About the Artist: Tracy Verdugo
Tracy Verdugo is the perfect cover artist for this month’s #YearnToLearn issue. The Australian artist didn’t begin painting until she was 33, when she signed up for a local art class. Tracy continued her work as a Special Education teacher while developing her art and teaching it to neighborhood kids. She is a natural educator, telling us, “Playing teacher was my favorite game as a kid, and I just have this insatiable excitement to pass knowledge along when I’ve made a discovery!” Tracy taught those classes in the afternoon in her backyard shed for 12 years. She “watched so many of the kids grow in confidence by being given the chance to explore possibilities, discard right and wrong and embrace happy accidents!”
Eventually Tracy began to think bigger about her art and her classes, resigning from her full-time job and applying for a major art retreat in California in 2012. She ended up teaching all over the United States during a 12-week tour! Tracy credits the “large and vibrant community” she had on Facebook with helping her grow one opportunity into many. She repeated the tour the next year, adding some new destinations. That tour led to a book deal with a major arts and crafts publisher.