Get to Know Arts By the Bay Gallery Artist Tracey Grumbach

Tracey Grumbach is a photographer and digital artist living and working in the small town of Norrisville in Harford County where she lives with her husband, four children (two which are currently off to college and trade school) a dog, and two cats. When she is not working on art she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, reading, growing organic food, going for long walks, and watching any and all British period dramas such as Downton Abbey and Victoria.Tracey’s road to becoming an artist was not a straight one. After being told by her elementary school art teacher that she “is not an artist and never will be,” she abandoned all dreams of growing up and having an artsy job. Instead, she got her teaching degree from Towson University and taught elementary school for many years before staying home to raise her kids. It was during that time when she discovered her love of photography, eventually ignoring her art teacher’s mean spirited prediction and opened up her own photography business. After becoming severely ill with Lyme Disease in 2011, she had to quit her real estate photography job but became very focused on creating digital and collage art, which she still does today out of her home studio above her garage.Tracey’s artistic passion is to create dream-like worlds that make the viewer guess if the art is a painting, a photograph, or something in between. She uses many layers and elements in her work just as a traditional mixed media artist would. In 2018 she is currently working on a 365 project (one piece of art a day for a year) and is taking classes to learn new forms of art such as traditional collage and drawing. When working in her studio, Tracey enjoys blasting classical music or listening to artsy podcasts.Tracey’s photography and digital art work has been used by ad agencies and has been published in popular local, national, and international publications including Baltimore Magazine, Artful Blogging, Somerset Digital Studio, Harford’s Heart, and The Country Chronicle. Her photography has won several contests including one for a nationwide retailer and one for the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Check out Tracey’s answers to our fun “Quick Round”

1. Coffee or Tea? Both! Coffee at any time and tea in the afternoon

2. Cats or Dogs? If I have to choose, cats but I love both.

9. Favorite Childhood Memory- Running around barefoot the neighborhood with my brother, cousins, and friends in the summer playing flashlight tag.

10. Favorite Artist- For photography I love Vivian Maier and for traditional art I love Georgia O’Keeffe

11. Favorite place to vacation or visit- Key West!

Thanks to Tracey for playing along in our Get To Know Our Artists series. She can be found on her website at www.nineacresdesigns.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nineacresdesigns, or on Instagram at @nineacresdesignsart (digital art) or @nineacresdesignscollage (collage work) or @grumbach_girl_bw (black and white photography). She accepts email at nineacresdesigns@gmail.com.