When Steve Tracy arrived in London in 2008, he was already an internationally recognized artist with a CV that included exhibitions in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and corporate clients like Apple, Microsoft and Bank of America. But that didn’t help the California-born Tracy make inroads with the local art establishment.
“Nobody wanted to represent Steve. He wasn’t Canadian. He wasn’t local. His work was nice, but it wasn’t suitable,” recalls Steve’s wife and business partner, Gert Tracy.
The couple had met at an art exhibition in Key West in 2007, married 59 days later and moved from Steve’s home in Lakewood, Colorado to London to be closer to Gert’s family.
Faced with a lukewarm reception in their new hometown, Steve commuted back and forth to the U.S. while Gert called on her experience in sales and real estate to take a different approach to cracking the Canadian market.
Nicole Laidler is a freelance reporter, copywriter and content creator, serving clients in London, Toronto and throughout Southwestern Ontario. She helps people grow their success, one word at a time.
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