The Professional Artists of St. Augustine (PAStA) Fine Art Gallery, of 214 Charlotte St., St. Augustine, welcomes new acrylic painter Tracy Lavely to its co-operative art gallery.
Hailing from Indianapolis, Lavely credits her hometown as the source for her early love of art, and the town where she met her husband of 41 years during high school.
Her mother, an artist, inspired her love for painting, and young Lavely spent many hours absorbing her mother’s lessons. Her sister also became an artist, but Lavely took a different life path. She graduated from Indiana University with a degree in criminal justice, got married and moved, eventually settling in Northern Virginia.
After working various jobs in law firms, she found her career job with the Virginia Department of Corrections as a probation and parole officer. She was the chief probation and parole officer for Fairfax County, Virginia, managing a large office and staff, implementing creative programming, and collaborating with other community stakeholders to help people be better and to keep the community safe.
She participated and presented in many correctional trainings, seminars and conferences around the state of Virginia on leadership development for executives. In 2018, she was awarded the national Outstanding Probation Executive of the Year.
Lavely has been painting regularly for the past five years. As a self-taught artist, she found using the palette knife as her primary tool in laying color allowed her to create texture in her beach- and coastal-themed paintings. As a new resident of St Augustine, Lavely continues to expand her artistic vision and looks forward to meeting customers at the PAStA Fine Art Gallery.
The Professional Artists of St. Augustine Fine Art Gallery was founded in 1982 by Jean Wagner Troemel, a champion of the arts and founder of the Winter Haven Ridge Art Association who served on the Florida Arts Group Board and spearheaded St. Augustine’s First Friday Art Walks.
The gallery has served an international clientele a wealth of local talent and award-winning artists. The gallery’s mission is to showcase local and regional art and to educate and encourage area artists.
