Tracy Gurdian relates great artistry to a well-written résumé. “As artists, I feel we need to take all of our life experiences and put them on the canvas,” she says. In her case, the canvas is a colorful plaster relief enhanced with foliage, acrylics and touches of gold—elements that reference her life in Naples, time spent in Japan, background as a dancer, and role as a mother of two.
Gurdian’s aspirations began on the stage. She attended the University of South Florida to pursue a career in dance—a dream that was dashed after sustaining a back injury her senior year. Returning home to Naples, she enrolled in ceramics classes as a hobby and discovered her new creative path. Soon turning the medium into a profession, in 2007 she launched Tovari Designs, her ceramics venture named after her children, Tova and Ari.
The artist’s pieces embrace a range of themes and applications, including wabi-sabi and French lace. Her practice has led her to places such as Kyoto, where she studied kintsugi, the ancient art of mending broken ceramics with powdered gold and urushi , a tree sap.
Tracy Gurdian.
Nature, even in sketches, is a constant source of inspiration for the artist.
Gurdian combines plaster and paint to create her large-scale abstract works.
Tracy Gurdian.
Naples artist Tracy Gurdian creates large-scale abstract works that combine plaster and paint.
Recent pieces incorporate impressions of foliage, crafted through a process that involves enhancing the relief with materials such as acrylics, watercolors, charcoal or gold.
More recent endeavors include a series of fossil-like works crafted with botanicals from the artist’s natural surroundings. She begins by amassing foliage from her waterfront neighborhood of Seagate, such as sabal palms, southern polypody and fishtail palm leaves, which have become earmarks of her work. “They look like fans when they’re spread out and have a Japanese feel, which I love,” Gurdian says.
Working out of her home studio, she arranges the clippings on a large canvas, playing with groupings and focal points—a process the former dancer calls “choreographing”—and photographs the final form. The artist then spreads plaster on the canvas and presses the leaves into it, recreating the composition. “I really only have one chance to get it right,” she notes. A few days later, after the plaster has hardened, Gurdian uses tweezers to delicately remove the brittle leafage, leaving an impression she enhances with pigments such as acrylics, watercolor, charcoal and gold flecks.
Before glazing the finished piece, the artist adds an auspicious touch: a sprinkle of abstract markings that represent Japanese and Buddhist concepts such as having a positive mindset. “You never know what someone is going through in life,” Gurdian muses. It’s a sentiment she often reflects on—and now brings to her canvas.