Working across acrylic painting, digital illustration, and reclaimed material sculpture — each medium a different way of listening to the world.
View Work
Portrait and narrative work in acrylic — people, relationships, memory, and joy. Each piece begins with a photograph and ends somewhere entirely its own.
From commission portraits to city-wide public art — digital work that lives on screens, walls, and streets.
Found, recycled, reused, and repurposed objects — laid in layers with intention. Sometimes you can see the stories within. Cured. Assembled. Sealed. Each piece transforms what was discarded into something that demands to be seen.
"Creating isn't something I chose. It's in my blood — I have to make things."
I'm Tess Swickard. Denver born and raised. I work with paint, pixels, and whatever the world throws away. My practice is process-driven — I follow the material, the memory, the moment. The medium changes. The need doesn't.
For 15 years I've taught art and early childhood education — not because they're separate callings but because they're the same one. Art is essential to existing. I believe that fully. When something you see makes you feel seen, that's not decoration — that's survival.
My work is inspired by life. All of it. And if it moves even one person to pick up a brush, reclaim something broken, or simply feel less invisible — that's the whole point.
Available for commissions, collaborations, and conversations.
Dedicated to the belief that creativity belongs in every learning environment — and every life.
Let's make something together.
Available for commissions, collaborations, and creative conversations.