CASPER, Wyo. — Tessa Condelario was 21 when she moved from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Casper, shortly after her mom died from a prescription drug addiction in 2013.
“Her family lived in Casper, so we’d travel here every summer, and my aunt and grandma lived here,” she said.
She brought her little brother and resettled, and a few years later her dad and older brother followed. However, what should’ve been an opportunity to rebuild the family became the setting for another series of traumatic circumstances.
Her father also struggled with addiction for years. In 2021, those years of drinking manifested in a gastrointestinal issue that took his life. “He drank himself to death, unfortunately,” Tessa said.
Like so many children of addicts, Tessa suffered from anxiety and the need to be a “people pleaser” to those around her. But even in her intense grief, she started to find some relief — first while in therapy, and soon with creating art.
“I realized that I didn’t have all of that weighing on me,” she said. “Once I realized that was off of my shoulders, I had space to start exploring things that were for me rather than for other people.”
She’s always loved art and the thought of making art, but she didn’t have the courage or time to give it a try. Now at age 32, she’s about to make her debut exhibit with a series of 10 new paintings that will be on display this month at ART 321.
The show is pointedly called “The Starting Line,” because that’s exactly where Tessa sees herself now.
“I wouldn’t give any [of my past] up because that’s what made me,” she said, “but it never made room for me to grow … so for me this feels like the beginning after all that stuff was crowding up my life.”
Tessa said she’s always found emotional healing in nature, going on long walks or out swimming. Her paintings reflect her abstract sense of nature. “Even in Las Vegas, where it’s very hot, we’d go cliff jumping and diving,” she said.
She got started on her technique and materials by simply watching YouTube tutorials, and relies mainly on alcohol-based ink that allows her to modify the consistency. Her “studio” is basically the living room in a house she shares with her husband and their dogs. When she’s not working at her day job at the WCDA, she’s mostly painting.
“A lot of people say that they have their ‘9 to 5’ and their ‘5 to 9,’” she said. “That’s pretty much my life, plus weekends.” Sometimes the day starts even earlier, with a cup of coffee and morning sunshine for inspiration to paint a bit before going off to work.
Her exhibit at ART 321 came about in what she describes as a whirlwind. “It kind of came out of nowhere,” she said. It all started when she and a couple of friends went to a show there. One of the friends mentioned Tessa’s art.
She laughed it off at first, but about a month later a gallery representative called, asking if she’d be interested in presenting original work.
Like so much in life, that moment was bittersweet, happening mere hours after she’d taken her beloved St. Bernard named Ellie — who was suffering from cancer — to be euthanized. “I was very emotional, and I said ‘yes,’” she recalled.
Usually Tessa works when inspiration strikes. Now, she had committed to finish up to 12 new pieces in roughly two months. During that time, tragedy struck yet again after a very close friend died by suicide. “It put some pressure on me and maybe even created a muse for me to get art done,” she said.
After intense pressure, sleepless nights and early mornings — as well as that looming deadline — she will debut 10 new pieces of original art in her first gallery show. An artist’s reception will coincide with the First Thursday ArtWalk at ART 321 on Thursday, June 6 starting at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s been such an adventure,” said Tessa on Tuesday shortly before hanging her pieces at the gallery. She appreciates the deadline pressure and is already looking toward the future.
“I want to get better at it,” she said. “I’m always looking for a new challenge and new techniques.”
Tessa Condelario’s “The Starting Line” exhibit will be at ART 321 through the month of June. An artist’s reception and talk starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 6. ART 321 is located at 321 W. Midwest Ave.
