Biography

Color fills Tracy Wright Avant's world. Her use of the "Allla Prima" direct method of oil painting allows her to create on canvas stroke, hue-masterful floral still lifes, portrait, landscapes, and wildlife scenes.

Avant lives her art, or perhaps more accurately, her art lives through her. Every facet of this young woman's life is connected to her art. Her world has always been filled with art.

Avant captures her initial emotion of her subject. "I want to transfer my feelings onto my canvas," she says, "so that the end result will hopefully be embraced by the viewer. Every painting I do I regard as a wonderful new challenge of seeing light, design, form, line and color correctly. I'm truthful to what I paint. My painting is the result of a process which affords me an ever-deepening immersion into my future works."

Her son Ross is the subject of many of Avant's paintings. "He's my inspiration," she says, "I constantly see in Ross new and fresh ideas for further creations. His expressions and positions are inspirations for new paintings."

Tracy Wright Avant's paintings have been exhibited in many one-woman and group juried shows across the United States and she has been the recipient of numerous awards for her paintings. Her membership in artist's organizations have allowed her to paint with some of the finest artists in America. She gives credit to these artists, as well as the masters whose work she continues to seek out in museums: Fechin, Sargent, and Sorolla.

Avant's bold use of color, her innate sense of composition and masterful brushwork captures the essence of her world. She can take a vase of brilliant red roses, from her South Texas garden, and create a still life of intense emotion. Tracy Wright Avant's love of God and life are as much the fabric of her art as the canvas on which she paints.

Nancy Webb
Journalist
Austin American Statesman

BORN	1960	Fort Dix, New Jersey
EDUCATION	2000 2000 1999 1998 1990 1983 1972	Texas A&M University, M.S. Workshops at the Fredericksburg Artist's School Workshops at the New Braunfels Art League Workshops at the Scottsdale Artist's School Warren Hunter School of Art Southwest Texas State University, B.S. McNay Art Institute

STYLE		Representational / Impressionistic Realism
TECHNIQUE		Alla Prima - direct method
MEDIUM		Oil, Acrylic and Pastel
SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS	08 08 08 06 - 08 05 - 08 00 - 03 01 - 02 99 - 01 1999 1997 1995 1993 1990	Germanton Christmas Show Gilcrease Museum Miniature Show Danforth Gallery All Gallery Show Collector's Covey Miniature Show National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Museum, Ft. Worth, TX Gallery G All Gallery Show Nanette Richardson All Artists Shows Gallery M Trejbal Ltd., Scottsdale, Arizona Wyoming Galleries, Jackson, Wyoming LaCouture Fine Arts, Ruidoso, New Mexico Six Artists of Texas Trails Gallery, San Antonio, Texas One-Woman Exhibition, Longhorn Gallery, Pleasanton, Texas Two-Woman Exhibition, Dilley State Bank Gallery, Dilley, Texas

NOTABLE CORP. / PRIVATE COLLECTIONS	02 - 05 1987	Michael Pope - Football Coach, New York Giants George Strait
SELECTED JURIED SHOWS AND EXPEDITIONS	07 - 08 05 - 08 06 - 08 03 - 08 06 - 07 99 - 08 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1993 1988	Society of Plein Air Painter Exhibition @ Catalina National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Exhibition Texas Art Gallery Auction (Nov & May) Germanton Miniature Show, Germanton, NC Trailside Galleries Christmas Show (Dec) American Art in Miniature, Gilcrease Museum (Nov) Diamond & Spurs, Boulder Rotary, Boulder, Colorado American Art in Miniature Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma American Academy of Women Artists, Arizona Historical Society Museum Knickerbocker Artists National Exhibition, Joan Cowley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ Springfield Fall Art Festival. George Walter Vincent Smith Museum, Springfield, MH Bridge National Juried Exhibition, Bridge Gallery, Monroe, New York South Texas Art Show, F.J. Avant Memorial Parkway, Dilley, Texas

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS	2006 2000 1999 1997 1997 1995 1995 1995 1994 1994	Nominated for Texas Artist of the Year 2006 Artists to Watch, Southwest Art, Sept. Art Webpage, Master's Program, Texas A&M University Who's Who in the South and Southwest Who's Who in America Who's Who in the World of Women in the Arts Who's Who in American Women in the Arts Who's Who in American Art Judge's Choice Award, Oil Painters of America Reg. Show, Nanette Richardson Fine Art Gallery, San Antonio, Texas First Place, Colorado's Fifth Annual Wildlife Exhibition, Lake City, Colorado

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS/ REVIEWS	2007 2000 1999 1998 1996 1996 1994	Southwest Art Magazine (Feb) American Art Review Magazine, Nanette Richardson Fine Art, San Antonio, TX Southwest Art Magazine, Nanette Richardson Fine Art, San Antonio, TX Art Life Magazine, Hohn Gallery of Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona cover of THE ADELPHEAN magazine, article with paintings included Laredo Morning Times San Antonio Weekender

		Information has been included on the following INTERNET sites:
	2003	New Braunfels Art League
	2000	Texas A&M University
	2000	Askart.com
	1999	Hohn Gallery of Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
	1998	American Academy of Women Artists - The Space
	1997	Alamo Kiwanis National Western Art Show - The Texas Rangers, Museum
	1994	The Space

Avant is the Founder and President of the South Texas Artist's Association. Over the last twenty-one years she has been a member of 24 different regional and national art organizations, many of which she still belongs.