Ana Teresa Fernández
Born 1981 in Tampico, Mexico
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA
Education
2001
Alliance Française II Diplome, École Brillantmont, Lausanne, Switzerland
2004
B.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2006
M.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
The Armory Show, Solo Booth, New York City, NY
Under Pressure, Arion Press, San Francisco, CA
At The Edge of Distance, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Borrando la Frontera and Erasure, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019
Ana Teresa Fernández: Of Bodies and Borders, Grunwald Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
2018
Ana Teresa Fernández: Of Bodies and Borders, Gallery Wendi Norris Offsite, Miami, FL
2016
Ana Teresa Fernández: Erasure, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA
2015
All or Nothing, First Street Gallery, Humboldt State University, Humboldt, CA
2014
Foreign Bodies, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA
Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico City, Mexico
La Llorona Unfabled, Stories to (Re)tell to Little Girls, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
2011
ELLE DÉCOR, Concept Modern Life, New York, NY
Ablution, Electric Works, San Francisco, CA
2010
Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
2009
Ecdisis, San Francisco Arts Commission Equity Grant, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
2008
Telaraña, Tournesol Exhibition, Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA
Aseando Fronteras, Mexican Consulate, San Francisco, CA
2007
Pressing Matters, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006
Nan Mitan-an, (In the middle), Fondation d’Art, Jacmel, Haiti
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
Dissolve, Institute and Museum of California Art, University of California Irvine, CA
2021
Lands End, FOR-SITE Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Truth Farm, Miami Art Basel, MI
Untitled, Video Billboard Truck, MI
Siren’s Song, Three Turns Miami, FL
On the Horizon, Sweden, Israel & Mexico
Beyond Borders, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška and Center for Contemporary Arts Celje, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
Night Watch 2021, offsite exhibition of Shimon Attie, Gray Area Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Mindset Project, in collaboration with Shiza Shahid, The Peninsula Hotel, NY
Truth Farm, Intervention Exhibition in Trump Winery, Charlottesville, VA
Of Here From There, Gray Area Foundation, San Francisco, CA
2020
Die Verwandlung – Borders are Vacillating, Center for the Future, Prague, Czech Republic
Somos Visibles, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Migration(s) and Meaning in Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, Meyerhoff Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2019
Counter-Landscapes: Performative Actions from the 1970s – Now, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ
Sanctuary, FOR-SITE Foundation, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
Sanctuary, FOR-SITE Foundation, Smart Museum, Chicago, IL; Asia Society Museum, New York, NY
Unsettled: Art on the New Frontier, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Dread and Delight: Fairy Tales in an Anxious World, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College’s
Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, Grinnell, IA; Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
2018
re: home, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
When the walls come tumbling down: Artists re-imagine the U.S.-MEX Border, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Dread and Delight: Fairy Tales in an Anxious World, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
What We Make, Richard M. Ross Art Museum, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
Unsettled, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK
Art/Action, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
2017
Sanctuary, FOR-SITE Foundation, Fort Mason Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
UnDocumenta, Pacific Standard Time: LA>LA, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
UNSETTLED, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno
2016
Ana Mendieta/ Threads of Influence, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Framing Beauty, The Grunwald Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
2015
Everybody’s Ocean, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
Provisional Haven, REFUSALON, San Francisco, CA
2014
Galería Sin Fronteras, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL
2013
Small Paintings from the Cheech Marin Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA
Oye Mira, Walter McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Want.Here.You.Now, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Chicanitas, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, WA
See You Next Tuesday, Autzen Gallery, Portland State University, Portland, OR
