Art & Fashion

For Tressa, art is not just about creating something beautiful; it's a reflection of the artist's inner and outer world and an unabridged expression of emotions. In this case, the home for those emotions and memories is her canvas. "All my art is pretty reflective of the period in which I make it," she shares. One such piece, oil on canvas, titled Codependency, tells the story of a period in Tressa's life after experiencing a codependent relationship dynamic. "I had just gotten out of a relationship," she recalls. "Moving out and moving home, I still sought that feeling of having someone there." Through vibrant hues of cool blue, and warmer reds, and oranges, Codependency captures the conflicting emotions of being in a codependent relationship, and the aftermath once the attachment is forced to be let go of. “It represents being on fire and feeling good, but it also makes me horribly sad and lonely in ways,”  she tells me. Her eyeshadow and earrings are included, a personalized touch amongst the swirly blue and white brushstrokes, contouring down from the eyes and around down to the jaw and chin. The two share a body in ways, a being that looks separate yet melded together, further representing that quality of codependency and how partners merge into one another. The two have boundaries undefined yet shown with different dotting patterns on each side.

Another piece called The Fall, an oil on canvas painting, took the stage in the Richards Art Gallery, a black-owned art gallery in Austin, in 2023. "It's about falling in love, and falling too fast," Tressa explains. "Sometimes life runs away, and you kind of feel like you're falling.” The painting represents Tressa and the ways she felt in this phase of life, as she falls, contorted back, as though falling head-over-heels.

The bright yellow and black high heels are the one article of clothing on the subjects’s body, which was intentional. “It's like feeling comfortable naked but still kind of having that costume on. Heels for me are not comfortable like I don't feel like myself and feel like I should converse on, you know, and I feel more comfortable. But nothing about this painting is comfortable.” 

With lungs painted darker browns and blacks against the hues of tan, they stand out and give more depth to the implied fall the subject is experiencing.“The lungs symbolize this anxiety I have.” Tressa shares. “I lean on nicotine, which is one consistent in my life through falling in love.” The layers of emotional depth and peculiarity amongst aggressive brushstrokes persists upon considering that the piece was originally painted right side up, but as it’s displayed upside down. In this way, the viewer may perceive that the woman depicted is no longer falling but rising up instead.

Tressa doubles down on the expression of uncomfortable emotions like frustration and irritation through this untitled mixed-media piece. With receipts from her bartending shifts worked into the piece as the base layer, she painted in various red hues the many swirling and cube-like patterns with oil. “All the receipts were from a shift where I was bartending and it was just me. It was so awful.” she laments. The receipts give way to the intense energy of immediacy that the red drips and swirls convey, overall showing the true colors beneath each receipt and the emotional turmoil that can go on behind a difficult night in the restaurant service industry. “It’s like when you work in the service industry and you’re too far in, shaking, but like you can’t back out because everyone needs something from you and everyone needs their drinks and this and that” 

The way the red drips convey the sense of the blood sweat and tears she put into her job was one of my first initial thoughts to hearing the inspiration behind the piece. Upon telling Tressa this, she further went into that feeling she had the night she used her receipts to create this. “You work so hard and all of a sudden you get your paycheck for $920 dollars, and you live in an apartment that costs $1300,” Tressa vents. It’s never ending, i'm always working, I was just in pain about it and stayed up one night making this after a shift. I was pissed. I had cut my finger that night doing a lemon zest twist martini- I peeled my knuckle off.”

This next colorful untitled piece caught my eye hanging on the artist's wall. She described it as a really fun experience that sparked an interest in exploring diverse textures and mediums on the canvas. Tressa began with oil on canvas, then experimented with layers of spray paint. “I had just come from an artist workshop that focused on sketching, and so I wanted to paint a lady,” Tressa says. “Just trying and experimenting and having fun with it. It was meditative. I don't have to think while I do it.” Amidst journal entries, sticky notes, and coupons from her roommate Ellie, Tressa further created intriguing design elements of texture and developed a transformational piece yet again with the sentiment of giving new life to old things. "It’s like I don't wanna look at this old journal entry or this stuff but I don't wanna throw it away because that's just who I am. It's hard for me to part with it so I upcycle it. It feels better than throwing out those memories or feelings or parts of myself.” 

With a cathartic way to honor the old yet create renewal out of old relics, came the fabric; an embodiment of experimentation that found a new home on this canvas. “That fabric on top was very experimental. It was originally a little lingerie top that i had in my closet. Oh and I had burned some of it. You see in the corner there I lit it on fire.”

Upcycling has become Tressa’s artistry, a way to honor the past without being shackled to it. In addition to her paintings, Tressa's jewelry brand, HandCraftedByTressa, embodies her commitment to upcycling. "It started as a side hustle," she explains, recalling her apprenticeship with a jewelry maker named Melissa in Mckinney.

After learning how to craft jewelry from her, Tressa gained the confidence to stand on her own selling her jewelry. “I got to do my own stand across from her. That boutique was nearly 2 years ago.” 

After moving here Tressa continues to craft her jewelry in the area, she can be found at local markets coming up this summer, which she will share in upcoming weeks on her instagram page @handcraftedbytressa.

From gifted, thrifted, and broken pieces of jewelry, she creates beautiful new pieces that deserve a second chance and makes beautiful and inspired works in the process. All her peices have such unique charm that will make you feel like a muse, a mermaid, or something from a dream. "It really is beautiful to hold something and do something with your hands," she says. “A lot of people give me old jewelry, broken things, so I fix them up and make them new and different,” says the artist on her jewelry brand HandCraftedByTressa.