"In Tracy Mcfarlane’s bold, surrealist landscape paintings, anthropomorphic land masses unfold, suggestive of the rocky psychological and emotional landscapes of the
human psyche. In these large-scale works, a partially submerged female body is an archipelago of feelings, or a mountain range retains an aloof facial expression.
Informed by the personal and familial relationships that have made up her life, Mcfarlane’s oil paintings use bold color and vivid natural iconography to contemplate
universal issues of ephemerality, pain, and strength from a feminist perspective."
Alex Santana
Curator
Brooklyn College MFA 2023 Thesis Exhibition
Photo: Claudia Hernandez
Bio
Tracy McFarlane is a New York based artist, who was born in Illinois. She received her BA from Connecticut College where she focused on drawing, printmaking and photography. Accepted into the Silvermine Guild in 1985, she printed at the Soho Graphic Arts workshop and exhibited her work in group and solo shows in Connecticut and New York. A successful longterm career as an advertising creative director followed where she produced global campaigns, and developed a creative process that she still carries with her. Several years ago, she started a full-time studio practice as a painter and earned her MFA in painting from Brooklyn College this spring.
Exhibits and Residencies
2023 Gowanus Open Studio Show, Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
2023 The Oyster Middens Beneath Us, Powerhouse Arts Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Show
1/2019-7/2019 Trestle Artist Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2019 South Brooklyn Open Studios, Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Gowanus Open Studio Show, Trestle Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
1986–2018 Advertising Creative Director/AD
1985 Soho Graphic Arts Workshop Exhibition, New York, NY
1985 36th Art of Northeast USA Exhibition, Silvermine, CT
1978–1986 Soho Graphic Arts Workshop, NYC, printmaker
35th Annual Exhibition at the Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT
Gallery affliliation: Silvermine Guild Galleries, New Canaan, CT
Various solo and group shows in NYC and Connecticut
Education
2021–2023 Brooklyn College, MFA Graduate, Painting and Drawing, Class of 2023
2020 NY Studio School, Continuing education
2018–2019 NY Academy of Art, Continuing education
2000 School of Visual Arts, Continuing education
1980 NY Academy of Art, Continuing education
1978 Connecticut College, New London, CT, B.A. in Studio Art and English
Private collections in USA and Europe