Born in the sixties in Chicago, Tracey Frugoli has always known she would be an artist. Growing up in a creative household, she enjoyed unusually intensive art training in her suburban high school. She went on to earn a BFA in Fine Art, and a MA in Art Therapy. She has been painting since 1998.
A firm believer in following her muse, Frugoli unapologetically eschews novelty and shock in favor of authenticity to who she is as a person and an artist. Love of light, shadow, color, and beauty mingle with an inner drive to self expression. This leads to a variety of avenues of exploration in her work: some being more representational and some more abstract and symbolic.
Frugoli has won numerous awards including First Place 2023 Exhibit A Gallery Plein Air, Peoria Hts. IL; Best of Show & First Place Main Street Paint Out 2013 and Award of Excellence & 2nd Place Quick Draw 2012 all at Sedona Plein Air in AZ; First Place 2012 Wayne Plein Air in PA. In Maryland they include: Artist’s Choice 2012 Paint Annapolis; Second Place and People’s Choice 2009 MAPAPA Dueling Brushes, Museum Purchase Award & Honorable Mention 2007 and First Place Quick Draw and Best Architectural Painting 2005 Plein Air Easton; and First Place 2006 Havre de Grace Plein Air.
She has exhibited throughout the country, and has been accepted into Greenhouse Gallery’s “Salon International” 2005-6, and 2009-12 in San Antonio, TX and won Jury’s Top 50 award in 2011.
Frugoli’s artwork is included in the permanent collections at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD, the Peoria Riverfront Museum, IL, and in numerous private collections. It has appeared in American Artist and Plein Air. She has written freelance for Workshop Magazine, Plein Air, and Fine Art Connoisseur. She was a founding member of the Central Illinois Artists Organization (CIAO) in Peoria, IL.
