General Artist Information
Name: Markus Tracy
Artist Discipline: Visual Arts
Grade Level Preference: 6th through 12th
Geographic Availability: I am available throughout the state of North Dakota
Fee per-day: My current rate is $320.00 per day
Five-day, full week residency: $1,600.00 plus expenses
Email: markuswtracy@gmail.com
Phone Number: 702-330-7623
Web site: https://www.markustracy.com/
YouTube: Creative Process and Community Through Murals
Biography
Markus Tracy is a visual artist, muralist, and teaching artist, actively exhibiting his studio art and being awarded mural commissions and site-specific projects throughout the United States. Since becoming an Honorary Award winner for the President's Committee of the Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award for New Directions YouthArts in 2010, Markus continues to help develop and organize visual arts and place-making projects/programs with artists, artist teams, public schools, cultural, civic and performing arts centers.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is to guide my students in and through the arts by encouraging creative risk taking; using your imagination as a learning tool; know that art making is about being brave and vulnerable at the same time and to embrace mistakes as part of your learning experience. Another teaching philosophy is to use the arts as a way to help my students establish a voice within their artistic practice, be it in social and/or cultural constructs, social and emotional learning, or environmental conservation. Those are just a few guiding principals in creating honest and meaningful works of art.
Sample Residency Information
Residency Title: Community murals and/or site-specific projects
Grade Level: 6th -12th
Number of Sessions: 4 sessions per week
Description
Collaborate with public schools and/or communities in organizing a community mural project and/or site-specific project. Involving students, teachers, staff, and community members will help stimulate dialogue in discussing themes of community mural. Possible themes are: community celebrations and/or concerns, economic and/or social issues, environmental preservation and sustainability, community and/or school pride. Teaching artist, Markus Tracy, will be leading the residency during the developmental and finalizing phase as well as offering arts integration experiences throughout his residency.
School/Community Mural Project
Objective:
Collaborate with public schools and/or communities in organizing a community mural project and/or site-specific project. Involving students, teachers, staff, and community members will help stimulate dialogue in discussing themes of community mural. Possible themes are: community celebrations and/or concerns, economic and/or social issues, environmental preservation and sustainability, community and/or school pride.
Goals:
Create a visual interpretation of shared ideas and experiences by drawing, painting, and the use of personal photos, printed material, and spoken word. Ideas and experiences will then be compositionally arranged on blueprint paper using the ratio 1" to 1' grids in referencing actual mural size. Once grid is complete, designing the mural will take place; compositional arrangement will be a collective experience. After mural design has been completed and agreed upon, participants will take part in cleaning, priming, and outlining a grid to the actual wall. Once the grid is complete, outlining the design to the actual wall will begin and then followed by painting.
Teacher Workshop:
A community mural project will offer classroom teachers an opportunity to show ways/means of arts integration strategies throughout common core. The community mural can be designed as a project-based activity offering classroom teachers connections in social studies, mathematics, and language arts.
* Teacher workshop will connect to common core standards concerning each subject area above.
Expected Results:
The success of a community mural is about relationship building. This occurs when you have successfully explored new artistic strategies through community dialogue, social activism, and partnerships.
The community artist is "civically engaged" through partnerships in the understanding and celebration of cultural diversity, socioeconomic concerns, conflict resolution, celebration of past histories, current events that help shape individual communities, and hopes for a productive and sustainable future.
These 'shared experiences' empowers individuals and/or communities at-large in making positive choices fostering tolerance and respect. These relationships promote a positive outlet for artistic expression, community dialogue, access to social services, reduction of negative behavior among troubled teens, and life-skill exercises in the arts.
Supplies needed:
Pencils, drafting paper, acrylic paint (quarts and gallons), spackle knife, sanding block (220 grit), plaster, buckets and cups, acrylic brushes, expansion pole, blue tape, rulers, snap line, paint rollers, plastic sheets, and ladders
*Most important is the safe keeping of supplies such as a well ventilated storage and/or supply closet.