Tess Elliot, Infinite Oaks
Studio-in-Place: Tess Elliot
Join Oklahoma Contemporary online this summer as select Studio School Instructors spend one month working on projects related to themes of creativity, community and resilience in the time of COVID-19. Through biweekly interviews, livestreamed videos and other engaging content, you’ll get an inside glimpse into the creative working processes of contemporary artists at home and in Oklahoma Contemporary’s studio facilities.
About Tess's June Studio-in-Place project
Using her background in painting, sculpture and technology, Tess Elliot will create augmented-reality (AR) experiences to virtually reintroduce blackjack oaks, post oaks and other native tree species to the Cross Timbers region of Oklahoma. The project will result in an AR app, free and accessible to anyone with a tablet or smartphone, which aims to connect the community to native ecology and each other through a shared digital experience. Tess’s app will use GPS coordinates to grow digitally modeled, painted and animated woodlands within real spaces across Oklahoma’s central region.
Artist and Studio School instructor Tess Elliot
Follow along and get involved
Through the course of the project, Tess will be posting updates on this page, the New Light blog and Oklahoma Contemporary’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can also follow her on Instagram at @tess.elliot.
Each Studio-in-Place project engages active community participation. Tess will identify several locations in the Oklahoma City metro area to activate with her AR installations. If you have a spot to recommend, send us an email at studioschool@okcontemp.org by Sunday, June 7.
About the artist
Tess Elliot is an assistant professor of art, technology and culture at OU. She studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin in 2006 and received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in 2008. She completed her MFA in Art and Technology at the Ohio State University in 2017. Her multidisciplinary practice involves sculpture, installation, animation, VR and small-gauge film. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, recently at the 8 Fest in Toronto, Ontario, Aggregate Space Gallery in Oakland, Calif., and the Ann Arbor Film Festival in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Tess will return to Studio School as a digital media instructor.
