Portrait of an artist

TRACY DONALD SHARES HER TALENT WITH

OTHERS AS PAINTER, TEACHER

IIn a West Hattiesburg artstudio usually bustling withbudding child artists, there area dozen canvases positioned oneasels, ready to be painted bynovice adult painters. This par-ticular evening art class atBristles features artist TracyDonald as instructor. An inspi-ration photograph, depicting aMississippi Delta sunset, istonight’s subject.

In the next hour, Donald istasked with providing a light-hearted tutorial on the basics ofoil painting, and those 12 can-vases will come to life with thebrilliant colors of twilight.

“It’s my first time to teach

an art class for adults, and Iwant these women to go awaynot only with a nice paintingthey could be proud of, butalso some knowledge of thebasics,” said Donald, who dab-bled in painting while attend-ing the Art Institute of Dallasyears ago.

After a 13-year career ingraphic design, Donald pur-sued painting more seriouslyabout five years ago after herfamily moved to Hattiesburg.

Long before delving intosunset paintings, Donald’s firstcreative subject was one sheknew quite well — a portrait ofher oldest daughter, Laine. It

didn’t take long for requests tostart piling up from peoplewanting their own childrendepicted in her unique paintingstyle.

“Tracy does these wonderful,unique portraits unlike any I’veever seen before with suchminute detail,” saidHattiesburg Arts CouncilDirector Patty Hall, who metTracy when she participated inan emerging artist show at theHattiesburg Cultural Center acouple of years ago.

But Hall cautions againstattaching the label of portraitartist too tightly to Donald’swork.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAYLA ESSARY

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“As an artist, she is so versa-tile in her subject matter andstyle of painting. Along withthe portraits, Tracy will turnout some fabulous, very con-temporary pieces and I findmyself really drawn to thatwork also. Not to mention thepainting she’s done of a pearthat’s so luscious, you couldjust slice right into it.”

Hall invited the artist to par-ticipate in a seven-week dis-play at the HattiesburgCultural Center this summer,featuring a collection of almost

30 paintings.“I got to know Tracy a cou-

ple of years ago shortly aftershe moved to Hattiesburg,”Hall said. “I admired her workand she had a few paintings inour emerging artist exhibitwhich is held each December.That’s when I really got toknow her and spend some timewith her. She’s been on myradar, thinking now that’s ayoung artist I really would likeoffer a full show.”

Donald said she was thrilledto be offered a chance to show-

case her work.“This has been a great oppor-

tunity especially in this spacebecause it is such a gorgeousplace to have a show,” saidDonald. “I’m so grateful to theArts Council because withoutthem, I probably wouldn’t havegotten this opportunity.”

Giving artists a venue forexposure and inspiration wasexactly what Hall and otherswith the Hattiesburg ArtsCouncil and the City ofHattiesburg had in mind whenthey began renovating the old

Patty Hall, above, displaysDonald’s art at theHattiesburg Cultural Center.

Hattiesburg public librarybuilding years ago.

“We were hopeful whentalks began for renovating thisspace that they would give uspermission to maintain an artgallery here and that has nowhappened,” Hall said. “We’vebeen blessed to participate inintroducing new, emergingartists who have gone on andenjoyed a successful art career.It’s been nice to see them in theearly stages of their careers andwatch them develop themselvesas artists. Often as a publicspace we have events and wed-ding receptions here so artistsare introduced to a wide arrayof audiences by virtue of hav-ing their work on display. Andthat can lead to a work of artgetting sold to someone in theaudience, or just getting theirname out even beyond thisarea. So it’s mutually beneficialfor the city to have the spaceenhanced by the work and webelieve it’s also a great serviceto the artist.”

Hall said that the space does-n’t come without a few chal-lenges for artists.

“It isn’t always easy to have

a one-person show in thisspace, because of the heights ofthe ceiling, it seems to bealmost too consuming some-times,” Hall said. “But Tracypaints with such large canvasessometimes so that her work isable to fill a space.”

And the opportunityprompted the oil painter toexplore new areas of interest.

“I’ve done quite a few flow-ers, some still lifes and land-scapes, but one of my favoriteareas is abstraction and I fig-ured this was a great chance toexplore that genre,” Donaldsaid, adding that she wants tocontinue exploring the abstractstyle of painting. “In my opin-ion, abstract paintings are themost difficult. You are relyingon your mind for inspirationand not looking at a photo orsubject per se.”

Meanwhile, what started asan alternative to dinner and amovie among friends hasturned into 12 unique pieces ofart.

“We started the adult paint-ing classes as an opportunityfor women who might not oth-erwise pursue painting to see

into the window of a painter’sworld, and I wanted TracyDonald to be a part of thisopportunity,” said LissaOrtego, local artist andowner/instructor of Bristles.“Tracy did a great job demon-strating the medium of oilpainting and giving everyone abasic glimpse into a skill sheknows very well. I found itinteresting to see how sheworks stylistically, and Ibelieve others did as well.”

Donald said each person canfind ways to explore their artis-tic side and have a good timedoing it.

“I wanted them to have agreat time being creative and Ithink they all did.”

Hall said not every artist isso eager to share their creativetalents with others.

“She has such a heart forwhat art can do for a person,how it can enhance a life,” Hallsaid. “It’s wonderful to workwith someone who is eager togive back to the communitywith the power of the arts andthat’s certainly the case forTracy.”

To find out what’s on display atthe Hattiesburg Cultural Centeror to schedule a mini-gallerytalk with the artist, call theHattiesburg Arts Council at(601) 583-6005. Information onBristles Art Studio is availableat www.bristlesstudio.com or bycalling (601) 450-ARTS.