PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
“My experience in public art has given me the opportunity to express and share my ideas with the public, while collaborating with creative individuals who are essential to the various stages of executing these projects. I am passionate about the creative process, problem-solving, and engaging with the community. Public art allows me to step outside my studio and work collaboratively on site-specific ideas tailored to unique environments.
I have worked as a team member alongside project managers, architects, contractors, carpenters, and skilled workers. Their critical and constructive feedback has been invaluable, often leading to improved project outcomes. I understand that ideas evolve throughout the process and that adapting to these changes is a vital part of successful project development.”
CAMINO AL ARTE ARTIST RESIDENCY
Community Engagement Project
Atotonilco and San Miguel de Allende
Mexico
2023
The Atotonilco Sanctuary has a sculpture of a virgin who lost her head. In this project I set out to find out why by interviewing the community in which they participated by writing their versions on drawings I created. Here is a picture of the local priest participating.
The artwork and photographs are framed and presented as one piece for future opportunities.
Residency information at
FLOWING OVERLAPPING GESTURE 2.0
Hoverlay Augmented Reality
Commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art
Canal Convergence
2022
In 2010, two years before the official Canal Convergence, Fausto Fernandez created Flowing Overlapping Gesture, a site-specific floating installation over the canal commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art and managed by Margaret Bruning, former director of civic art for Los Angeles County and former associate director for Scottsdale Public Art in Arizona. The artwork installation logistics was complex; a group of people assembled, painted, and installed in the dry canal for a period of two weeks. The artwork rose to the surface by floating when the water returned. It was originally made of foam—an insulator used in new home construction, and, like the canal system, it helps make life in the desert possible for the modern dweller. Unfortunately, after the work was completed, half of the project had to be dismantled due to an approaching storm, which destroyed part of the project, making it impossible to reassemble with water back in the canal. The project never had an official opening and was never presented entirely to the public. This project is now presented in augemented reality—12 years later—as Flowing Overlapping Gesture 2.0, with the assistance of Hoverlay, an augmented reality platform, and animations by Nicholas Townsend.
Fernandez incorporates machines and stylized motifs of common tools such as pliers and gears in his paintings as objects that require human force to work by helping us carry out particular functions. The tools and machines serve as metaphors for how, when we are in love, we lose sight of reality and our true nature, making our behavior mechanical and autonomous.
POWER OF EXPRESSION THROUGH MARK MAKING
Helios Educational Foundation
Mosaic tile and powder coated aluminum
Phoenix AZ
2020
Helios Education Foundation is dedicated to creating opportunities for individuals to succeed in education; this sculpture is a gestural mark representing the power of expression, the art of learning and creating.
The artwork is inspired by the merging of ideas, the streamlines and map drawings in the old Arizona trade routes, these reminded me of the gestural marks in paintings and drawings that are symbolic forms of expression.
Ceramic will evoke a whimsical aesthetic experience that is reminiscent to community art projects around the world.
Silhouettes of people are cut into an aluminum sheet in a different layer representing our community.
The metal fabrication was made by ICON Studio in Phoenix, I appreciate the help from the students at The New School for the Arts and Academics in Tempe for helping me break the mosaic, Lightform in Scottsdale for their lighting service, and handcrafted tile in Phoenix for their service and advice on applying the tile.
COMMISSIONS FOR A LARGE CORPORATION BASED IN SAN ANTONIO TEXAS
I was commission to create 3 paintings. The images in these paintings were given to me as resource, these historic images and photographs were then cut out and sometimes transfered on to canvas to inspire the work and represent San Antonio. the blue shapes begin on the left side with half of the outline of Texas and on the right side end with the other half outline of Texas.
The site is not public so they asked to remain private.
Pictured: Agricultural Folkways
Collage, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
54 x 216
2020
SINAS (CRATER)
Alamar community development
Avondale AZ
132”, 12’ joints,33 tons
2020
The sculpture is inspired by the surface of the moon, the sunsets and the night sky
Alamar comes alive with captivating public art, designed by Arizona’s most creative minds to connect neighbors, inspire learning and enrich the lives of those who call this place home. From dynamic sculptures and pavement art to interactive works that double as play spaces, our Public Art Program will become a one-of-a-kind attraction in its own right.
DOMINGUEZ FIELD AND THE FAMOUS TITANS OF AVIATION
Permanent Wall Installation at East Rancho Dominguez Park
East Compton California
Los Angeles County Arts Commission
2015
Fernandez was drawn to the history of the Dominguez family, the initial land owners of the area dating back to 1784. To learn more about this history and to connect with local residents, Fernandez and community engagement consultant, Sara Daleiden arranged a field trip and free tour of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum. Only four miles from project site, the Dominguez Rancho is a California Historical Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For some, the field trip to the Rancho was their first.
