Andrew Testa is an artist, writer, and educator working through prints, drawings, books, words,and installations. He has been awarded SSHRC and the Elizabeth Greenshields grants for his research, has exhibited nationally and internationally (UK and USA), and has participated in residencies and conferences across Canada. Currently he is working towards a new body of work for a solo exhibition at SNAP (Edmonton, AB) and group exhibitions at Modern Fuel (Kingston, ON) and Eastern Edge (St. John’s, NL) in 2021 that have been awarded a VP Grenfell Campus Research Fund. Testa is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor inprintmaking at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and has additionally taught at Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, BC), and Algoma University (Sault Ste. Marie, ON). He completed his BFA and MFA at York University (Toronto, ON) in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
As an educator, Testa prioritizes community within his teaching practice. Engaging, participating, and collaborating with the community is essential to his research, teaching, and service. Due to this, he actively pursues opportunities to create the potential for artists, art supporters, and those interested (whether student, faculty, staff, or community member) to participate in workshops, exhibitions, talks, and other initiatives. Such events include; annual juried/curated exhibitions for students and recent graduates in local art galleries; community workshops and events such as ‘Community Engagement in the Arts,’ an event that culminated in a reflection zine about what it means to create meaningful and nurturing engagement with arts communities; and ‘Printshop in a Box,’ a portable printmaking studio that aims to provide accessible, inclusive, and creative opportunities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador that promotes community engagement, collaborations, and education in the arts.
Testa is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors at St. Michael’s Printshop (St. John's, NL). He began this role in 2019 and has since worked, and continues to work, with SMP’s staff and members to; develop and grow SMP (most notably moving from a technical director towards an executive director with a focus on community engagement, as well as propelling printmaking as a radical, inclusive, and accessible art form in the province); and to increase community engagement opportunities within the printshop and beyond (through affordable workshops, events and initiatives such as our moveable printing press).