Nourishment, Education
and Social Terraces (NEST)

Tepp received his undergraduate BFA in painting from Parson’s, the New School for Design in New York City with a minor in non-traditional art histories. While at Parson’s, Tory studied painting under Joan Snyder. In 2009, Tory earned his MFA in public practice as part of the inaugural class of Suzanne Lacy’s Public Practice program at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Here he developed his practice around the exploration and reestablishment of the metaphysical connections between the social and environmental ecologies that shape urban communities. After a temporary relocation to New Orleans, Tory assumed the role of the driver of a vintage armored car for Mel Chin’s Fundred Dollar Bill Project and proceeded on a 19,000 mile journey around the country representing the project as a speaker and artist. This led to the development of an itinerant art practice that kept him on the road, working from project to project in New Orleans, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Death Valley, Colorado and the High Sierra Mountains. In 2012, Tory arrived in New Smyrna Beach, Florida as the inaugural artist for the Atlantic Center for the Arts Community Artist in Residence program, which spawned multiple projects and led to relocation to central Florida. In 2013 he completed a residency in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where he collaborated with the High Sierra Wilderness rangers as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Recently, Tory was invited to participate in The Music Box Tampa Bay in collaboration with New Orleans Airlift and University of South Florida, which expanded his work into the realm of sound. Currently, Tory is developing a series of earthworks and sound performances in Wisconsin while working with Wormfarm Institute. The highlight of Earthtones, these improvisational sound performances, played on instruments converted from farm tools and implements, was a performance at Farm Aid 2019 at Alpine Valley Wisconsin.