tess michalik

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Tess Michalik moved to Indianapolis as a teenager. She received her BFA from Herron School of Art in 2010 and in 2014 her MFA from Northern Illinois University. Michalik has participated in group shows in regional institutions and universities including the Maclean County Art Center in Bloomington, IL and Harper College in Palatine, IL. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at contemporary art fairs with Lisa Kehler Art + Projects. In 2018, Michalik exhibited work in Organic at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba, Canada. Her paintings were exhibited beside pieces from the museum's Decorative Arts collection. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn.

Tess Michalik’s new body work entitled, FROSTED FLAKES, is a series of medium to large-scale fields of light emerging from darkness. The new work is a reflection on small scale, intimate oil paintings created during quarantine of the past year This recent body of painting is a celebration of joy, anxiety, simple pleasures, decoration, ornamentation, and the material nature of paint. These paintings embrace and examine lyrical mark making and themes of pattern and element that are inspired by 17th and 18th century European textile design.