Tracy Weisman

Bio

Tracy Weisman is a textile and mixed media artist living in Narragansett, RI. A lifelong sewer and lover of pattern and geometry, she took a quilting class in 1989 as a young mother and found her artistic calling. She made her first quilt as a wedding gift for her mother. Her earliest work explored traditional American quilt patterns; with that as a foundation, she moved to incorporating her digital photographs printed on fabric into her work to create contemporary interpretations of these designs. Tracy’s practice has expanded to include mixed media, fused fabric collage and wearable garments. She had her first solo show in Chicago, Illinois in 2019. Her quilts have been juried twice into the biennial “Sacred Threads” exhibition, appear in the historic AIDS Memorial Quilt, and have been published in The New Work of Our Hands. Tracy’s current work addresses the themes of memory, grief, body image, the American presidency, gun violence, and the clerical sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Website: Instagram: tracyweisman

Artist’s Statement

Being creative is not so much the desire to do something as the listening to that which wants to be done: the dictation of the materials. - Anni Albers

This magnificent quote is my practice in a nutshell: It all starts with materials. I collect them like a magpie, knowing that some morning at around 4am, the wispy tendrils of something my heart needs to express will reach confidently for old clothing, vintage fabric, some beads, plastic cards, photographs, some duct tape and and tell me what they need to be.

I have always been a maker. My artwork connects me to a long legacy of New England forebears who used their hands to create objects of utility and beauty; there were never idle hands in our home. Down in our basement, my brothers puttered in the wood shop while I sat at my mother’s sewing machine. My creator’s spark ignited there when I turned a flat piece of calico into a sundress and realized I could turn an idea into something real.

Before pursuing art full time, I was a professional speechwriter. As such, I’m strongly drawn to storytelling and the ability of materials to tell those stories. Current events, personal themes of memory, body image, and lived experiences all find their way into my work. I respond instinctively to color, texture and pattern, and am drawn to the clothing of the deceased and other makers’ abandoned projects because I believe their souls live in the warp and weft of the fabrics. I’m also drawn to objects collected by others. Imbuing these things with new life connects me to their owners’ souls. Forging those bonds - with people now living or long past - is what I’m called to do.