Edinburgh Artist. Gallery

Goodbye Tracey and HELLO TESS

As Babies we’re given a name by an adult; usually our parents but sometimes not. 

Usually a lot of thought goes into this name, we might spend a lot of time as parents-to-be making lists, narrowing things down, living with the idea of a name for a while before discarding and trying another.  Sometimes we, as parents, think, oh the baby definitely looks like a such and such.  And there we have it, a fundamental part of who were are is given to us, not chosen.

I think we are all on a journey in life; to discover who we are and where we fit into this world of ours.  What our sense of purpose is, how we can grow as individuals and how we can help others.  In life, in addition to working as an artist, I’ve been fortunate to train over many years to work as  a psychodynamic therapist and am privileged to work with clients who are on journeys of their own.

For me personally, part of my recent journey has been to explore my name and what it means to me and to come to a place where I’m leaving behind the name that I have been known as for 50 years, 2 months and 23 days.

Tracey, my given name, is a diminutive of Theresa and after a lot of thought, I have chosen Tess which is also a diminutive of Theresa.

And to add to the changes, I’ve also changed my second name following a change in marital status.  So, Tess Dunlop it is.

Warmly, Tess x

Sometimes, it’s interesting to see how an Artist works; to understand the layers that go into creating the finished work. To get an insight into their creative processes, learning that in turning the 3D world into a representation on a 2D canvas, every piece contains a joyful number of problems to solve. I say joyful, because to me, I’m trying to help the piece find a way of saying what I want it to say – and that process of bringing work to life is indeed joyful, liberating and exciting.

With this in mind, I’ve created an ‘In the Studio’ tab – you can find it on the menu – and this contains some of the artworks where I have remembered to capture the journey I’ve taken, the process of mark making and layering that is so important to me.

Usually, capturing it digitally is forgotten as I lose myself in the process of creating the work; judging by the positive feedback though I plan to improve how often I remember to do this and to improve the quality of the slideshows (every day is a school day)

Hope you find them interesting to view. As always, let me know what you think.

Warmly, Tess x