As a child growing up in New England, Theresa “Tess” Baybutt was utterly captivated by the spectacle of the changing seasons: a backyard sugar maple bedecked in rich fall colors; an evergreen forest twinkling with crystalline icicles on a winter morning; and the blue skies of spring and summer, which often saw her spending hours riding her bicycle along country roads. Her grandmother called her “the little wanderer,” a nickname born of the innate curiosity that compelled the young Tess to such thorough observation and exploration of her surroundings.

She began her artistic career as a photographer, inspired by those familiar, yet never boring, sights. Over the course of her adult life, she has tried her hand, successfully, at many different careers: She’s been a competitive ballroom and Latin dancer and dance instructor; she’s worked her way up the corporate ladder at a large retail chain, eventually becoming Director of Human Resources and Training (and winning a couple of Telly Awards, for training videos, in the process); and since 1996 she has run Treasure Bay Jewelry®, a company dedicated to creating unique, custom jewelry for discerning private clients. She is the author of three poetry collections: A Sensational Journey, A Luminescent Soul, and Within the Mountain’s Cradle. She has long been a dedicated and accomplished philanthropist with a focus on local non-profits, including the Massachusetts Oyster Project.

No matter her medium, Tess strives to create work that celebrates her connection to the natural world, and that conveys to those who encounter it the same sense of wonder that has been so central to her own experiences.