La Caja Galeria, Tijuana, Mexico
2012
Tournesol Retrospective, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Power in Numbers, MACLA, San Jose, CA
ZERO 1 Biennial, San Jose, CA
Chinese Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Intersection for the Arts, Motion Graphics, San Francisco, CA
La Fragua Residency & Exhibition, Córdoba, Spain
2011
Chicanitas, Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, IN
Numina, Mexico Consulate General, San Francisco, CA
Sonido Pirata, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
Exhibition of Art and Activism, Service Employees International Union, Los Angeles, CA
The Body Politics, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Chicanitas (size doesn’t matter), Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ
Cico and Chang, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Manifest Painting, 1st Edition, Manifest Press, Manifest, Cincinnati, OH
Chicas Chic, Bart Station Public Posters, California Institute of Integral Studies Exhibition, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
2010
Bienal de Tijuana, Estandartes, Museo Centro Cultural de Tijuana, Mexico
Oakland Contemporary Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
40th Anniversary Show, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
The Passport Project, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Off the Record, Edge Zones Art Center, Miami, FL
Levis Co Workshop, San Francisco, CA
Mission Icons, Artillery Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Museo de Artistas Mexicanas, Mexico City, Mexico
2009
Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
African Time, Cape Town, South Africa
Lipstick, Praxis International Gallery, New York, NY
Rastros y Cronicas, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL
2008
Valoarte 08, Galería Nacional Museo San Jose, Costa Rica
Tournesol Retrospective, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Equilateral, Electric Works, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Now 5, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
KN Gallery, Chicago, IL
National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL
2007
Conduits of Labor, Queens Nails Annex, San Francisco, CA
Brooklyn Art Gallery, New York, NY
Trabajo Mexicano, Sun Valley Arts Center, Sun Valley, ID
No distance is more awesome, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA, The Office, Los Angeles, CA
Public Projects
2022
Circulation, Roundabout commission by the City of Napa, CA
On the Horizon presented at multiple venues:
- Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
- Centro Bahia and Museo Municipal de Regla (Sala de Extension), Cuba
- Playas de Tijuana, Mexico
- World Ocean Celebration, South Beach Miami, FL
BIONEERS Conference, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
2021
On the Horizon, Ocean Beach, San Francisco, CA
2017
Dream, Public Art Installation, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2012
5W Public Art Project in Downtown San Francisco in collaboration with Intersection for the Arts, CA
TROKA TROKA, Public Art Project, San Francisco, CA
Awards, Acknowledgments & Residences
2022
New York Times: A New Climate San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2020
ACLU Artist in Residence
Best Civic Engagement 2020, Ford Foundation, “SOMOS VISIBLES”
2019
National Endowment for the Arts (In partnership with Creativity Explored)
Kennith Rainin Foundation Grant, San Francisco, CA
California Arts Council Grant, San Francisco, CA
2018
YBCA 100, Extraordinary leaders building sustainable, equitable, and regenerative communities, San Francisco, CA
2014
Zellerbach Family Foundation Grant, San Francisco, CA
Eureka Fellowship Program, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, CA
FAAP (Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado) International Artist Residency, Brazil
2013
De Young Museum Artist Studio Residency, Kimball Gallery, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Best of the Bay, 7×7 Magazine, 5W Project, San Francisco, CA
Public Art Network, Americans for the Arts, Year in Review Recipient
Best Experimental Film, San Diego Latino Film Festival, San Diego, CA
Best Experimental Film, Honolulu Film Festival, Honolulu, HI
2012
Public Art Network, Americans for the Arts, Year in Review Recipient
La Fragua Residency Award, Cordoba, Spain
San Francisco Arts Commission, Arts and Communities: Innovative Partnership Grant
2011
Goldie Award, Artist of the Year for San Francisco Bay Area Guardian, San Francisco, CA
2009
Creative Work Fund, San Francisco, CA
Greatmore Studios, Residency, Cape Town, South Africa
2007
NALAC Fund for the Arts, National Association of Latino Art and Culture, San Antonio, TX
Tournesol Award Recipient, Artist in Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
SF Arts Commission Cultural Equity, Individual Artist Grant, San Francisco, CA
2006
Neighborhood Public Art Grant Project, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Fondation D’Art Jakmel Residency, Jakmel, Haiti
