Angel Fernandez was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico and grew up in the northern region of Chihuahua before immigrating to Fort Worth, Texas. Fernandez attended Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Fernandez is Professor of Art at Tarrant County College, Trinity River Campus in downtown Fort Worth.

Rusiloski and Fernandez have traversed the country visiting the Northeast, Northwest, Midwest, and Southern United States. Their six children usually accompany them. The two photo document the landscape and include their five daughters and son which become small, scaled figures that contrast sublime spaces. Initially, the two resisted the

inclusion of their family in the work but through chance occurrences they succumbed to the persistence of their shapes in the vast expanses. Their practice reflects the varied landscapes they experienced individually and collectively.

The couple has been working approximately seven years in the Big Bend of Texas, where they set up a desert studio. The southern border, and sociopolitical issues, and immigration add complexity to their work. The desert presents various obstacles of basic existence which prompts questions of sustainability and an efficient use of

resources. Fernandez’s sculpture practice employs their children’s toys and artifacts

which he reinterprets through a lens of Chicano Rasquachismo, making the most with the least resources. Fernandez utilizes mostly preexisting and found materials to create new works.

Rusiloski collages fragments of photographs into her paintings. These photos often oppose nature with subjects including structures, vessels, and industrial elements, alluding back to her roots which reference the early influence of her father, an engineer. The northern border of the United States with coastal waters, glacial lakes and the tinajas of the southwest are juxtaposed with the desolate landscape of the Big Bend deserts. The abundance of reflective water, atmospheric space, white snow and cool colors diametrically oppose the earth-toned warmth of the west Texas desert. The dynamic contrasting Romantic landscapes are a primary concern.

While Rusiloski and Fernandez have separate studio practices, they often collaborate on projects. Their video works and photographs explore the landscape as identity, individual and collective alike. Rusiloski is painting acrylic and collage on canvas directly on the desert ground. From a drone’s perspective, she instructs Fernandez on drawing lines in the earth to incorporate gestural drawn elements. Rusiloski’s background in dance, movement and choreography, complement Fernadez’s past performance works.