Teresita Fernández

Teresita Fernández (born 1968) is a New York based visual artist[1] best known for her prominent public sculptures and unconventional use of materials. She is a recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and partnered with the Ford Foundation in creating the U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium. Fernández's work is characterized by an interest in perception and the psychology of looking.[2][3][4] Her experiential, large-scale works are often inspired by landscape and natural phenomena as well as diverse historical and cultural references.[5] The artist's work has explored issues in contemporary art related to perception and the fabrication of the natural world. Often her sculptures present spectacular optical illusions and evoke natural phenomena, land formations, and water in its infinite forms.[6]

Teresita Fernández
Born1968
Miami, Florida, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationSouthwest Miami High School
Alma mater

Early life and education

Fernández was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents in exile. Her family fled Fidel Castro's regime in July 1959, six months after the Cuban Revolution. As a child, she spent much of her time making things in the atelier of her great aunts and grandmother, all whom had been trained as highly skilled couture seamstresses in Havana, Cuba.[7]

In 1986, Fernández graduated from Southwest Miami High School. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida International University in 1990, and a Masters of Fine Art from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992.

Career

In 2009 the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin commissioned the large permanent work titled "Stacked Waters" that occupies the museum's Rapoport Atrium. "Stacked Waters" consists of 3,100 square feet of custom-cast acrylic that covers the walls in a striped pattern. The work's title alludes to artist Donald Judd's "stack" sculptures—series of identical boxes installed vertically along wall surfaces—as well as to his sculptural explorations of box interiors. Fernández noticed how The Blanton's atrium functions like a box, and given its architectural nods to the arches of Roman baths and cisterns, she sought to fill its spatial volume with an illusion of water.[8][9]

Also in 2009, Fernández had a piece called "Starfield" made up of mirrored glass cubes on anodized aluminum in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.[10]

In 2013, Fernández was featured in a contemporary art installation at Cornell Fine Arts Museum's Alfond Inn in Winter Park, FL. The work displayed was titled "Nocturnal (Cobalt Panorama)".[11][12]

On June 1, 2015, "Fata Morgana", her largest public art project to date opened in New York's Madison Square Park. The Madison Square Park Conservancy presented the outdoor sculpture consisting of 500 running feet of golden, mirror-polished discs that create canopies above the pathways around the park's central Oval Lawn.[13]

Partnering with the Ford Foundation in 2016, Fernández helped found and create the U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium.[14] The U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium brought together artists, museum directors, curators, educators, academics, and funders for a dialogue on how to more broadly represent Latino art across the full spectrum of creative disciplines.[15] One direct result of the U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium's effectiveness was the Whitney Museum of American Art hiring Marcela Guerrero to be the museum's first curator specializing in Latinx.[16]

In 2017, Fernández, in collaboration with Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, created a site-specific installation called "OVERLOOK: Teresita Fernández confronts Frederic Church at Olana" at Olana State Historic Site.[17][18] As part of the work, Fernández juxtaposes the works of landscape artists like Frederic Church, Marianne North, Martin Johnson Heade, among others, with images of indigenous people and their fellow travellers in order to examine and illustrate the context of the world that made up their images.[19]

Harvard University Committee on the Arts commissioned Autumn (... Nothing Personal) a public art project by Fernández in 2018.[20]

Reception
Residencies
Awards
Membership
  • 2011-2014: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts[24]
  • 2016: U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium, Project Director[25]

In 2011 Fernández was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

Exhibitions
  • 1995: "Real/More Real", Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami, FL)
  • 1997: Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)
  • 1998: Artpace (San Antonio, TX)
  • 1999: Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA)
  • 2000: "supernova." Berkeley Art Museum/Matrix (Berkeley, CA)
  • 2000: Site Santa-Fe(Santa Fe, NM)
  • 2001: Castello di Rivoli (Turin, Italy)
  • 2002: Miami Art Museum (Miami, FL)
  • 2003: Grand Arts (Kansas City, MO)
  • 2005: Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (Málaga, Spain)
  • 2005: Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA)
  • 2009: "Blind Landscape." Contemporary Art Museum, University of South Florida, (Tampa, FL); Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX)
  • 2011: "Blind Landscape." Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (Cleveland, OH)
  • 2011: "Focus: Teresita Fernández." Modern Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX)
  • 2011: "Pivot Points V." Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami, FL)
  • 2014: Golden Panorama, Aspen Art Museum (Elk Camp, Aspen, CO)[26]
  • 2014: Kyoto University of Art and Design (Kyoto, Japan)
  • 2015-2016: "Fata Morgana." Madison Square Park (New York, NY)[27][28]
  • 2017: "OVERLOOK: Teresita Fernández confronts Frederic Church at Olana. A collaboration with the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros." Olana State Historic Site (Columbia County, New York)
  • 2018: Autumn (Nothing Personal…), Harvard University (Boston, MA)[20]
  • 2019 New Orleans Museum of Art Commission (New Orleans, LA)[29]
  • 2019-2022: "Ruby City" Linda Pace Foundation Collection (San Antonio, TX)[30]
  • 2019: Pérez Art Museum Miami (Miami, FL)[31]
  • 2020: "Elemental" Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, AZ)[32]

Public commissions
  • Seattle Cloud Cover
    (2006)

