Born in Scotland and educated at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, NL, Tessa received an entrance scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Tessa is proud to be represented in the Grenfell Campus art collection, as well as in the collection of the provincial government of Newfoundland & Labrador and the Canada Council Art Bank.
Tessa won the Franklyn Gallery Book Prize in 1994 and an Award for Academic Excellence in Visual Arts in 1998 when she graduated from Grenfell. She has been exhibiting her work since 1996, with solo and group showings. Her work is also part of private collections in Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.