Artist Teresita Fernández
At 47, Cuban-American artist Teresita Fernández has had more than three dozen solo shows in nine countries. She has also created site-specific works for museums in New York, Austin, Seattle, and Naoshima, Japan. In 2005, she received a so-called Macarthur "genius grant," and was later appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
In almost all of her work Fernández redefines landscape - and our place in it.
Left: "Drawn Waters (Borrowdale) 1," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Natural and machined graphite on steel armature. Installation at USF Contemporary Art Museum, 2009.
Black Sun
A view of the "Black Sun" installation at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., 2014.
MASS MoCA showcased her work for nearly a year.
MASS MoCA
A view of the "Black Sun" installation at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., 2014.
MASS MoCA
A visitor at an exhibit of works by artist Teresita Fernández at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., 2014.
"One of the first things that I ask myself when I'm about to embark on a new exhibition is, 'Where am I?' I try to answer that question for myself culturally, historically, physically, geographically, racially, politically," Fernández told CBS News' Martha Teichner.
Epic 1
"Epic 1 (detail)," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Graphite, magnets. Installation at USF Contemporary Art Museum, 2009.
"Epic" is made out of more than 27,000 small pieces of raw mined graphite. It was inspired by a meteor shower.
Teresita Fernández
"Oftentimes, I use materials that are mined to refer to cosmic references," Fernández told CBS News' Martha Teichner. "Graphite is mined, and it's a very lustrous material. It catches the light in a certain way."
Epic
"Epic 1 (detail)," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Graphite, magnets. Installation at USF Contemporary Art Museum, 2009.
Golden (Obsidian Sky)
"Golden (Obsidian Sky)," 2014, by Teresita Fernández. Gold chroming and India ink on wood panel.
Fernández's "Golden" series, consisting of gold chrome panels painted with ink, reflect the viewer's image back to them. They range in size from 12 inches high and 108 inches long, to 6 feet high and 24 feet long.
Fernández is fascinated by gold. "I've been interested in gold as a material for a long time," she said. "It is loaded in terms of references and meanings. Gold in particular is really interesting because even though it's a subterranean material, it's always historically, throughout every culture, used to depict the idea of light."
MASS MoCA
A visitor at an exhibit of works by artist Teresita Fernández at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., 2014.
"You can't not react to seeing yourself [reflected in the work]," said CBS News' Martha Teichner.
"Uh huh. People are very seduced by their own image," said Fernández. She said the relationship between the viewer and her work allowed "a kind of finding your coordinates, of placing yourself."
Untitled
"Untitled," 1996, by Teresita Fernández. Wood, paint, tinted glass, pencil. Commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami. Collection of Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; gift of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz.
Borrowed Landscape
"Borrowed Landscape," 1998, by Teresita Fernández. Wood, fabric, oculus light, pencil, paint. Originally commissioned at Artpace, a Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, Texas.
Waterfall
"Waterfall," 2000, by Teresita Fernández. Aluminum, plastic. Installation at SITE Santa Fe, 2000.
Bamboo Cinema
"Bamboo Cinema," 2001, by Teresita Fernández. Poly-carbonate tubes and stainless steel. Commissioned by Public Art Fund for Madison Square Park, New York.
Miami Art Museum
Installation view of works by Teresita Fernández at the Miami Art Museum, 2002.
Seattle Cloud Cover
"Seattle Cloud Cover," 2004-2006, by Teresita Fernández. Laminated glass with photographic design interlay. Commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum for the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle.
Fire
"Fire," 2005, by Teresita Fernández. Silk yarn, steel armature, epoxy. In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pa. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
Mirror Canopy
"Mirror Canopy," 2007, by Teresita Fernández. Glass with silvering. Installation view at the USF Contemporary Art Museum, 2009.
Teresita Fernández
Teresita Fernández's 2007 "Ink Mirror" is formed from highly-polished black fiberglass and marble dust.
Stacked Waters
"Stacked Waters," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Cast acrylic. Commissioned by the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; Gift of Jeanne and Michael Klein.
Nocturnal (Passaic Pour)
"Nocturnal (Passaic Pour)," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Solid graphite and pencil on wood panel.
Blind Blue Landscape
"Blind Blue Landscape (detail)," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Glass with silvering. Commissioned by the Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Japan.
Night Writing
"Night Writing (Pyramus and Thisbe)," 2011, by Teresita Fernández. Colored and shaped paper pulp with ink jet assembled with mirror. In collaboration with Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
Golden (30 Dissolves)
"Golden (30 Dissolves)," 2012, by Teresita Fernández. 30 pieces of brass.
Nocturnal (Navigation)
"Nocturnal (Navigation)," 2013, by Teresita Fernández. Polyester resin, gold chroming, polished brass rod.
Ink Sky 2
"Ink Sky 2 (detail)," 2011, by Teresita Fernández. Anodized aluminum black mirror, hooks, rhodium plated chains, galena rocks.
Fata Morgana
Installation of Teresita Fernández's "Fata Morgana" in New York City's Madison Square Park in 2015. Fernández named the work after a kind of mirage that sometimes hovers above the horizon.
It's art meant to be walked through.
Fata Morgana
"Fata Morgana," 2015, by Teresita Fernández, at Madison Square Park in New York City.
"We're used to talking about landscape as though it's something right in front of our eyes," Fernández said. "And I've always been much more interested in sort of amplifying that idea to include the space below us and above us."
Fata Morgana
"What's thrilling to me, of course, is to see it with people underneath it," Fernández told CBS News' Martha Teichner, "because that sort of reflective surface needs to be activated by all that motion of urban activity."
Fifty thousand people cross Madison Square Park every day. Before "Fata Morgana" comes down in January 2016, more than 10 million people will have experienced it.
Blind Blue Landscape
"Blind Blue Landscape (detail)," 2009, by Teresita Fernández. Glass with silvering. Commissioned by the Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Japan.
For more info:
Teresita Fernández (Lehmann Maupin Galleries)
"Teresita Fernández: BlindLandscapes" (JRP Ringier)
MASS Moca, North Adams, Mass.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan