• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Open Search
  • About
    • Areas and Programs
      • Architecture
      • Ceramics
      • Comprehensive Design
      • Digital Art
      • Fashion Design
      • Fibers
      • Graphic Design
      • Interior Design
      • Merchandising
      • Metalsmithing + Jewelry Design
      • Painting
      • Photography
      • Printmaking
      • Sculpture
    • Facilities
      • Virtual Tour
      • Fabrication Labs
        • Fine Arts Fabrication Lab
        • Kirkwood Hall Fabrication Lab
        • Wood and Metal Shop
        • Columbus Fabrication Lab
      • ArtShop at Eskenazi School of Art
      • Museums + Libraries
    • Centers and Collections
      • Eskenazi Technology and Innovation Lab (ETIL)
        • Members
        • Research
      • Center for Innovative Merchandising
      • ServeDesign Center
      • Sage Collection
    • Accreditation
    • History
    • Careers/Opportunities
      • Part-time Position Descriptions
    • Community and Student Success
      • CASS Committee
      • Cultivate and Create Scholarship
      • Community Impact Fund
      • Kudos Corner
    • Emergency Preparedness
    • Staff Directory
    • Contact
  • Faculty
    • Leadership
    • Faculty Directory
    • Faculty Research
  • Undergraduate
    • Majors
      • Comprehensive Design B.S.
      • Fashion Design B.A.
      • Interior Design B.S.
      • Merchandising B.S.
      • Studio Art B.A.
      • Studio Art B.F.A.
    • Minors
    • Creative Core
    • How to Apply
      • Laptop Requirement
    • Scholarships + Financial Aid
    • Visit/Contact Us
  • Graduate
    • M.Arch (Architecture)
    • M.F.A. in Studio Art
    • How to Apply
    • Graduate Student Funding
    • Schedule a Visit
  • Current Students
    • Career Preparation
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Resources
      • Curricular Forms
      • Academic Advising
      • Career Advising + Internships
        • Talk to a Career Advisor
      • Student Emergency Relief Fund
        • Eskenazi School Student Emergency Relief Fund Application
      • Applying to the B.F.A. Program
        • Studio Art B.F.A. Application
      • Scholarship Awards
        • Scholarship Application
      • Studio Art Thesis Exhibitions
      • Graduation
      • Eskenazi Ambassadors
      • Student Special Project Fund
      • Undergraduate Teaching Assistant/Intern (UTA/UTIN) Application
    • Overseas Study Programs
  • Exhibitions
    • Grunwald Gallery
      • Call for Entries
      • Exhibitions
      • Archive
        • 2025
        • 2024
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
        • 2012
      • Online Exhibitions
        • MFA / BFA Thesis Shows
        • Alumni Exhibition
    • Miller M.Arch Gallery
      • Exhibitions
      • Archive
    • Sage Collection
      • Archive
      • Exhibitions + Events
  • News
    • 2025
    • Eskenazi School News
    • Vision Magazine 2023-24
  • Events
    • Speaker Series
      • McKinney Visiting Artist Series
        • Archive
          • Folder Name
          • 2023-2024
            • Barbara Tannenbaum: Photography
            • Brad Vetter: Graphic Design
            • David Hytone: Painting
            • Reinhold Engberding
            • Lauren Fensterstock: Impermanent Conditions
            • Nina Sarnelle and Selwa Sweidan: Touch Praxis
            • Theresa Ganz
            • Roos van Haaften: Shadow Laboratory : light works based on Bloomington’s Astronomy Glass Photographic Plate Collection
            • Endi Poskovic: Dream and the Paradox of Image
            • Curtis Hidemasa Arima
            • Daniel Vlček and Tom Kotik
            • Sunshine Cobb
          • 2022-2023
            • Saša Bogojev: Painting
            • Thomas Madden: Metals
            • Kei Ito: Photography
            • Yuri Kobayashi: Creative Core
            • Akirash: McKinney International Artist in Residence
            • Christopher K. Ho: Sculpture
            • Tiare Ribeaux/Jody Stillwater: Digital Art
            • Ben Cuevas: Fibers
            • Wuon-Gean Ho: Printmaking
            • Nicole Dotin: Graphic Design
            • Paul S. Briggs: Ceramics
          • 2021–2022
          • 2020–2021
          • 2019–2020
          • 2018–2019
          • 2017–2018
          • 2016–2017
          • 2015–2016
      • Miller M. Arch Lecture and Exhibition Series
        • Archive
          • Folder Name
          • 2023-2024
          • 2022-2023
          • 2021–2022
          • 2020–2021
          • 2019–2020
      • Design Speaker Series
        • Archive
          • 2023-2024
          • 2022-2023
      • Bill Blass Speaker Series
        • Archive
          • 2024-2025
          • 2022-2023
          • 2023-2024
      • ETIL Noon Talk Series
        • Archive
    • Special Events
      • Archive
        • 2024-2025 Events
        • 2023-2024 Events
        • 2022-2023 Events
        • 2021-2022 Events
        • 2020-2021 Events
        • 2019-2020 Events
        • 2018-2019 Events
        • 2017-2018 Events
        • 2016-2017 Events
  • Alumni
    • Alumni Connect
  • Giving
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Staff Directory
    • Community + Collaboration

