Tessa O'Brien
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.
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
