Feature Artist - TRACIE TOOHEY

TRACIE TOOHEY

was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1962.  

She has lived in Bairnsdale, East Gippsland, Australia for the past 19 years.

Tracie completed her Diploma of Visual Arts in 2006 as a mature age student, majoring in painting.  Her chosen medium for the next five years was oil on canvas, with her subject matter being portraits.  Tracie has since been focusing on works on paper and for the past year has been involved in making artist books.

"In my work I use natural materials, found objects to develop images on paper.  My work is full of interesting shapes, colour and textures.  It is spontaneous an often becomes another piece to what it was initially intended.  I want to share with the viewer some of my experiences with nature and to enable this I find myself constantly fossicking foraging and collecting what nature has discarded and repurposing it into various images and forms of art."

For the Personal Histories exhibition Tracie is contributing a sculptural artist book with a very personal subject matter.  The work is entitled "Let me tell you about my dad....".  In this sculptural work she shares excerpts of a letter received from someone unknown to her after the death of her father.  The work itself depicts aspects of her father's personality, his nomadic tendencies, and the ensuing effect this had on his relationship with his family.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST - TRACIE TOOHEY