TRACY
530 West 25th Street, New York, NY
Californian pastelist Tracy Klinesteker creates paintings of striking chromatic power and luminosity. Klinesteker feels color down to the depths of her bones. Mesmerized by the wonders of the natural world, she is sometimes too stunned by beauty to even move. When she took her first art class at a local museum ten years ago, she felt that paralyzing awe upon seeing a set of richly pigmented pastels. Her love affair with the medium unfolds as she expertly harnesses the buttery consistency of the material, painstakingly adding details, and patiently bringing out life from the inert paper surface. A former photographer, Klinesteker has developed a keen eye for subtleties, perspective, and light, and uses her own images as references. Her subjects are eclectic ranging from landscapes she has seen during her travels to still lifes and animals. Ever-thirsty for more, Klinesteker probes the arcana of the medium, looking for new ways to express emotion through light.
Klinesteker has shown both in solo and group exhibitions in Michigan. She has won countless awards and was accepted to the Pastel of America’s Enduring Brilliance Exhibition in New York in 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies and a Special Education Teaching Credential. She was an itinerant teacher and taught visually impaired students in Los Angeles. In the 80s she was an Army photographer; in the 90s a graphic designer who worked for NASA at Edward Air Force Base. She now lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she enjoys winter wonderlands and autumnal delights with her husband.
TRACY KLINESTEKER ON
Blue Indigo, 2019
Pastels & Pencils on Paper
18” x 25”
Lighthouse on a Knoll, 2019
Pastels & Pencils on Paper
15” x 18”
“Standing in the cold with a seismically red autumn leaf; its color hitting our senses like a blow from a stun gun. We stand with a huge grin, too paralyzed by the intricately veined gaudiness of the leaf to move.”
Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the SensesI have always reacted very strongly to color. As my favorite author Diane Ackerman describes above, I am sometimes too stunned to move. I paint with soft pastels because of my love for pure color. Pastel sticks are pure pigment with binder added to keep them together. The lesser the binder, the purer the pigment, the softer the pastel. Soft pastels blend beautifully and create lovely, painterly brushstrokes. I use hard pastels and pencils for straight edges and fine details.
I layer color over color to create blends. I work with sticks, pencils, and rubber smudgers. With pastels, I can make wonderful marks to create texture and depth. Although I tend to favor detail in my paintings, the freedom of loosening up allows me to experiment with a variety of styles. Occasionally, I begin with a watercolor underpainting which adds a glowing, atmospheric effect. My subjects are eclectic. If a scene strikes me, I’ll capture it. I find the challenge exhilarating. Overall, my paintings are about celebrating the color I find in the world around me, while having as much fun as I can have.
ORIGINAL TRACY KLINESTEKER ARTWORKS ON
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