Tessa Farmer (born 1978,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, UK) is an artist based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Her work, made from

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

carcasses, plant roots and other found natural materials, comprises hanging installations depicting Boschian battles between insects and tiny winged skeletal

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

s. Farmer studied at

The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art The Ruskin School of Art is the Department of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division, University of Oxford, Humanities Division. History The Ruskin School of Art grew out the Oxford School of ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in 2000 and her Master of Arts in 2003. Subsequent awards include the Vivien Leigh Prize, a sculpture residency in King's Wood, Challock, Kent, and a

Royal British Society of Sculptors The Royal Society of Sculptors (RSS) is a British charity established in 1905, which promotes excellence in the art and practice of sculpture. Its headquarters are a centre for contemporary sculpture on Old Brompton Road in South Kensington, Lo ...

Bursary Award. Her work is in the collections of the

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the ...

and the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

among others. In 2007, Farmer was artist in residence at the Natural History Museum and was chosen for the final shortlist of

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

Breakthrough Award. In 2015, she won the

BSFA Award for Best Artwork The BSFA Awards are given every year by the British Science Fiction Association. The BSFA Award for Best Artwork is open to any artwork with speculative themes that first appeared in the previous year. Provided the artwork hasn't been published be ...

2014, for an installation inspired by

The Wasp Factory ''The Wasp Factory'' is the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1984. Before the book came out, Banks had written several science fiction novels that had not been accepted for publication. He decided to try a more mainstrea ...

from Iain Banks.

Family

Her great-grandfather is

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen ( or ; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh people, Welsh author and mysticism, mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural ...

– author of

The Great God Pan ''The Great God Pan'' is an 1894 horror and fantasy novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Machen was inspired to write ''The Great God Pan'' by his experiences at the ruins of a pagan temple in Wales. What would become the first chapter of ...

, and The White People. Tessa was unfamiliar with Machen's work until a member of The Friends of Arthur Machen drew her attention to similarities between some of Machen's stories and Tessa's own work. Since then, Machen has become an influence in her artwork.

Selected exhibitions

* 2018

Anima Mundi The concept of the (Latin), world soul (, ), or soul of the world (, ) posits an intrinsic connection between all living beings, suggesting that the world is animated by a soul much like the human body. Rooted in ancient Greek and Roman philo ...

St Ives, 'Out of the Earth' * 2018

Leeds Arts University Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Sch ...

Leeds, 'Zsofia Jakab :Beckoning' * 2017 bo.lee gallery London, 'Nature's Alchemy' * 2016 Griffin Gallery London, 'Perfectionism (Part III): The Alchemy of Making' * 2016 Studio 3 Gallery, Kent London, 'Curio: Sites of Wonder' * 2015 Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities London, 'In Fairyland' * 2015

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Sc ...

Leeds, 'In Fairyland' * 2014 The Holburne Museum Bath, 'Unwelcome Visitors' * 2012 Spencer Brownstone Gallery New York, 'ISAM: Control Over Nature' * 2012

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

St Ives, 'From the Deep' * 2011 Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities London, 'The Coming of the Fairies' * 2011 Crypt Gallery London, 'ISAM: Control Over Nature' * 2011 Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art London, 'Nymphidia

References

External links

Tessa Farmer
''Tessa Farmer: Home Page''

''Miniature Worlds''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Tessa English artists English contemporary artists 1978 births Living people Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art BSFA Award for Best Artwork winner