Californian pastelist Tracy Klinesteker creates paintings of striking chromatic power and luminosity. Klinesteker feels color down to the depths of her bones. Mesmerized by the wonders of the natural world, she is sometimes too stunned by beauty to even move. When she took her first art class at a local museum ten years ago, she felt that paralyzing awe upon seeing a set of richly pigmented pastels. Her love affair with the medium unfolds as she expertly harnesses the buttery consistency of the material, painstakingly adding details, and patiently bringing out life from the inert paper surface. A former photographer, Klinesteker has developed a keen eye for subtleties, perspective, and light, and uses her own images as references. Her subjects are eclectic ranging from landscapes she has seen during her travels to still lifes and animals. Ever-thirsty for more, Klinesteker probes the arcana of the medium, looking for new ways to express emotion through light.

Klinesteker has shown both in solo and group exhibitions in Michigan. She has won countless awards and was accepted to the Pastel of America’s Enduring Brilliance Exhibition in New York in 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies and a Special Education Teaching Credential. She was an itinerant teacher and taught visually impaired students in Los Angeles. In the 80s she was an Army photographer; in the 90s a graphic designer who worked for NASA at Edward Air Force Base. She now lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she enjoys winter wonderlands and autumnal delights with her husband.