Mujeres de Juarez Residency, LEF Foundation Grant, Juarez, Mexico
2005
My Country Left or Right, Merit Award, Horton Gallery, Delta College, Stockton, CA
Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2004
Jack Cadogan and Gertrude Murphy Fellowship in the Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2001
Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Permanent Collections
21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY
Abrahamson Family Collection, Madison, WI
Blanton Musuem of Art, University of Texas, Austin
The Cheech at Riverside Museum of Art, CA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Kadist Institute, Paris, France and San Francisco, CA
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN
McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame University, IN
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
The Battery, San Francisco, CA
WordPress Private Collection
Film Festivals
San Diego Latino Film Festival Best Experimental Short, San Diego, CA
IVAH, Madrid, Spain
Honolulu International Film Festival, Gold Kahuna Award, Best Experimental Short
West Chester Film Festival, West Chester, PA
San Diego Film Consortium, San Diego, CA
Palm Springs Short Festival Market, Palm Springs, CA
Claremont Ferrand Marche, France
International Frauen Film Festival, Dortmund, Germany
Female Eye Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
Irish Latin American Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland
Atlanta Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
Arizona International Film Festival, Best Experimental Short Tucson, AZ
Sonoma Film Festival, Sonoma, CA
Indie Memphis Film Festival, Memphis, TN
Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC
Woodstock Film Festival, New York, NY
Lectures
Night Watch 2021 panel presentations at Minnesota Street Project and Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation, San Francisco, CA
TEDX Pennsylvania Avenue, New Museum, Washington DC
Art & Environment Conference, Reno Art Museum
Civic Change, Ford Foundation
Women and Migration, New York University, NY
Emerging Leaders of Color, WESTAF, Western States Arts Federation
Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network, Boston, MASS
Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK
NALAC Conference, Philadelphia, PA
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
UC Berkeley University, Berkeley, CA
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, CA
Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN
Consulate General of Mexico, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
California College for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
Teaching
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
California College for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
University of San Francisco, CA
St Mary’s College, Orinda, CA
Select Press & Publications
Bravo, Tony. “Ana Teresa Fernández speaks to borders and the environment in ‘At the Edge of Distance,’” Datebook for San Francisco Chronicle. August 23, 2022. Link.
Van Proyen, Mark. “Ana Teresa Fernández’s Border Crossings,” Squarecylinder. August 10, 2022. Link.
Smith, Tamsin. “THEY’LL BE YOUR MIRROR: Ana Teresa Fernández and Arleene Correa Valencia @ Catharine Clark Gallery,” juxtapoz. August 04, 2022. Link.
Fiala, Jessica and Shi Qian. “Twenty Years of Public Art in the United States: Relationships, Transformations, and Digital Interventions,” Public Art Journal. Shanghai Fine Arts Publisher, April 15, 2022.
“Beyond Borders.” Texts by Maja Antoncic, Miha Blazic, dr. Andreja Hribernik, dr. Kaja Sirok. Zavod Celeia Celje. September 28 – December 5, 2021. Exhibition catalogue.
Cisneros, Josue David. “Free to move, free to stay, free to return: border rhetorics and a commitment to telos,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies. March 20, 2021. Link.
Rodríguez, Diana Carolina Peláez and Campos, Sonia Marsela Rojas. “Artista Invitada: Ana Teresa Fernández: Desdibujando barreras,” Nomadas. Issue 54, pages 251-262. Universidad Central, Bogotá, Colombia, January – June, 2021. Link.
“Counter-Landscapes: Performative Actions from the 1970s – Now.” Edited by Nina Lawallen Hufford. Design and production by Fernando Espinosa. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 2020. Exhibition catalogue.
Ryan, Kate. “Factbox: Eight Artists Spotlighting the Human Cost of Migration,” Reuters. August 1, 2019. Link.
Estape, Taylor. “Ten Galleries and Art Spaces to Visit During Miami Art Week” Miami New Times. December 5, 2018. Link.
“Of Bodies and Borders: Ana Teresa Fernández.” Essay by María Elena Ortiz. Grunwald Gallery of Art, Indiana University Bloomington, and Gallery Wendi Norris, 2018.
Hart, Rebecca R. “Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place,” Denver Art Museum, 2017. Exhibition catalogue.
Murray, Yxta Maya. “Ana Teresa Fernández Paints it Away,” Artillery. March 7, 2017. Link.
Sager, Rebekah. “Vanishing Border: Trump wants to build a wall, artist wants to blend it into landscape,” Fox News Latino. December 1, 2016. Link.
