Tessa O'Brien
Tessa O'Brien.jpg

Tessa Greene O’Brien was born in mid-coast Maine in 1982, and returned to Maine in 2004, after spending time in Vermont, Oregon, and upstate New York. She graduated from Skidmore College with a B.S. in Fine Art, and recently received her MFA from Maine College of Art. O'Brien and her husband manage a studio collective called Base Camp Studios, co-founded the Portland Mural Initiative, a public art project pairing contemporary painters with wall painting opportunities around the state. She also co-owns and paints for Better Letter Hand Painted Signs.

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AWARDS & INVITATIONS:

2019- Ellis Beauregard Travel Grant

2019- Visiting Artist, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

2019- Visiting Artist, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME

​2018- Project Grant, Maine Arts Commission

2017- Vermont Studio Center Merit Award, Johnson, VT

2017- Joseph A. Fiore Painting Prize

2016- Commencement Speaker, MFA Program, Maine College of Art

2016- Visiting Artist, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

2015- Visiting Artist, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

2015- Professional Development Grant, Maine College of Art

2015- Community Project Grant, Allagash Brewing Company (Portland Mural Initiative)

2015- Project Grant, Maine Arts Commission (Portland Mural Initiative)

2015- Presidential Scholarship, Maine College of Art

2014- Kindling Fund Grant, SPACE Gallery (Portland Mural Initiative)

2014- Presidential Scholarship, Maine College of Art

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

-Daniel Kany, Art Review: Tessa O’Brien takes a leap forward at Elizabeth Moss, Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday

-Telegram, December 23, 2018

-Dana Sawyer, Inquisitive Views of a ‘Curious Nature’, Curious Nature Catalog, ICA @ MECA Publications, August 2018

-Nick Schroeder, A Show of Support: Able Baker’s ‘Selvedge’ Sees Painting Through a Totally Different Grain, July 18, 2017

-Daniel Kany, Fiber and painting grow closer in exhibit at Able Baker Contemporary, Portland Press Herald, July 30, 2017

-Jessica Skwire Routhier, Visual Arts Profile: Tessa Greene O’Brien, Maine Womens Magazine, July 28, 2016