Alumni Profile: Teresita Fernandez '90

Teresita Fernandez

FIU alumna receives MacArthur Foundation ‘genius grant'

FIU alumna Teresita Fernandez '90, a New York-based sculptor born and raised in Miami , is among the winners of this year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grants. “Genius grants,” as they are known, come as a surprise to the recipients and have no strings attached.

Fernandez, 37, graduated from FIU with a bachelor of fine arts in 1990 and went on to earn a master of fine arts in 1992 from Virginia Commonwealth University . The FIU alumna was home with son Caspian, 4, and daughter Cypress , 1, when she received the call from a foundation representative notifying her of the prestigious honor. Understated by nature, she simply told her parents to look for her name in the papers, never fully explaining the award or the fact that it carries with it a cash award of $500,000.

“She's very humble. Instead of the MacArthur grant she wanted to talk about my recipe for garbanzo beans,” said the artist's mother, also named Teresita Fernandez. “She's very talented, but I can also say she has worked very, very hard. We are so happy for her.”

Indeed, in an interview published in The Miami Herald, Fernandez said she has maintained a rigorous creative regimen since finishing her schooling.

“I haven't taken any breaks, and when I say that, I am not talking professionally so much as in the studio,” she said. “One thing is how much visibility you have and where the work has been – and I have kept up with that diligently – but in the studio practice as well, that motivation to get up every morning and get in the studio and work. You don't always have creative moments, inspired moments, but you believe in the process and keep working at it.”

MacArthur Foundation materials describe Fernandez's work as “pushing the boundaries of sculpture and installation art into the fields of architecture and landscape architecture”.

Fernandez alters space to create illusions, subtly modify the physical sensations of the viewer and dramatize the role architecture plays in our lives and perceptions. Her room-sized installations evoke “quietude and mystery,” according to Foundation materials.

Fernandez said that MacArthur support will allow her to continue to work on her many projects.

“The award offers me freedom in terms of being able to spend more time to research and develop ideas and perhaps focus on some more ambitious projects that are more costly to realize,” she said, speaking from her studio in New York City.” In the Herald interview, Fernandez said her sculptures and installations can take as many as five years to develop from idea to artwork.

One of her more ambitious projects to date is an outdoor piece for the Olympic Sculpture Park, commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum .

“This is going to be my first permanent installation,” said Fernandez. “But they are all important — even the ones that are not the most successful — because they are part of the process of developing ideas, a way of getting to the next set of problems.”

Fernandez is the first FIU graduate and the fourth person associated with FIU whose professional potential has been recognized with a MacArthur grant. In 1999, creative writing professor Campbell McGrath received the grant. Two faculty members in the College of Education are also MacArthur Fellows: Lisa Delpit (1989) and Robert Moses (1982).

Fernandez is one of a handful of Cuban-Americans to have received a MacArthur grant. Although she was born here, her parents came from Cuba as teenagers in 1959 and met here. Her father, Nelson, is a businessman, and her mother, Teresita, is a “stay-at-home mom”.

“I think it's great to break stereotypes people have,” said Fernandez. “I'm happy to be among the Cuban-American women who are making an impact in the arts.”

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