Tracy Verkerke began her artistic life as a dancer. Trained at the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School, she performed in ballet, modern, and Spanish dance companies from the age of ten. She taught and choreographed at Peabody and the Connecticut Ballet until 1991 when her family moved to Charlottesville.

In 1994, she began taking drawing and pastel classes from Karen Shea. She continued her studies at the University of Virginia and VCU. Tracy won second prize in the 2000 Paintings from the Piedmont show and was accepted as a member of the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville.

Her work has been featured at McGuffey, Bang!, the Mudhouse, Angelo, the Orange Art Center, the Live Arts Gallery, and in an international exhibit in Poggio a Caiano, Italy. She also performs regularly with Toma Que Toma, a Charlottesville-based Flamenco group.

EDUCATION

BA, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD

Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD (dance)

Studied painting at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, and under Philip Geiger,Karen Shea Silverman, and Pam Black

Studied dance at the Manhattan School of Dance, American Ballet Theater School, and at theJulliard School, New York, NY

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010- Re-Envisioning the Founders, T.J., George, and Martha, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

2009- Mantra, Angelo, Charlottesville, VA

Feast, Charlottesville, VA

2007- Buddhas at Bang!, Bang! Restaurant, Charlottesville, VA

2006- Beleza Brasil Music and Art, Gravity Lounge, Charlottesville, VA

100% Organic, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

2004- Hot Flashes: Tropical Images in Oil, Angelo, Charlottesville, VA

2003- Fresh Paint, Café Bocce, Scottsville, VA; Ombra’s Café, Crozet, VA

Fresh Flowers, New Dominion Bookstore, Charlottesville, VA

2002- Go Figure, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

2000- Four Faces of Eve, Mudhouse, Charlottesville, VA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010-Group Exhibition, Second Street Gallery,Charlottesville, VA

2008- New Art 2: Second Street Gallery Benefit Auction, Second Street Gallery,Charlottesville, VA

2002- The Sea, The Color of Wine, 10 + 10 American and Italian Artists,McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA (Cultural Exchange Show)

2001- Il Mare Color del Vino, 10 + 10 Artisti Italia – U.S.A.,Scuderie Medicee, Poggio a Caiano, Italy (Cultural Exchange Show)Summer Show, Orange Art Center, Orange, VA (juried)

2000- Variations on Color and Light, Old Michie Building, Charlottesville, VA

Figure Drawing, Bozart Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

New Members Show, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

Paintings from the Piedmont, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

1999- Paintings from the Piedmont, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA

Accepted works included pastel entitled “Spring.”

1997- Karen Shea Silverman Student Show, Open Studio, Charlottesville, VA