BOOKBINDER, PRINTMAKER Tessa Warburton

I graduated from CPIT (now ARA) in 2000 with a Bachelor of Craft Art, majoring in Printmaking and Sculpture. I had previously studied and gained a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology at Canterbury University in 1993. I also studied Bookbinding under Don Hampshire for 5 years in Christchurch.

From 2001 until 2018 I worked as a Limited Edition Printmaker for Marian Maguire at PaperGraphica (now PG Gallery 192). I printed for many well-known artists, such as John Pule, Gretchen Albrecht, and Bill Hammond. During this time I was also working as a Bookbinder at home, and creating my own art works from paper, waste from bookbinding, and other materials. I have also been teaching privately and with groups as a bookbinder throughout this time.

I have had a number of solo exhibitions, and many group exhibitions since graduating from CPIT. Recently I took part in Open House at Arts in Oxford, allowing me to make my own prints for the first time since 2006. I am in the process of printing a Limited Edition book, which satisfies many aspects of my creative output.

My work is heavily influenced by the human experience, by taking one day at a time, incremental steps along ones journey through life. I am particularly interested in social justice and mental health as it relates to the individual, the community around me and the well-being of our nation. I like to include all of life, not just the pretty. I take an interest in death and decay and I find an inherent beauty there as well.