Tracy Burtz studied with some of the greats in New York and Paris, but she found her personal "voice" and style only after years of intense exploration. Tracy is a figurative painter whose still-lifes and paintings of women explore intimate moments of everyday life and the emotions those moments evoke. They project a variety of patterns and moods in often subtle but radiant palettes. The paintings reflect the harmony and tension created by the interplay of images on the flat surface. "In making a painting, the abstract elements are very important to me,” says Burtz. “The composition, color, light, space, brushstroke, and paint quality are vital to the whole.” Education: Tracy Burtz received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Boston University School for the Arts in 1978 and her Master of Fine Arts Degree from City University of New York, Queens College in 1980. She also studied at the New York Studio School in its Paris [France] campus and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Among her teachers were such luminaries as Elaine de Kooning and Leland Bell.