Teresa Bernadette

teresa bernadette

I find I keep coming back to shame, disgust, and grief. Delving into the ways I encounter those emotions—reflecting on my experiences with eating disorders, postpartum depression, isolation, and mourning—I unearth the lovely, tender parts and the resilient bits that pull me through. My art practice becomes about capturing that: the ephemerality of that glimpse of grace.

Another major theme, for me, is curiosity. So, in my art there is also a material experimentation, taking media that are both traditional and non-traditional, and using those as vehicles for telling stories in a way that creates relatability and builds empathy. My fascination with age, decay, and the passage of time appears in the cracks and textures of my paintings, and opens an avenue into deeper understanding and compassion for our own fragility… a celebration of our soft strength.

Teresa Bernadette grew up on a palm-tree lined street in exotic Culver City, California. After graduating from CCHS Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, they joined their mother, artist Rina Gardener, as a set painter for film and television, and were the youngest woman to be inducted into IATSE Local 729. After the birth of their son, Teresa pivoted to the marketing and production side of filmmaking, earning a certificate in Entertainment Marketing and Promotion from Santa Monica College and going on to co-produce a webseries.

Returning to school again, this time leaning into their love of sculpture, photography, and painting, Teresa earned an undergraduate degree with honors in Art from UC Irvine, where they were lead Curator of the Catalyst Undergraduate Art Gallery. Teresa has been the Gallery Chair of the Pacific Palisades Art Association since 2018.

As an awkward adolescent, I found refuge in the Arts. I sang and wrote music, drew and painted, built things, broke things, dressed strangely, and lived for theater. Art programs (and lack thereof) dramatically impacted my experience of school, and ultimately it was the support I received from teachers and mentors in the visual and performing arts that helped me at every stage. As an awkward adult, I have always returned to the arts, drawing inspiration from the 24-hour news cycle as much as from Mother Goose and the fritillary caterpillars on the passion vine in my parents’ yard, and remembering that it was by the compassion of safe adults that I was allowed to flourish. I strive for that to be my own legacy, as well.

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