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STATEMENT

Attraction and repulsion are primary forces driving cosmic, atomic, and subjective matter[s]. I explore the friction of these intra-actions to expand and share personal ideology and experience. My practice builds diagnostic representations of systemic failure alongside tools to imagine alternative ontologies. I negotiate material use, modes of production, and mass cultural forms to detangle power and value dynamics. Playing with strategies of subversion, spectacle, poetics, humor, sincerity, and invention, the work aims to seduce broad public engagement with critical realities and speculative possibilities.



BIO

tess elliot is a studio artist and creative technologist investigating intersections of natural phenomena and human artifice. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the 8 Fest, QiPo Art Fair, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Vinegar Contemporary, Oklahoma Contemporary, Aggregate Space Gallery, and MOTOR Gallery, among others. She is a Rhizome microgrant recipient for their climate simulation Ultimate Sim which was presented in DEMO2026 at the New Museum. Tess holds a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art and an MFA in Art & Technology from The Ohio State University. She lives between Norman, OK and Queens, NY with her daughter Violet and is an Associate Professor of Art, Technology, & Culture at the University of Oklahoma.

CONTACT

email@tesselliot.net

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TESS ELLIOT .Catalano_Herzer_Grimm_Mulé

b. 1985 in Queens, NY

EDUCATION

2017MFA in Art & Technology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2008BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY
2006Erasmus Program, Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany

AWARDS & GRANTS

2025microgrant, Rhizome, New York, NY
Faculty Investment Program Award, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2023Arts & Humanities Faculty Fellowship, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2022Strategic Equipment Investment Program Award, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2020Ed Cline Faculty Development Award, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Creative Projects Grant, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Oklahoma City, OK
2015Arts & Humanities Graduate Research Grant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2014Grand Prize, Windows on Main Street X, Beacon, NY
Gallerists’ Pick, Windows on Main Street X, Beacon, NY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023Print(“Hello Wordle”), MAINSITE, Norman, OK
2020End User, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
GrassFlowerWeed, OK#1, Tulsa, OK (online)
BEZOZON, Vinegar Contemporary, Birmingham, AL
Toy Stories, <terminal> at Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN
2018TESS Mission, Lightwell Gallery, Norman, OK
2016Cheeto Machine, Hopkins Hall Gallery, Columbus, OH
Sapp, The Shed, Columbus, OH
2015Spoils, Beacon Artists Union, Beacon, NY
2014The Thing Itself, Mad Dooley Gallery, Beacon, NY
2008Fjordgeries, Cooper Union, New York, NY

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024Utopian Recruitment Center, The Neon Heater @ QiPO Art Fair, Mexico City, MX
2022SECAC Juried Exhibition, Fanny Fox Decker Gallery at MICA, Baltimore, MD
Everything Must Go, MOTOR, Los Angeles, CA
Bird Call: Studies and Actions Dedicated to Biodiversity, Freyberger Gallery at Penn State Berks, Reading, PA
2021Interstice, The Residency Project x MOTOR, Los Angeles, CA
Moments Like This, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019Ann Arbor Film Festival Off The Screen! Program, Ann Arbor, MI
Aggregate Animated Shorts, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
OU SoVA Faculty Show, JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK
2018Interstellar Magic, Resonator, Norman, OK
2017THESIS, Urban Arts Space, Columbus, OH
2015Blick von Außen, Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH
Everywhere Is Here, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Auto Show, Temp Collective, Columbus, OH
You Are Here, Hopkins Hall Gallery, Columbus, OH
2014Blue Space, Mirage Gallery, Columbus, OH
Windows on Main Street X, Beacon, NY
2013Texture of Place, Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston, NY
Sunset Beach, Chashama 266, New York, NY
Homecoming, KuBe, Beacon, NY
Framing Space / Narrating Place, Leeds College of Art, Leeds, UK
2012Finding Our New Fort, KuBe, Beacon, NY
Landscape Like It or Not, Mad Dooley Gallery, Beacon, NY
Dia Staff Show, Marion Royael Gallery, Beacon, NY
2011Insight / Onsite, Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston, NY
Dia Staff Show, Marion Royael Gallery, Beacon, NY
2010T.W.O (The Work Office), Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
2009T.W.O (The Work Office), Chashama 112, New York, NY
2008Over Look Out, Cooper Union, New York, NY

