of life, giving my compositions a sense of vitality and motion. By hand-molding and merging layers of materials, my pieces slowly reveal their meaning and beauty.
The source of creativity remains a mystery, but I feel grateful to be a vessel for it.
BIO
Tracey M. Kessler, b. in Huntington, New York, obtained her BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She then pursued painting conservation and restoration at the Instituto de Conservacion y Restauracion de Bienes Culturales in Madrid, Spain. Tracey began her architecture and interior design career in New York City and has spent 25 years working on commercial, residential, and retail projects on both coasts. In San Francisco, she established her interior design company, TKID.
Feeling the need for a second career, she became a full-time artist and educator in 2010.
Tracey's art exudes the serenity she experiences daily with acquaintances, friends, and family. Despite being influenced by the tumultuous times of our modern era, her art has a calming, organic feel that echoes her California lifestyle. Her artistry uses a diverse range of media, including oils, acrylics, inks, charcoal, gesso, ceramics, fiber and natural pigments, giving her artworks a unique voice.
Please see www.tkid-sf.com for design-related work.
Tracey can now be found working in her indoor/outdoor studio on Varda Landing in Sausalito, offering private and group workshops, and is currently the art teacher at Cavallo Point Lodge and Spa. www.cavallopoint.com/events/watercolor/
CV
Born in: Huntington, New York
Lives in: Sausalito, CA
Education
1995 Bachelors of Fine Arts (FIT, New York) Internship-Painting Conservation-Madrid, Spain
Selected Exhibitions
2024 "Telephone" An international art experiment -
www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/arts/design/…
2023 Friendly Tides, Marin Civic Center - 2/6-5/18
2022 Green Change, Earth 2050, Fiber art installation 4/24/22
2022 Marinship Studios-Artists of Varda Landing 4/2/22
2021 "Earthly Antinomies" Solo show:Oct-Nov. PALLAS Gallery- SF, CA
2020 "Duality" Virtual on-line exhibit- 9/1/30 - 12/30/20 Tarjan Center at UCLA - CalArts
2020 "Telephone" An international art experiment -
www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/arts/design/…
2019 NIAD, There’s Reality, and Then There’s California, 6/1/2019- Richmond, CA
2017 Open Studios - Beyond The Wave Gate - Sausalito, CA
2017 Carbondale Arts – Correspondence (Mail Art) – Carbondale, CO
2017 Sarah Swell Gallery - Sausalito, CA
2016 Winter Open Studios – Beyond The Wave Gate – Sausalito, CA
2016 “Terrain- Navigating Landscape” 9/10-10/10 The Midway-San Francisco, CA
2016 Selected for 1st Artist Residency program at The Midway-San Francisco, CA
2016 Private Corporate Commission – San Francisco, CA
2015 Winter Open Studios – Beyond The Wave Gate—Sausalito, CA
2015 Spring Open Studios –Beyond The Wave Gate-Sausalito, CA
2014 Studio Visit Magazine – Volume#27- Carl Belz juror- Rose Art Museum
2014 Six works in the Flat Files at Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 DiPietro Todd Events- Solo Show- Pacific Heights-San Francisco, CA
2013 SF Writers’ Grotto- Two person show “Random Bloomers” San Francisco, CA
2013 Artspan Open Studios- Big Umbrella Studios Group show-San Francisco, CA
2013 O’Hanlon Center for Art – Symbols- Group show-Juror- Gregory Wiley Edwards
2013 Mill Valley Public Library- June Solo show “Dhyan” Mill Valley, CA
2013 O’Hanlon Center for Art. BOLD -Juror-Robert Green Mill Valley, CA
2013 ArtHaus Gallery, “Abstract Notions” Jan. 9th-March 30th San Francisco, CA
2012 New House Gallery- Solo show “In the Canyon” Oct. 26th-Nov.26th Ross, CA
2012 O’Hanlon Center “Bay Area Women Artist” Mill Valley, CA Juror Donna Seager
2012 National Juried Exhibition Marin MOCA Curator Lucinda Barnes-Berkeley Art Museum
2011 “Artisan Series w/Rush Philanthropic”, 5 Claude Lane, San Francisco, CA
2011 “Girl Group” Art Haus Gallery Juried show Oct.-Dec.
