I’ve always had a pretty active imagination.

As a kid, school didn’t come easily to me, but drawing did. I could spend hours creating characters, inventing stories, and disappearing into imaginary worlds. Art became the place where I felt capable, curious, and completely myself.

Apparently, I never grew out of that.

I went on to earn my BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, studying painting while also exploring printmaking and sculpture. Since then, my creative path has wandered through decorative art, toy development, prototyping, handmade objects, digital illustration, and mixed media.

I’ve never been especially interested in staying in one artistic lane.

For more than a decade, I also designed and sold one-of-a-kind handbags under the name Tracy Alice. Eventually I added accessories, including pocket mirrors, which required me to buy a button press and start learning digital design.

That little button press ended up changing the direction of my work. It led to on-the-spot photo buttons, then to an opportunity to create buttons featuring a French bulldog named Wilbur, and eventually to the animal characters I make today.

There was never one grand plan for Maker Street. It grew the way most of my creative work has grown—one idea leading to another. I just kept following my curiosity until I arrived there.

Maker Street Studio became an imaginary neighborhood populated mostly by animals who behave suspiciously like people.

My characters might begin with a pun, an old photograph, a breed characteristic, something happening in the world, or an animal I’ve actually known. Years of living with and caring for pets taught me how individual they really are. Some are dramatic, some stubborn, some anxious, some charming, and some can somehow control an entire household without saying a word.

Once I started noticing those personalities, it became hard not to imagine the stories behind them.

Today, digital illustration is at the center of my work, but I still love experimenting with materials and processes. Increasingly, I’m taking those illustrations off the flat page and turning them into dimensional pieces, art objects, and whatever else curiosity talks me into making next.

Humor has become a big part of the work too, even though I’ve never thought of myself as particularly funny. I’m much more likely to overthink things. Maybe that’s why I need the humor. Life can get heavy. A little absurdity helps.

More than anything, I want people to find their own connection to the work. Maybe a character reminds you of a pet you loved, a friend, a family member, or even yourself. Maybe it just makes you laugh. That’s enough for me.

The imaginary worlds I escaped into as a kid never really disappeared. Eventually, I just gave one of them an address.

Welcome to Maker Street.