A California native, Tracy completed her graduate work at Arizona State University, where she studied at the High Resolution Electron Microscopy facility in the Center for Solid State Science, a consortium of the university’s physics, chemistry and geology departments.

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While completing her graduate work, she took up furniture construction and woodworking through Rio Salado Community College. “After graduation, I was teaching at Mesa Community College in 1997 and decided to take a course offered on campus called Welding for Metal Sculpture. She instantly loved the welding fabrication and finishing process, and her background in chemistry delighted in the physical and chemical patina of metal surfaces.

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 “I am guided by my Lutheran faith, and I also have lived in close commune with Nature and natural phenomena…the kinds of things that science is hard pressed to explain,” she said. “I believe that my work is guided by a force greater than myself and is a gift unique to me. Sure, I know how to develop particular colors and surfaces in the chemical processing of the metal, but I can’t explain how I can finish a piece, set it out in the rain, and return to discover that Nature’s patina is 10,000 times more amazing than anything I could mix in chemicals. To me, that is God’s kiss on my work.”

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“Almost all of my work carries the sense of humor and abundance that I see in life around me,” she said. “The work embodies animals doing silly things. When Nature is your subject matter, and metal is your medium, the possibility of expression is endless!”