2011 Art Span Fall Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
2011 “A Sense of Place”, Arc Gallery For NCWCA, San Francisco, CA
2011 Art Explosion, "Spring Open studios” Group Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2011 POOL Art Fair @ The Gerswhin Hotel - March 4-6th, New York, NY
2010 “A Book About Death”, CW Post Campus, Stonybrook, NY
2010 “Swimming Up & Down Stream” Jak Home – Spring- San Francisco, CA
2010 “X-Initiatives”, Old DIA Museum Space - 24hr show, New York, NY
2010 The Brooklyn Art Library - Sketchbook project - Brooklyn, NY
2009 The Fine Art of Designers, Art Haus Gallery, San Francisco, CA Winter
2009 Gracie Square Art Show - Carl Schurz Park, New York, NY
2009 Gensler Art Auction- New York, NY - Summer
1995 Art Initiatives, ‘Maximum capacity’, New York, NY – Group Show
1995 Soho 20 Gallery, ’Real Life Show’, New York, NY – Group Show
Awards/Grants
2022 - Creative Capacity Fun - Grant recipient, San Francisco, CA
2020 - UCLA- Tarjan Center - Grant recipient
2020 Safety Net Fund - Grant recipient
2011 Creative Capacity Fund @ CCI, San Francisco, CA
2006 International Design Awards (IDA) Los Angeles, CA
Selected Private, Public and Corporate Collections
2018 Private Commission, San Francisco, California
2016 Parkside Headquarters, San Francisco, California
2012 Yamana Gold Headquarters, Toronto, Canada
2010 Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY
CURRENT, Recent & Upcoming Exhibitions
Friendly Tides, Marin Civic Center - 2/6-5/18 -2023
Friendly Tides showcases the work of artists from Marinship Studios, a studio complex in the Marinship neighborhood of Sausalito, California. Located on a site that has been a beacon of creativity for artists, philosophers, writers, and poets since the 1950’s, it has been a workplace and residence for the likes of Maya Angelou, Gordon Onslow Ford, Allen Ginsberg, Jean Varda and Ruth Asawa among others. Marinship Studios was founded in an effort to continue this creative history and support the arts in the Bay Area.
The neighborhood of Marinship began as a shipyard during WWII before blossoming into a creative enclave defined by houseboats, marine businesses and the ebbs and flows of the bay. The title of the show - Friendly Tides - is a nod to the neighborhood’s inextricable link to the tides of the bay and how everyone in the community is impacted by them for both good and ill. All on the waterfront are subject to the pull of the tides, especially when the seasonal king tides threaten to breach our doorways. Many buildings flood during these times, recently including the studios of some of the artists presented here..
In addition to Sausalito's very tangible shores, Friendly Tides also refers to the tidal force of artists in the Bay Area. Unlike many art scenes, it is common here for artists to include the work of their friends and peers in their exhibitions out of an instinct for making space for others and sharing conversations with one another. In this spirit the exhibition includes a group of works by artists from Sausalito and the greater Bay Area who are friends of Marinship Studios.
EarthDay 2050 April 25th, 2022
Mill Valley Community Center
"Stop Drop and Roll" collaboration fiber installation with
Artist Al Grumet.
Solo show - Pallas Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Opening: Nov. 12th, 2021 6-8 p.m.
Curator: Elizabeth Snowden
https://www.thepallasgallery.com/shows
NIAD
Main Gallery // There’s Reality, and Then There’s California, Curated by Jessica Snow
Opening- June 1st, 2019- June 27th Richmond, CA
niadart.org/
ROOT Division 16th Annual Auction 2017
October 26th, 2017 - 6 p.m. VIP 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Auction
1131 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
www.rootdivision.org/art-auction
New House Gallery
Branson
39 Fernhill Avenue
Ross, CA
www.branson.org/Page/1655
September 19th - November 19th 2017
Umber Nights , is a solo exhibition of new works by Tracey Kessler, mixed-media on canvas that were completed over the Summer of 2017 in Sausalito, CA. Kessler’s practice is the result of layering materials relating to the current environment. These works represent the dryness of the state of California due to the drought. Envisioning the indigo nights enhanced with painterly strokes of umber, smokey charcoals and gray fog coming in from the Pacific ocean.
Correspondence
Six initiating artists (who started their work on October 1, 2016) are each corresponding with another fellow artist until May 1, 2017. These correspondences will be sent and received via the postal system in the tradition of Mail Art. For many of the artists this will be the only means of communication between the two artists, forcing them to explore the intimacy of conversation through the physical exchange of letters/art works.
June 2nd - June 30th
Carbondale, CO
www.carbondalearts.com/r2-gallery/upcom…
Sausalito Art Walk
Come stroll down Caledonia Street kicking off Art Walk 2017
Wednesday, May 10th, 5-8 p.m. Sarah Swell Jewelry
215 Caledonia Street, Sausalito, CA
www.sarahswell.com
www.artwalksausalito.com
Fall Open Studios
Saturday, November 19th 12- 5 p.m.
Beyond The Wave Gate
Sausalito, CA
Terrain: Navigating Landscape
Artist Talk: Saturday, October 8th 6 to 9 p.m.
Opening: September 10th 2016 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The MidwaySF
900 Marin Street
San Francisco, CA
www.themidwaygallery.com/future/
Inaugural Artist Residency 2016
themidwaysf.com
San Francisco
Works on paper currently www.pierogi2000.com/
177 North 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Contact
T: 718.599.2144
E: info@pierogi2000.com