Thanks Tracy …

Tracy Sorensen created splendidly, with moral ambition energising her talents as a writer and craftivist. I feel privileged to have spent time with her as a colleague in the arts and as a friend.  I met Tracy more than 10 years ago through her partner Steve Woodhall.  Steve and I both worked at the time in national parks. 
 
Many of the creative processes she devoted herself to, in making sense of her world and connecting with others were engaging, fun and nuts too. Explaining the bits crocheted by her of her internal guts and more, Tracy would pause just a little, to check in, that I was up for more.  I loved her way of seeing things and doing things. We shared an interest in the more-than-human-world. 
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I stole time in the old plum grove hammock to read her first book, The Lucky Galah, hot off the presses. Her second, The Vitals, was wolfed down while I was holed up in bed.  All domestic duties stopped and not much else happened in life when I was in the thick of her books. Published by Pan Macmillan and Picador / Pan Macmillan in 2018 and 2023 respectively, her books were highly respected by literary peers and received great acclaim. The Lucky Galah was long listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2018. With Australian imagery evoked, her books are gold and total treats to read.  They are so good too, for anyone interested in thinking about themselves and their world in new ways.  
 
I was honoured that Tracy wrote the essays for my solo art exhibitions in Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in 2022 and Cowra Regional Art Gallery in 2016. Wholesomely and cleverly, she wrote from her perspective and experience of spending time with my art and life too “… Nim the tall kelpie and Mr Barry Fox the short collie cross are also present and from time to time actively participate in the conversation …”. Weaving contemporary academic concepts from feminist scholar Donna Haraway and new materialist philosopher Jane Bennett, Tracy translates complex ideas into accessible stories. She straps the reader into her thought process, offering engaging and apt perspectives on her interpretation of my work. She got it.

Not only a playful, highly intelligent big thinker who could take in complex ideas and communicate them into meal sized appetising portions; Tracy was a creative maker (even adept at the likes of spinning Mr Barry Fox’s excess moulted fur), an organiser, collaborator and a supporter too.
 
Tracy was enormously encouraging of my being in the arts and the validity of it. She generously invited me and many others to participate in stimulating opportunities. Examples include the Charles Sturt University Creative Circle Listening in the Anthropocene exhibition and events in 2020 and painting the white wallaroo of Wahluu Mount Panorama for the 200 Plants and Animals exhibition by the Bathurst Community Climate Change Network that she curated in 2015.  She had a posse of my works on her walls.
 
Since drawing Tracy at her kitchen table for the first time years ago, my thoughts have percolated on portrait possibilities of her. The process of painting Tracy’s portrait enabled us to create in each other’s company over numerous sittings during an almost five-month period over 2024 and 2025. I drew and painted away whilst she stitched Bathurst’s endangered purple copper butterflies, both of us being in the moment. Despite the grimness of realities, in true Tracy form throughout these sittings she was sparky, enquiring, generous, funny and fun too.
 
Being the delightful character that she was, Tracy did not hold back expressing her fascination at seeing likenesses appear from the charisma of mark making. I loved that she leant into the process of me painting her portrait. Her suggestions of some of the things that represented her dear loved ones making it onto the shelves in the work including her mum Yvonne’s Dalek, her sister Deb’s horse and Steve’s cameras were absolutely welcome. We talked too about some kind of appearance of Bertie, her beloved deceased pooch. His legs ended up getting a shoe in. With just a bit of Lucky the Galah coming into the scene along with Tracy’s crocheted guts and large intestine strewn forth, she expressed appreciation in their predicaments in the painting. I couldn’t help myself but elevate her every-day tea cosy that she crafted. It became a kind of portrait on the wall. She expressed satisfaction that her old wallpaper sample made-the-cut and her side table represented both itself and developed some creature like personality with its skinny legs and boxy head.  
 
If - by being in the world, this portrait adds to Tracy and her work being considered, cherished and treasured more than they already are - then this would add to the joy of its process. Tracy has been exceptionally generous with this portrait, being open to it journeying wherever I guide it. For me, regardless of what happens with the portrait from here, I’ve already been blessed with the good stuff - precious time just hanging out, making, connecting and chatting with Tracy in her lounge room.
 
The last sitting I had with Tracy, was after her portrait painting was finished. I returned to drawing her in charcoal whilst she continued with her stitched butterflies. It was hearty to just keep on chatting and creating away.
 
Thanks Tracy,.  You will be sorely missed and you will continue to be adored.
 
Tracy passed away Monday 5th of May 2025. Her funeral is being held Friday 16th of May 2025 at 2 pm at the crematorium in Bathurst.
 
Sending much love and care to Steve, Yvonne, Deb and family and to all those who loved Tracy.
 
Image:
Nicola Mason, Berties feet, the tea cosy, Lucky the Galah, Steve’s cameras, Bunny, Deb’s horse, the remains of the old wallpaper, mum’s Dalek and Tracy Sorensen with her vitals crocheted and strewn whilst selecting threads to aptly stitch endangered Bathurst Purple Copper Butterfly eggs and more, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm.
 
Links:
 
Arts OutWest, Vale Tracy Sorensen
  
Nicola Mason Cycle catalogue, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery 9 April – 5 June 2022
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