In the course of earning her BA in illustration and traditional animation from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University in 2000, Stacy discovered a fascination with capturing movement, which she went on to explore as a fine artist. In LA, Stacy spent six years apprenticing with Chinese artist Shuqiao Zhou, whose own training was in the great expressive Russian lineage of Ilya Repin and Valentin Serov. Stacy then sought out instruction from David A. Leffel and Sherrie McGraw, two masters of Abstract Realism and the dramatic effects of Rembrandt. She credits their teaching for the startling light that is characteristic of her work. She teaches painting at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, the Brentwood Art Center, and the Kline Academy of Art, and is an assistant instructor for Bright Light Fine Art workshops across the US.
Stacy’s luminous oil paintings resonate with liveliness. Her figures are caught in moments of movement, often concentrating, hard at work. Whether she has captured waiters in a French café, a practicing dancer, a leather-worker or a blacksmith, there is a sense that the viewer is privy to a very intimate moment, a flashing instant in a life.