Tracey Downing

'The Silence of Swimming'

A Debut Solo Exhibition by

Tracey Elizabeth Downing

Tuesday 19th to 30th April 2022
Opening times Tues - Sat, 11am to 5pm
Private View Tuesday 19th April, 6 - 8.30pm

Show Down Event 30th April, 5.30 - 8.30pm

(please join Tracey for some drinks and nibbles on the last day of her show)

This debut solo exhibition is a collection of 24 paintings by Tracey Elizabeth Downing.
Based on a period of 10 months of swimming at Tooting Bec Lido, “The Silence of Swimming” evokes thoughts of calm quietness, of solitude. Swimming is important to the artist for these very reasons; it is a time to feel the breadth and depth of senses bodily and mentally. Noticing is key in Tracey’s approach to painting, random details, the flotsam and jetsam of life inform the semi abstract images ranging from the size of her hand span to her height. Of Tracey’s painting Artist, writer and mentor Phil King writes;

“Intimacy beckons and calls us into a private realm - warm immediacy feels very much the shared creation of your paintings and related to notions of a creative realm where conscious noticing and unconscious arrival tumble together.”

Tracey Downing Fuchsia Tracey Downing Studio shot image2

Tracey Elizabeth Downing is a contemporary painter who writes poems; graduating from Exeter College of Art in the 1980’s she went on to train as an Art Psychotherapist and has a Masters from Goldsmiths UCL 2009-2012.
Having worked as an NHS Art Psychotherapist for 7 years and in Special Education, now painting full time, her Art Psychotherapy plays an important part in her process. She now lives and works in Sutton, Surrey.

Artist Statement
“My intention is for my work is to be like small thoughts that travel far; informed by memory and ephemera that emerge in daily life and the relationship between them. Bodies of water above and below; clouds and places where I swim are important elements in my painting practice. I describe my work as semi-abstract, mostly oil on canvas. Recognisable imagery often emerges in the process of painting. I also write poems which I call ‘Moems’ which are moments of thought captured or on a bad day a cross between a moan and a poem.
Tracey has been an exhibiting member of Sprout Arts for 3 years and will be offering her “Enfolded” tiny concertina sketchbook collage workshop on both Thursdays during her exhibition.

Join artist Tracey Elizabeth Downing for her “Enfolded” workshop, exploring collage, image and text in tiny concertina sketchbooks.
The workshops will run on Thursday 21st and 28th April from 11:30 – 2:30 over lunch so bring a sandwich or salad, drinks provided.

28th April Workshop - SOLD OUT

I had a long lapse in my art practice whilst raising my family and working as an Art Therapist. I’d love to help you get back in touch with yours.
No previous experience necessary just curiosity.

Workshop fee £20 per person

How may participants will there be: Myself and up to six others

Refreshments: Bring your own cold lunch, I will provide the drinks

Materials provided but feel free to bring any of the following:
Small objects of significance; a favourite cup, ornament or item of clothing
Newspaper clippings or a book they have read that they don’t mind cutting up.
Photographs
You will take away an A7 seawhite hardback concertina sketchbook with contents created during the workshop, there is no expectation for you to take a way a finished article, I use my concertina’s as a way of visually recording what I notice and I can go back to them time and time again to rework them and use them as a springboard for my paintings.

Website : traceyelizabethdowning.com
Instagram : /traceyelizabethdowning/

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