User:Daryndavies/Tracy Lee Stum

Tracy Lee Stum Born April 14, 1961 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is an American artist best known as a 3d streetpainter or chalk artist. She has been featured in ʻ3d Street Artʼ by Birgit Krols, and ʻBe Happy At Work: 100 Women Who Love Their Jobs, and Whyʼ by Joanne Gordon.

Early Life
Stum was raised in West Chester, a Philadelphia suburb and later attended high school at Cumberland Valley High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Stum began drawing and painting by age 3 and produced her first chalk pastel commission at the age of 15. After several years of private art instruction during high school, Stum attended Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, earning a BFA in Painting and Drawing. While at Tyler, Stum attended the Tyler School of Art campus in Rome, Italy, which introduced her to historical European painting and mural traditions.

Art Career
Stum moved to NYC in 1985, landing the visual merchandising director position at the iconic Unique Clothing Warehouse on lower Broadway. She began painting large scale murals at UCW, infusing European classical images with downtown NY street style. Regulars to UCW included musicians, fashionistas, scenesters and downtown artists including Jean-Paul Gaultier, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring. While at UCW, Stum was scouted by a casting associate for Susan Seidelmanʼs 1989 film ʻCookieʼ, featuring Emily Lloyd and Peter Falk. She appears briefly in the film as a downtown scenester.

Stum relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 to pursue her own decorative painting business. After a 2 year foray into the film industry, Stum began working with LA based interior designers creating murals and decorative painting, and in 1997 landed a commission to design and paint the gaming room ceiling and wall art for the Venetian Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. This project was documented in the 2000 BBC documentary ʻKing of the Stripʼ by Simon Dickson, in which Stum was featured.

In 1997 Stum discovered street painting at the Santa Barbara I Madonnari Festival, the first and longest running street painting festival created in the US. Experienced in working with large scale murals and chalk pastels, Stum first participated in 1998 and quickly gained a reputation as an exceptional street painter, recreating images of Renaissance & Baroque masterpieces by artists such as Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Palma the Younger, Botticelli, Tiepolo, Rafael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt and Georges de la Tour.

In 1999 Stum began experimenting with 3d street paintings, which led her to Dr. Tomas Salgado, professor of math at the University of Mexico. Salgadoʼs ʻmodular perspectiveʼ theories assisted Stum in exploring the principles behind anamorphic projection. She regularly began employing 3d techniques in her street art at this time.

In 2003 Stum spearheaded a recreation of Michelangeloʼs Sistine Chapel ceiling for the 10th Anniversary of the Youth In Arts Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael, CA. This project was the worldʼs largest Sistine Chapel recreation, sized at 25ʼ x 75ʼ, requiring over 25 artists and 6 days to complete.

In 2007, Stum coordinated a second reproduction of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in conjunction with the 2007 Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico, at Festival Bella Via.

In 2008, Stum was invited to street paint at Mood Indigo, a student organized cultural festival held on the IIT Mumbai campus, in Mumbai, India. This was the first appearance of contemporary street painting in India. (Additional entertainment included Sonu Naagam, Indian Ocean, Rabbi Shergil, Kavita Seth, Ensiferum and No Fit State Circus.)

In 2009, Stum was invited back to India to demonstrate and teach street painting at Antaragni, a student organized cultural festival held on the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur campus. (Additional entertainment included Bollywood singer KK, Advaita, Sitar Funk and Jaded Sun.)

In 2009, Stum was sponsored by the American Center at the US Consulate General of India and toured as a visiting artist to four Indian art universities and colleges (Habitat Center, New Delhi; Government College of Art & Stella Maris College of Art, Chennai; University of Art, Hyderabad; Stella Maris College of Art; Government School of Art, Kolkata) teaching and demonstrating street painting to art students.

In 2010, Stum created a large 3d chalk mural commemorating past US Hall of Fame Winter Olympic athletes, at the USA House in Vancouver, BC for the 2010 Winter Olympic games. This mural was signed by attending Olympic athletes such as Picabo Street, Dan Jansen, Peggy Fleming and Scott Hamilton.

Stum has participated in over 30 world wide street art festivals and has created upwards of 200 street paintings in the course of her career. Stum has street painted in Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and the US.

Awards

 * In 2006 she was awarded a Guinness World Record for the Largest Chalk Painting by an Individual, for her painting of ʻThe Last Supperʼ by Leonardo da Vinci, for the DVD launch of Sony Entertainmentʼs ʻThe Da Vinci Codeʼ, at Trump Tower in New York. 2006

Publications

 * ’3D Street Art’ by Birgit Krols. Published by Tectum; Mul Edition (2010) Featured Artist
 * ‘Be Happy at Work – 100 Women Who Love Their Jobs and Why’ by Joanne Gordon, Ballantine Books, (2005) Interviewee

TV Appearances

 * ABC ‘Good Morning America’ with Charles Osgood, (June 2003) interviewee
 * BBC documentary ‘King of the Strip’ (The Making of the Venetian Hotel and Casino) by Simon Dickson, (2000) Interviewee