SCREENINGS

202277 Genesee, Tune in to Green – Minor Chord II, Diorama Room, Austin, TX
2020All Tomorrow’s Parties, Virtual Microcinema, RhizomeDC, Washington, D.C. (online)
The Big Country [Nothing But] Flowers, The 8 Fest, Toronto, ON
2019So Long Nemo, Aggregate Animated Shorts, Central Stage, Richmond, CA
So Long Nemo, Aggregate Animated Shorts, New Parkway Theatre, Oakland, CA
201877 Genesee Bay Boulevard, Miloti Program Two, Columbus, OH
77 Genesee, The 8 Fest, Toronto, ON
2017Olympia, The 8 Fest, Toronto, ON

ARTIST TALKS

2026“Studio Demo x Rhizome: Prototyping Worlds”, DEMO2026 @ New Museum, New York, NY
2022“Tune in to Green– Minor Chord II Artists Talk”, Diorama Room, Austin, TX (online)
2020“ROY talks with Tess Elliot and Justin Hodges”, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
“Digital Ecologies with Tess Elliot”, OK#1, Tulsa, OK (online)
“Art > Information”, Vinegar Contemporary, Birmingham, AL
Artist Talk, University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
2019Artists Panel Discussion, AAFF Off the Screen! Program, Stamps Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2010Artists Panel Discussion, T.W.O (The Work Office), Verge Art Fair, New York, NY

RESIDENCIES

2021Artist-in-Residence, Kintai Arts, Kintai, Lithuania
2020Studio-in-Place, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City, OK
2017Artist-in-Residence-in-Motherhood, Atlantic Beach, NY
2015Pulse Laser Holography Workshop, The Holocenter, New York, NY
2009Artist-in-Residence, Contemporary Art Center Woodside, Troy, NY

CURATORIAL

2026Radical Observations: Plants as Ecological Collaborators, Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, OK (co-curated with Haley Prestifilippo, Dr. Abigail Moore , and Cathleen Faubert)
2025Field Notes: How Mammals Sense Their World, Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK (co-curated with Haley Prestifilippo, Dr. Hayley Lanier, and Cathleen Faubert)
2024Prehistoric Visions: Evolving Perspectives on Fossil Animals and Paleoart, Sam Noble Museum, Norman, OK (co-curated with Haley Prestifilippo and Dr. Jacqueline Lungmus)
2023Flight Lines: The Art of Scientific Illustration at OU, Sam Noble Museum, Norman, OK (co-curated with Haley Prestifilippo and Dr. Claire Nicholas)
2021Direct Messages, The Wrong Biennale (online)

PUBLICATIONS

2020“Snake Plant”, 12bpm, Martha’s Quarterly, Summer 2020

WORKSHOPS

2020“Live with Tess Elliot and Infinite Oaks”, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City, OK (online)
2010“Assembly Line”, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, New York, NY

PRESENTATIONS

2026“Ultimate Sim Playtest”, Games for Change Festival, New York, NY
2023“Critical Art Games and the Ultimate Sim”, Computer Simulation and Gaming Conference, Tulsa, OK
2022“The Affinity Between Animation and Plastic”, CASP: Animation Then and Now, SECAC, Baltimore, MD
2020Problem-Solving Art, session chair, SECAC, Richmond, VA
“One Woman Show”, Digital Innovations in Contemporary Art Practice, SECAC, Richmond, VA
2019“On Art and Instagram”, Art / Data / Information, SECAC, Chattanooga, TN
2018“Situating Computer Animation in Art”, The Role of the Hand in Contemporary Technologies, SECAC, Birmingham, AL

TEACHING

2023 –Associate Professor of Art, Technology, & Culture, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2017 – 23Assistant Professor of Art, Technology, & Culture, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2015 – 17Instructor of Record, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2014Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

PRESS

Howard, Katelyn. “AR App Reintroduces Native Ecology To Oklahoma” KGOU News. KGOU NPR, Jul. 27, 2020.
Reid, Robert. “Meet Tess Elliot” Gallery America. OETA PBS, Jun. 17, 2020.
“Artistic conversations: Oklahoma Contemporary gives artists opportunities to address current events through Studio-in-Place” by Brandy McDonnell, The Oklahoman, Jun. 9, 2020.
“On the first night of the 2017 8 fest!” by Jacqueline Valencia, These Girls On Film, Sep. 28, 2017.
“Exhibition winners honored by Beacon’s Windows on Main Street”, The Phillipstown Press, Sep. 20, 2014.
“Now Opening in 3D Near You” by Paul Smart, The Hudson Valley Times, Jul. 14, 2011.
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