Eskenazi School
of Art, Architecture + Design

  • Home
  • About
    • Areas and Programs
    • Facilities
    • Centers and Collections
    • Accreditation
    • History
    • Careers/Opportunities
    • Community and Student Success
    • Emergency Preparedness
    • Staff Directory
    • Contact
  • Faculty
    • Leadership
    • Faculty Directory
    • Faculty Research
  • Undergraduate
    • Majors
    • Minors
    • Creative Core
    • How to Apply
    • Scholarships + Financial Aid
    • Visit/Contact Us
  • Graduate
    • M.Arch (Architecture)
    • M.F.A. in Studio Art
    • How to Apply
    • Graduate Student Funding
    • Schedule a Visit
  • Current Students
    • Career Preparation
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Resources
    • Overseas Study Programs
  • Exhibitions
    • Grunwald Gallery
    • Miller M.Arch Gallery
    • Sage Collection
  • News
    • 2025
    • Eskenazi School News
    • Vision Magazine 2023-24
  • Events
    • Speaker Series
    • Special Events
  • Alumni
    • Alumni Connect
  • Giving
  • Search
  • Connect
  • Home
  • News
  • 2019
  • Mexico Remixed artist Ana Teresa Fernández conducts student critiques during campus visit

Mexico Remixed artist Ana Teresa Fernández conducts student critiques during campus visit

By: Alayna Wallace

Thursday, February 14, 2019

A painting hangs on a wall
"Of Bodies and Borders 2 (performance documentation)," 2018, Oil on canvas. Grunwald Gallery

Source: News at IU

Master of Fine Arts students are used to having their work critiqued. But this time it wasn't a professor but a visiting artist giving them feedback.

Artist Ana Teresa Fernández was visiting the Indiana University Bloomington campus on Feb. 8 to give a public lecture about her "Of Bodies and Borders" exhibition< on display in the Grunwald Gallery of Art as part of the Arts and Humanities Council's Mexico Remixed program. But she also made time for MFA students in the IU School of Art, Architecture + Design.

"Ana's perspective stood out among the critiques I have had," said Tiffany Hokanson, an MFA candidate in printmaking. "Ana looked deeply at my work and was able to offer guidance through a very unique lens. I am so grateful."

Broken down into 30-minute time slots, the critiques took place in the MFA students' private studio spaces. There, Fernández provided critical feedback, analyzing the students' work and the meaning behind it.

"She asked me questions about my work, what led me to make certain images and then provided feedback on how to improve and strive," said Liliana Guzman, an MFA student in photography. "Ana was genuine and receptive. She reminded me about the importance of experimentation and not being afraid to delve into new creative spaces."

Throughout her own work, Mexico-born Fernández focuses on ideas and issues of immigration and gender across a variety of media, including video, stills, drawings and paintings.

"Her work is particularly interesting to me because of the issues that she deals with: border crossing, immigration and herself being an immigrant," said Betsy Stirratt, Grunwald Gallery director. "She can speak from a particular perspective that other artists can't. But her work is very beautiful. I feel very strongly that work that deals with social issues still needs to have some sort of aesthetic quality."

Fernández's "Of Bodies and Borders" demonstrates a push and pull dynamic between beauty and pain. In a video on display, she is immersed in a burial shroud underwater and wearing a pair of stilettos, emphasizing the role of gender in immigration.

"She deals with a lot of feminist issues and talks about the suffering that women have gone through for aesthetic purposes to address ideas of equality," Stirratt said. "This is why she wears the clothes she wears in her performances."

The element of water and its connection to immigration also play a significant part in the weight of the exhibition.

"She's not only dealing with immigration from the perspective of Mexico and the United States but also the Mediterranean. It's worldwide," Stirratt said. "Put yourself in the place of immigrants and realize that they're crossing this large body of water. Water has so many symbolic meanings. It can be a barrier. It can be life affirming. You can drown or you can swim."

The "Of Bodies and Borders" exhibition is made possible through the IU Arts and Humanities Council's Mexico Remixed program, which provides the IU Bloomington community with cultural festivals, exhibits and experiences focused on Mexico.

"We love partnering with the Arts and Humanities Council on a lot of things; Mexico Remixed is just one of them," Stirratt said. "We are very fortunate to get support from the council to do these projects with these international artists and have them interact with our students and faculty."

The impact of Mexico Remixed extends through "Of Bodies and Borders" as IU students get to explore a different culture or, in Guzman's case, celebrate her own.

"As a Latina woman, it was that much more meaningful meeting with a Latina artist who strives to empower other Latina women and the Latinx community as a whole," Guzman said.

Fernández's "Of Bodies and Borders" will be at the Grunwald Gallery until March 2.

  • 2025
  • Eskenazi School News
  • Vision Magazine 2023-24

Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design resources and social media channels

  • Faculty & Staff Intranet
  • COLLEGE OF ARTS + SCIENCES
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Indiana University

Accessibility | College Scorecard | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2025 The Trustees of Indiana University