Outsider artist works from the inside
Leonardo resident exhibits at the MAC
BY LINDA DENICOLA Correspondent

"Picked A Pumpkin"

Middletown artist Tracey Ann Finley has passion and a personal vision that enable her to create original and intuitive artwork that come from her life experience and ideals.

Without years of artist training and obsessing over style, she is beginning to mature into an artist of note.

"The Art of Tracey Ann Finley: She Dreams in Color" is on display at the MiddletownArts Center (MAC). The exhibit will run through Saturday, Nov. 1

Finley, a Leonardo resident, was awarded the first-place ribbon at the MAC Professional Art Show held in April. A solo exhibit was part of the prize.

The exhibit includes various art forms, including raw, brut, abstract and multi-media. Finley uses acrylic paints and gels, oil crayons and oil sticks on canvas, wood and other materials. She achieves texture by using paper, ribbons, Bible sheets, copper wire, vintage sheet music and more.

Finley considers herself an outsider artist, because she is self-taught and has had little or no contact with the institutions of the mainstream art world. Authentic outsider art is fresh, original and often surprising.

"The Ref"

Finley was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was raised in Middletown. She has lived in Leonardo for the past eight years with her husband and three children. She found outlets for her creativity by painting on children's clothing, sewing, and painting Paperclay balls.

Like most artists and writers, she paints to understand something about herself.

"I paint these visions that I have. They don't come from anywhere in particular," Finley said, adding, "I don't work well if someone asks me to paint a specific landscape or subject. When I stand in front of the canvas, I never really know where the piece is going to go or how it will end up. It just comes from the cobwebs of my mind. I paint for myself and my family. It helps me to express my moods and inner self."

The original works in the "She Dreams in Color" exhibit are lively and vibrant, multi-interpretational, emotion evoking, haunting, playful, raw, funny, quirky, multicolored, magical, moodoriented, thought-provoking and refreshing.

"Lost Souls"

Finley's artwork hangs in private collections across the United States and in foreign countries. She is a member of the ACEO, Art Cards Editions Originals, which is a growing phenomenon among collectors. Original paintings are submitted on matte board and wood backing. The only requirements are that the pieces must be originals and 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size, much like a baseball card.

Finley said she never really knows what she is going to paint. She just begins to paint motivated by mood and emotion, painting the visions she has from within. When she first began painting, Finley said she was often inspired to paint two things that are very close to her heart, her coffee and her cats.

Currently, small samplings of her printed artwork on buttons are being sold at Jersey Shore Coffee Roasters, located on Highway 36 in Leonardo.

The gallery, located at 36 Church St. next to the Middletown Train Station, is open 1-8 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday; or by appointment.

"Upstairs, Downstairs"

For more information about "She Dreams in Color: The Artwork of Tracey Ann Finley," send an email to artinfo@traceyannfinley. com. Visit the artist's Web site at www.traceyannfinley.com.

"I Licked Both"