References
  1. "Teresita Fernández". Madison Square Park Conservancy. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  2. "Teresita Fernández - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  3. "Teresita Fernández Appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts". U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. October 7, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  4. Durón, Maximilíano (2016-09-20). "Study: Latino Art Underrepresented at College Art Association's Annual Conference". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  5. Slenske, Michael (30 September 2013). "Teresita Fernández Artworks at Lehman Maupin, Hong Kong, and Mass MoCA". Architectural Digest.
  6. Roffino, Sara (15 July 2014). "Teresita Fernández with Sara Roffino". The Brooklyn Rail.
  7. Garcia, Patricia (23 September 2016). "Can Someone Mail a Copy of Nuevo New York to Donald Trump?". Vogue.
  8. Fernández, Teresita (11 August 2011). "Teresita Fernández, Stacked Waters" (Video). Blanton Museum of Art.
  9. "Teresita Fernández: Stacked Waters – Austin's Blanton Museum of Art". Blanton Museum of Art. 2009.
  10. Cheek, Lawrence W.; Daniels, Brett; Pagel, David (2010). Dallas Cowboys Art Collection: Art + Architecture at AT&T Stadium (PDF). Arlington, TX. p. 23. OCLC 657077503.
  11. Lawrence Alfond, Barbara; Ross Goodman, Abigail; Heller, Ena (2013). Ross Goodman, Abigail (ed.). Art for Rollins: The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. Volume I. Winter Park, FL: Cornell Fine Arts Museum. ISBN 978-0-979-22802-5. OCLC 903361166.
  12. DiazCasas, Rafael (27 August 2013). "Close-Up: Nocturnal (Navigation) by Teresita Fernández". Cuban Art News.
  13. Kino, Carol (31 March 2015). "Artist Teresita Fernández Transforms New York's Madison Square Park". The Wall Street Journal.
  14. "The future of the arts is Latinx: Q&A with artist Teresita Fernandez". Ford Foundation. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  15. Durón, Maximilíano (2016-09-20). "Study: Latino Art Underrepresented at College Art Association's Annual Conference". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  16. Pogrebin, Robin (2018-04-24). "Museums Turn Their Focus to U.S. Artists of Latin Descent". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  17. "OVERLOOK: Teresita Fernández confronts Frederic Church at Olana A collaboration with the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros". Olana NY State Historic Site. 14 May 2017.
  18. Hasbrook, Melanie; Barrera Pieck, Mariana (22 February 2017). ""OVERLOOK" Exhibition at Olana Features a Groundbreaking Site-Specific Installation by Artist Teresita Fernández" (Press release).
  19. Halperin, Julia (2 March 2017). "Teresita Fernandez wants to change the way you think about American landscapes". The Art Newspaper.
  20. "Teresita Fernández: Autumn (…Nothing Personal)". autumnnothingpersonal.arts.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  21. "Fellows in Visual Arts: Fernández, Teresita (1994-95)". CINTAS Foundation. 1994.
  22. "MacArthur Fellows. Meet the Class of 2005: Teresita Fernández". MacArthur Foundation. 1 September 2005.
  23. "Visionary Awards 2016: 35th Anniversary Gala". Art in General. 11 April 2016.
  24. "Teresita Fernández: CFA Service: 2011–2014". U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
  25. Fernández, Teresita (9 November 2016). "Teresita Fernández, Welcome Remarks" (Video). U.S. Latinx Arts Futures Symposium.
  26. "Teresita Fernández". Aspen Art Museum. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  27. "Teresita Fernández: Fata Morgana" (Press release). Madison Square Park Conservancy. 1 June 2015.
  28. "Teresita Fernández: Fata Morgana in Madison Square Park" (Video). Madison Square Park Conservancy. 5 November 2015.
  29. "New Orleans Museum of Art's Expanded Sculpture Garden to Feature Twenty-Six New Works". www.artforum.com. February 11, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  30. "INAUGURAL EXHIBITION— WAKING DREAM". Ruby City. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  31. "Pérez Art Museum Miami Celebrates the Launch of its New Latin American and Latinx Art Fund". www.pamm.org. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  32. "Teresita Fernandez: Elemental | Phoenix Art Museum". www.phxart.org. Retrieved 2019-05-03.

Further reading
  • Allen S. Weiss (2001). Teresita Fernández (exhibition catalogue). Santa Fe, NM: SITE Santa Fe. ISBN 9780970077424
  • Marcella Beccaria (2001). Teresita Fernández (exhibition catalogue, in Italian and English). Rivoli, Italy: Castello di Rivoli. OCLC 52180953
  • Gregory Volk, David Norr, Amy Hauft, Elizabeth King (2008). Teresita Fernández (exhibition catalogue). Richmond, VA: Reynolds Gallery. OCLC 231141945.
  • David Louis Norr (editor) (2009). Teresita Fernández: Blind Landscape (exhibition catalogue). Zurich: JRP Ringier. ISBN 9783037640494.
  • Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Beverly Adams (2015). Fata Morgana (exhibition catalogue). New York, NY: Madison Square Park Conservancy. OCLC 945215456.
  • Denise Markonish (editor) (2017). Teresita Fernández: Wayfinding (exhibition catalogue). New York, NY: DelMonico Books/Prestel. ISBN 9783791356822.
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