ABOUT TESS

More about Tess

Her home and art studio are nestled in a diversely creative town in the Northern Rivers, Australia. She is a mother to three spirited daughters and married to the love of her life who works in the film industry as a travelling stuntman, this path has allowed Tess and her family to live in some fascinating places all around the world which has lent to her daily practice of noticing beauty in the commonplace. 

Within the paradigm of Tess’ expression, there is a strong sense of communion with dance and movement where it intersects and holds hands with so many other parts of her work acting almost like an electric undercurrent. We see dance being the framework that moves her art from a flat dimension into something that has a body whether it be expressed through words, paint or design, we can see dance is the anchor. 

Tess spent her post-dance career studying design at The Karl Von Busse of Design, Tess’ freelance design business was established upon graduation in 2013 and grew from strength to strength as she shared her work across multiple platforms. Opportunities appeared endless for the 7 years she sowed into designing, but a niggling feeling that this was not her ‘forever’ calling, prompted Tess to pause this course, unpack her longings with a renewed conviction to explore and release her inner artist.

This bold and audacious sabbatical begot one of her greatest creations yet, The Apricot Memoirs. Something that started as an instinctive experiment in words, colours and sound, fused to become the pages of her very first book. Although its contents came from Tess’ heart, The Apricot Memoirs’ manifestation as a print publication came from the generous hearts of those she continued to speak to and connect with. It was her characteristically honest and astonishingly successful Kickstarter campaign that enabled Tess to self-publish the first of 10 print runs to date. In under two years, Tess’ Apricot pages (printed on illustrious French paper) and her now-iconic rainbow art have blazed wildly across borders, social feeds, stores and homes around the world, leaving a trail of hope wherever they go. The books have since taken further flight when approached by international publishers Andrews Mcmeel Universal taking the pages even further around the globe with it soon to be translated into a second language, Dutch. 

Tess’s second collection of words, The Moonflower Monologues launched as a self-published piece shortly after the arrival of her twin daughters and later joined her sister title internationally in October 2021 with publisher Andrews Mcmeel Universal. Tess’ most recent and fondest work The Stars Nodded released as a self-published art piece in November 2021. This iconic title is an heirloom of colour and poetry dedicated to her three daughters in the form of a picture book (for little people and big people alike) and is now available internationally. 

Tenacious about growth, Tess is committed to being as water as she adheres to the ever-changing phases of life choosing to embrace the creative process as a road map to all the intricacies and rhythms that life brings. She has an unwavering belief that “creative expression will forever grow and change - but her inner purpose will forever remain the same”.

Those who tune into what Tess’ work has to say, will be struck by the treasures beneath every brushstroke and syllable. And there, amongst her outpourings, you will not only uncover Tess’ infinite inner universe but most potently, your own.