artSQUEST
Winter 2003

When Tessa Nunn was given the opportunity to study at the prestigious New York Academy of Art, she knew it would be a life-altering experience. What she didn't know was how much her time in New York would change her, her art and her view of the world.

"New York inspired me to explore the spirituality of art and to ask myself 'what do I want to communicate with my art:" recalls Nunn. "New York is such an epicenter for art, spirituality and culture... when I wasn't in class, I could spend hours wandering around galleries, churches and cathedrals." For a time she lived in Spanish Harlem, and witnessed firsthand the disparity between America's rich and poor. And then, just when she thought she understood the New York experience, September 11 happened, and nothing was the same.

"It was a very close experience for me, I was actually only two blocks away," explains Nunn. "Even now, I'm still integrating how it has affected me." For an artist already interested in the spirituality of art, September 11 inspired a deeper examination of our individual responsibility and our own reality. "It showed us that we're all vulnerable and any sense of security we have is just an illusion." Upon her return to Edmonton in the fall of 2002, Nunn took on the role of artist in residence at Harcourt House. It was there that she recently completed a one-woman show featuring works inspired by both September 11 and other traumas. "When people are in front of one of my pieces I want them to be stirred and shifted," explains Nunn.

"I want them to be able to still their mind of the chaos and look inside." Many people have praised her work for its ability to inspire introspection, and her pieces are included in several public and private collections around the world, including that of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Although Nunn had always been aware of the AFA and the work it does to support the arts, it was while in New York that Nunn realized how crucial that support could be to artists. "I just feel blessed for all the support I've received," she says. "While I was in New York, there was a point where I was struggling and wondering if I would be able to finish, and this cheque showed up from the AFA and it was like somebody saying 'we believe in you and you can do this.' The timing couldn't have been better."

Now that Nunn has completed her time as an artist in residency, she is enjoying the freedom to be a "bit of recluse." Her life has also changed in other ways as well; she has fallen in love, and finds that her spiritual and emotional joy is working its way into her art as well. "Before my work was very content driven, but now I realize the stories will come out anyway, so I'm free to try other things and to open myself up."

While she misses the guidance of some of the artists she worked with in New York, she is happy with her life and her art back home in Alberta. "I'm very different today, because I realize that even though there is terror in this world, there is magic as well...I feel so blessed to be where I am today."