James Tracy was born in the art colony of Nashville, Indiana in nineteen fifty.
His exposure to the art of T.C. Steele, Gustav
Baumann, Glenn Cooper Henshaw, Adolf Shulz, L.O. Griffith, Marie Goth, and other local masters led to an
early awakening
of his natural artistic talent. He began formal training at eight years of age, studying with area artists.
Tracy later attended
Indiana University Southeast, The University of New Mexico, and Indiana University.
Since embarking on his professional career over
twenty five years ago Tracy has explored most drawing and painting
media, specializing in oil paintings of rural landscape, still life, and
portraiture. Since 1990 he has also been involved in printmaking,
creating woodcuts and serigraphs. He has won awards in many prestigious
exhibitions including The Hoosier Salon, Indiana Heritage Arts
exhibitions, and The Trinidad National Fine Arts Exhibition at the A. R.
Mitchell Art Museum in Trinidad, Colorado. In 2001 Tracy was
distinguished as one of the artists featured in 75 Miles In Any
Direction, an exhibition of contemporary Indiana art at the Indianapolis
Museum of Art Columbus Gallery. His work is included in many private and
corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad. Mr.Tracy
was chosen in 2002 for inclusion in the Marquis Who's Who In America for
his contributions to the arts. He is represented by the Brown County Art Guild in Nashville, Indiana.
"A good realist painting is always a work of art first, but necessarily a picture of something or situation.
However, the more realistic it is the harder it may be to define why one prefers it to, say, a photograph of the subject,
or the actual thing itself. I strive to make interesting images that don't succumb to the fate of being mere
pictures."
