After a degree in Fine Art at Newcastle, she took a Certificate in Education course at Plymouth University, followed by a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education from Exeter University.  Since 1991 she lectured both at the Penzance School of Art and Falmouth College of Art (2000).

Tessa worked with the Artist-Led Projects Group (PALP) while in Cornwall. She was the artist-curator-organiser of the 2002 exhibition, Field of Vision, co-sponsored by the Newlyn Art Gallery and PALP, at the Tremenheere Sculpture Park. Her work has been exhibited at the Rainyday Gallery, Penzance.

Though she is now London-based she continues to maintain links with colleagues in Cornwall, and shows widely abroad and in London, working always with community involvement.  Latterly her work has relied strongly on film photography and video presentation, with projects that recreate familiar and domestic environments, in which filming the audience and their responses plays a part.