During the tour they learned about important moments in the history of the community, including the 1910 Air Meet that happened at Dominguez Field and was the first major air show in the United States. Fernandez continued his conversations with the Community Center’s architects to understand their inspiration, which came from 1960s architecture of “Sea Ranch”. He learned that architecture from this time often incorporated wood and bold, colorful graphics.
In the artwork you will find that the mission style architecture of the Rancho is referenced in the shape of the wood and vibrant metal panels througout. Modern interpretations of the façade and hot air balloons from the 1910 Air Meet are incorporated. A wing-like symbol, painted in the background, is a recurring image in Fernandez’s work.
Local youth from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps were mentored by the artist and helped to complete portions of the installation. The artwork is a part of a series of projects funded by a grant from the Los Angeles County Parks and Regional Open Space District that use arts-based solutions to promote the value of civic spaces and deter vandalism at County properties. The artist hopes that the artwork will achieve this goal by creating a new cultural landmark that dramatizes community history, progress and place.
SUPPORTING STRUCTURES: A COMMUNITY ARTS PROJECT
Angels Gate Cultural Center
San Pedro, California
2014-2015
Fausto Fernandez with members of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters and the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Dock and Wharf Builders Local Union 2375
Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) exhibition cycle 2013-2015 explores how stories within the community shape the collective consciousness in San Pedro and South Bay area.
The collaboration marks the beginning of a year-long partnership with the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Dock and Wharf Builders Local Union 2375 whereby AGCC will explore the stories of members and their families, the history of the labor movement in San Pedro and how this impacts the community at large.
LA Times Review http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-beat-port-truck-driver-exhibit-20141007-story.html
“They framed a long table out of metal with an image of the Vincent Thomas Bridge on its wooden top. They crammed its base with tools of the pile drivers’ trade — a pontoon, thick rope and a shackle from a barge.
Pile drivers’ hard hats — chipped, scratched and gouged — hang in rows on two walls. Many are personalized with stickers (American flags, “Working Hard, Living Poor”) and each bears a tag identifying its owner: “Steve ‘Spyder’ Robinson, 34 years, pile driver, water work.”
”
TAILPLANE PATTERNS
Phoenix Sky Train Station Terrazzo Floor
Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
2013
Photo Credit: Bill Timmerman
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, the Sky Train 44th Street Station Platform
Terrazzo, aluminum, recycled glass and mirror
budget $634,265
Four artist-designed terrazzo floors at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s PHX Sky Train have been named “2013 Job of the Year” by the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association (NTMA award link). The award was given to Advance Terrazzo, the Phoenix firm that produced the floors. Painter Fausto Fernandez tapped his love of layered colors and mechanical shapes to design a floor inspired by the outline of an airplane’s horizontal stabilizer, known as a tailplane. Fernandez used ten colors to create the platform’s rhythmic geometric patterns and sweeping bands. He heightened the floor’s reflective qualities by adding aggregates of recycled, crushed glass and mirror.
The Sky Train’s terrazzo floors were commissioned through the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program with Aviation percent-for-art funds. The city’s Public Art Program and Aviation Department partnered over the past six years to integrate the terrazzo into the Sky Train stations.
FLOWING OVERLAPPING GESTURE
Scottsdale Public Art
Site-specific canal floating installation
Scottsdale AZ
2010
Fernandez incorporates motifs of machines and tools. These serve as metaphors for how when we are in love, we lose sight of reality and our true nature, making our behavior mechanical and autonomous.
The primary material in this installation is foam, an insulator used in new home construction, and like the canal system, helps make life in the desert possible for the modern dweller. The use of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) in Fernandez’s three-dimensional painting directly correlates to the tension between a growing desert city and the environmental considerations of increasing water and power demand.
Placement of this artwork at the canal begs the question about what is “right” for a city’s growth: Cities are meant to thrive and evolve, aren’t they? Or do they reach a tipping point and naturally devolve, cycling in and out of plateau and growth? The low points, perhaps could be framed as opportunities to slow and refocus, provide a counterpoint to the highs of expansion. This canal artwork is a touchstone, offering a focal point by which to examine personal and collective expectations about desert city life.
Technical design by Shane Henson, Tempe; Foam cutting by All Dimensions Foam, Mesa; Project generously supported in part by Erik Reinhar and All Dimensions Foam, Rusty James II and Mesa Plumbing