Associate Professor - Visual Arts, School of Fine Arts

Email: atesta@mun.ca

Phone: (709) 637-7645 

Webpage: https://www.andrewtesta.ca/ and https://www.instagram.com/andrewtestaart/

 

Research interests/expertise

My research-creation practice reflects upon what it means to be ‘printerly.’ To be ‘printerly,’ for me, is a term/phrase I began using that speaks to how I encounter the world. It thinks through the residues, the imprints, the brief, long, and/or infinite meetings between two of more soft surfaces. A soft surface in this regard can be anything. I am a soft surface, the ground is a soft surface, a rock, an individual, a community, a history...by thinking of the world as soft surfaces it allows one to reflect upon how each thing imprints on one another. Printmaking, for me, is an exploration of soft surfaces, or rather, a calling to attention the moments in between. Printmaking, or, to think about what it means to be ‘printerly,’ is to then explore, respect, listen to, and hold space for, the meeting place, the encounter, the gentle collision, the reciprocal and mutual relationships between soft surfaces.

My research-creation practice can be seen as further divisions into subcategories that continue to reflect upon the overarching notion of what it means to be ‘printerly.’ Although separated here, these subcategories mingle endlessly (and additionally overlap with teaching and service). These subcategories are: 1. The agency of processes, materials, and other-than-human things (thinking through ethics and responsibilities). 2. Community engaged art practices (thinking through accessibility, inclusivity, knowledge sharing and experience making)

 

Teaching

• Printmaking: Relief and Screenprinting, VART 1310
• Printmaking: Intaglio, VART 2311
• Printmaking: Lithography, VART 2321
• Print Media, VART 2330
• The Material Book (special topics course, VART 2901
• Printerly: Explorations in Print Methodologies, VART 2905
• Extended Practices in Printed Multiples, VART 3310
• Directed Studies in Printmaking (taught through St. Michael’s Printshop), VART 3350
• Studio/Research Intensive, VART 6510
• Fine Arts Health and Safety, VART1911)

 

Scholarly contributions

Select Solo Exhibitions:

• (upcoming) an invitation: to be ‘printerly’ | to gently collide, peer reviewed, solo exhibition with collaborative ellements, Tina Dolter Gallery, RAC, Corner Brook, NL, 2025
• over and over, again and again, juried, Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists (SNAP), Edmonton, AB, 2021
• slow time, juried, Present Tense, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Level 2.5, curated by Darryn Doull, St. John’s, NL, 2021
• A Constellation of Sorts (2nd iteration), juried, Martha Street Studio, Winnipeg, MB, 2019

 

Select Two and Three Person Exhibitions:

• Residue, with Guillermo Trejo, juried, Alberta Printmakers, Calgary, AB, 2023
• Holding Place, with Emily Neufeld and Christeen Francis, juried, Eastern Edge, St. John’s, NL, 2021
• Touch, Trace, Feel, with Michelle MacKinnon, invited, 180 Projects, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, 2018

 

Select Group Exhibitions

• CB Nuit Encore, invited, Arts and Culture Centre, Corner Brook, NL, 2022
• Études vivantes, juried, with Noni Kaur, Liam Cole, and Paul Chartrand, Modern Fuel, curated by Anne-Sophie Grenier, Kingston, ON, 2022
• SGC International Member’s Travelling Exhibition, juried, opening in: Texchange, SGCI: 2019, Dallas, TX (travelling across the USA in various institutions/galleries), 2019-2021
• Unscripted Twillingate, juried, Digital Arts Festival, Twillingate, NL, 2020
• CB Nuit, Arts Festival, juried, Corner Brook, NL, 2019
• from here, with you there, invited, Modern Fuel, Curated by Henry Heng Lu, Kingston, ON, 2019
• Objects Printed, juried, Cora Stafford Gallery, University of North Texas, Dallas, TX, 2019
• BIMPE X, juried, touring exhibition with catalogue, Federation Gallery, Vancouver, BC - Dundarave Print Workshop, Vancouver, BC - UBC Okanagan, Kelowna, BC - SNAP, Edmonton, AB, 2018-2019
• 10th Exchange, juried, Green Door Printmaking Studio, Derby, UK, 2018
• 19/9/60, invited, Modern Fuel, Kingston, ON, 2018
• Ex!Box: Edibles, juried, Creative Gros Morne, Curated by Diana Chisholm, Gros Morne Provincial Park, NL, 2018

 

Publications

• “slow time.” invited, Arts + Readers, edited by Jenn Law and Penelope Stewart, Issue 3: Evolve, Summer 2023
• “You are going to have real art here too, right?” peer reviewed, The Comparative Media Arts Journal. Issue 12: Thresholds, Winter 2022 https://www.sfu.ca/cmajournal/issues/issue-twelve--thresholds-/Andrew- Testa.html
• “The Within-ness of Things: Working with/alongside the other-than-human.” peer reviewed, The Comparative Media Arts Journal. Issue 8: Invisibility (Escaping Notice), 2020 https://www.sfu.ca/cmajournal/issues/issue-eight--invisibility--escaping- notice-/AndrewTesta.html

 

Awards and recognitions

Select Grants and Awards

• SSHRC Explore, Printshop in Tow (Stage 1b), Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2023
• SSHRC Exchange, slow time, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2023
• Memorial University Public Engagement Accelerator Fund, Art and Labor in Port Union: Community-generated knowledge, creativity, and media, joint application with Dr. Kelley Totten, External Partner: Union House Arts, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2023
• Cross-Campus Initiative, Research-Creation as Methodology in Field School, joint application with Dr. Kelley Totten, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2023
• Quick Start Fund for Public Engagement, Horseshoe Press, joint application with Dr. Tom Halford and Dr. Adam Beardsworth, External Partner: Corner Brook Public Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2023
• Engagement Award, Vice President, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2022
• GCSU Teaching and Learning Award, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Corner Brook, NL, 2022
• Professional Project Grant, Knowledge Exchange, joint application with Kelsey Street and Michelle MacKinnon, ArtsNL, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, 2021
• Arts Across Canada: Public Outreach, Printshop in a Box, joint application with Grenfell Art Gallery, Grenfell Printshop, and Grenfell Maker Space, Canada Council for the Arts, 2021
• Professional Project Grant, over and over, again and again, ArtsNL, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, 2020
• Memorial University Public Engagement Accelerator Fund, Printshop in a Box, joint application with Grenfell Art Gallery, Grenfell Printshop, and Grenfell Maker Space, External Partner: Union House Arts, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2020
• VP Grenfell Campus Research Fund, Working With/Alongside the Other-than- Human, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2019