Teresita Fernández

Ranging from ceramics, glass, and charcoal to gold and graphite, the varied mediums prompt the viewers to take a closer look at each work to contemplate the materialities.

[6] In this process, Fernández’s landscape sculptures delve into complex themes of self-perception, colonialism, and historical violence associated with the environment and body.

As a child, she spent much of her time creating in the atelier of her great aunts and grandmother, all of whom had been trained as highly skilled couture seamstresses in Havana, Cuba.

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.

[13] The artist also debuted a similar commissioned work called Starfield, made up of mirrored glass cubes on anodized aluminum in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

[18] In Mass MoCA's first floor gallery spaces, she exhibited her three new landscape-informed, large-scale installations: Black Sun, Sfumato (Epic), and Lunar (Theatre).

[8] Also in 2019, Fernández was commissioned to create a permanent, site-specific glazed ceramic installation Viñales(Mayombe Mississippi) for the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).

[29] The installation draws inspiration from her previous Viñales series, which embodies Fernández’s interest in combining earthly materials with a conceptual approach to place and image-making.

[30] In 2021, Fernández exhibited "Dark Earth" in the Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery at Georgetown University.

[32] An abstract map made up of charcoal, this installation featured all US states and territories, examining legacies of colonialism, indigenous genocide, and slavery.

[32] Also in 2021, Fernández produced a site-specific, permanent sculpture Paradise Parados as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)/ Robert W. Wilson Public Art Initiative.

[35] Fernández is one of the 18 contemporary artists awarded a site-specific commission for the John F. Kennedy International Airport’s new Terminal 6, which is scheduled to open in 2026.