About Tess

Tess is a portraitist and muralist based in Omaha, NE. She attended high school in Norfolk, NE after her family moved from Fort Wayne, IN, where she was born and raised. After high school she studied at Hollins University, a women's college in Roanoke, VA. While attending Hollins, she had the opportunity to study abroad in London. Being there rekindled her lifelong passion for art, leading her to switch her major from Sociology to Studio Art at the beginning of her senior year. After she earned her BA, she returned to London and obtained her MA in Fine Art from Middlesex University. After finishing school, she returned to Norfolk to be closer to her family. After a few years, she moved to Omaha, where she currently lives with her dogs, Harper and Enzo. 

 

Tess primarily focuses on figurative oil painting, but she has also recently branched out into still-lifes as well. Her current body of work is what she calls “Outline Paintings.” These paintings are made up of fully-rendered representations of people or objects overlaid with outlines of other angles or movements of the primary subject. The outlines are like echos of the main subject and are also representative of the many views that can be seen of anything based on a person’s vantage point.

 

Since 2019, Tess has had the opportunity to paint several murals. Four are in Norfolk, NE and one is In Omaha, NE. Working on such a large scale has stretched her abilities in the best way, and she hopes to continue stretching and growing in her work.

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