Sarah, Lakshmi. “Women To Watch: Ana Teresa Fernández,” KQED. July 19, 2016. Link.
Wallace, Michelle Marie Robles. “The Artists Using the US-Mexico Border as a Blank Canvas,” Vice. June 29, 2016. Link.
Taylor, Alan. “Erasing the Border,” The Atlantic. April 12, 2016. Link.
McGonigal, Chris. “These Artists Tried ‘Erasing’ Parts of the U.S.-Mexico Border Fence,” Huffington Politics. April 11, 2016. Link.
Gamboa, Paolo. “A borrar fronteras,” Norte Digital. April 10, 2016. Link.
Huffaker, Sandy. “Painting away the border,” Reuters. April 10, 2016. Link.
“Borrando Fronteras,” La Polaka, April 9, 2016. Link.
Sarah, Lakshmi. “Can One Artist’s Work Prompt Conversations About Border Politics?,” KQED News. April 7, 2016. Link.
Chun, Kimberly. “Mexican Artist Pays Tribute to Lost Students,” SF Gate. March 23, 2016. Link.
Quadros, Alex. “Beneath The Surface,” Very Nearly Almost. March 2016.
“20 Artists for the Trump Era,” Artsy. January 19, 2016. Link.
Trimble Lynn, “Artist Ana Teresa Fernández on Erasing the U.S.-Mexico Border with Blue Paint,” Phoenix New Times. October 23, 2015. Link.
Caroline A. Miranda, “Column Roundup: An artist erases the border, subversive graffiti, conflict at San Francisco Art Museums,” Los Angeles Times. October 19, 2015. Link.
“Artist uses paint to protest U.S. – Mexico border wall,” Al Jazeera America. October 15, 2015. Link.
“SF-Based Artist Painting the U.S.-Mexico Border to Make it Invisible,” CBS San Francisco. October 14, 2015. Link.
“California artists, Ana Teresa Fernández, plans to render border fence ‘invisible,’” ABC 15 News. October 14, 2015. Link.
Fernandez, Valeria. “Artist Plans to Render Border Fence ‘Invisible’,” The Associated Press. October 13, 2015. Link.
Heydarpour, Roja. “Potent images capture the stolen moments of families split by migration,” Women in the World, in association with the New York Times. October 6, 2015. Link.
Volpicelli, Anna. “4 Women Makers Who Inspire Us,” 7×7 Magazine. August 12, 2015. Link.
“All or Nothing.” Essay by Rebecca Solnit. First Street Gallery, Humboldt State University, 2015. Exhibition catalogue.
Shepter, Joe. “Crossing Borders,” Adobe Inspire. November 4, 2014. Link.
Krasny, Michael. “Artist Ana Teresa Fernández: Art on the Border,” Forum with Michael Krasny, KQED. May 28, 2014. Link.
Solnit, Rebecca. “Men Explain Things to Me,” Haymarket Books. May 20, 2014.
Delaunay, Monique. “Interview: Ana Teresa Fernández, ‘Foreign Bodies’ at Gallery Wendi Norris,” SF Art Enthusiast. April 3, 2014. Link.
“Exhibition Spotlight: Ana Teresa Fernández at Electric Works, San Francisco,” HuffPost Arts & Culture. July 3, 2013.
Smith, Kristin. “First of Five SoMA Light Sculptures Unveiled Tonight,” 7×7 Magazine. February 27, 2013. Link.
Furio, Joanne. “The New City Lights: A series of public sculptures takes on the gentrification of mid-Market,” San Francisco Magazine. February 12, 2013. Link.
Sussman, Matt. “GOLDIES 2011: Ana Teresa Fernández,” San Francisco Bay Guardian. November 8, 2011. Link.
Tedford, Matthew Harrison. “La Llorona Unfabled: Stories to (Re)tell to Little Girls,” Art Practical. February 2011. Link.
Janku, Laura Richard. “’TelAranaTelAranaTelA’ by Ana Teresa Fernández at the Luggage Store (San Francisco),” art ltd. August 2008.