Traeger di Pietro is a contemporary pop-inspired artist living on Martha’s Vineyard. Born in 1976 in Salem, Massachusetts, he earned his BFA in Studio Art from the University of Maine, Orono, and has forged a dynamic studio practice, earning accolades from Cape Cod Life, MV Times, Arts & Ideas, Boston Voyager, and the Vineyard Gazette, among many others. For Traeger, the creative process begins from what he describes as a “bubbling excitement,” triggered by his senses. He dives into the wonder of his subjects and allows them to take him on a creative journey. As he states, “There are many levels and media used in my paintings. As the magical ball spins, messages and pieces of life attach to it and are then used cosmically and lovingly throughout. From an impressionistic fisherman who represents all of us, to a mixed media animal personified that mocks us as humans, there is always something that lights up my subconscious and then circles back to my reality.”