Author Archives: Tessa Laird

About Tessa Laird

Tessa Laird is a writer, artist and sometime lecturer who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. She completed a Doctorate of Fine Arts at University of Auckland in 2012 and published her resulting writings on color A Rainbow Reader the following year, link. Tessa was part of Freedom Farmers: New Zealand Artists Growing Ideas at Auckland Art Gallery in 2013 and has written for Art New Zealand, Art and Australia, and numerous catalogs.

Getting the Blues – Sex, Words and the Hues

How William H Gass’s take on the shade of blue, gives Tessa Laird the Blues – while examining sex, writing and the power of the color itself. Continue reading

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The Other Side: The Rainbow Reader Part VI

Part VI of Tessa Laird’s social history of color examines violet, pansies and death. Continue reading

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Cops and Commercials: The Rainbow Reader Part V

Part V of Tessa Laird’s 6-part series on the social history of color examines blue, the color of cops, commercials, peacocks, drugs and the jungle. Continue reading

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They Sing in Ancient Green, The Rainbow Reader Part IV

Part IV of Tessa Laird’s 6-part series on the social history of color examines green, the color of love, not to mention environmentalism. Continue reading

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Canary-Colored Runway into the Sun, The Rainbow Reader Part III

Part III of Tessa Laird’s 6-part series on the social history of color examines yellow from Van Gogh to Kandinsky, suicide and sunshine. Continue reading

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A Tiger’s Leap Into History, The Rainbow Reader Part II

Part II of Tessa Laird’s 6-part series on the social history of color takes on orange, from construction to Agent Orange, war to peace, LSD and religion. Continue reading

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The Red Thread, The Rainbow Reader Part I

Part I of Tessa Laird’s 6-part series on the social history of color takes in the dark beating heart of red, moving from the personal to the political from Marx to the Middle East. Continue reading

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