Tessa Sulston

Mixed-media, Oils & Acrylics, Pastels, Pen & Ink, Pencil & Charcoal, Photography, Printmaking, Watercolours

I trained as a sculptor and printmaker at Hornsey College of Art. I taught Art in London and Oxford but moved to the Tamar Valley in 2006 to open Callington School of Art. My work incorporates a variety of media but primarily with text, silk screen ...

I trained as a sculptor and printmaker at Hornsey College of Art. I taught Art in London and Oxford but moved to the Tamar Valley in 2006 to open Callington School of Art.

My work incorporates a variety of media but primarily with text, silk screen printed into paintings. In 2018 I acquired permission to use the handwritten letters of J.M.W Turner from the archives of the British Library, the RA, the Tate and Sir John Soane’s museum.

At the start, I silk screen printed 18th century maps of Turner’s London with the handwritten letters into the paintings, in layers. My intention was to have the writing in the painting as if Turner himself had written it there. They are a reminder of Turner's voice.

The letters I have chosen to work with are written to his friends and colleagues, mainly about early 19th century life in London and abroad. These show a different side of Turner’s character. He himself often added textural inscriptions to many of his works. My work is a homage to this correspondence.

The art historian Sam Smiles described my work as '... superimposed curtains of calligraphic marks on a veiled background, the writing occupying an indeterminate space.'

Get in touch

01579-383491

tessa@callingtonartschool.com

callingtonartschool.com

Lower House, 9 Church St., Callington, Cornwall, PL17 7AN

Accepting Commissions

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Art Trails 2020

Art Trails, one of the most vibrant and interactive events in the drawn to the valley calendar. Meet artists, see what they do and grab a piece of original art at a fair price.

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