Meet Dr. Theresa Ferg

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Theresa Ferg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Ferg, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Why did you pursue an artistic or creative career? When I was about ten years old I saw a picture of a child in a magazine. I decided to draw the picture and the drawing looked very much like the picture. Then I had a picture of my Grandfather and I drew him. Before then I would make small drawings that were undefined blocks or shading as I was trying to picture in my mind how something might look. No one paid any attention to those early drawings. The reactions from people to my portraits were different because I somehow was able to make better sense of the shading and line to create the look of the person. So at a young age I could make art that competed with adults and was even in an outdoor art show when I was eleven. My parents were surprised and arranged for me to get art lessons outside of school.

It was a very natural process for me to pursue an artistic career. It all seemed quite normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. There was some extra attention but really not too much. The most challenging decision I had to make was at the end of high school because I did not know whether I should go to college to study art or go to an art academy. I am a bit of a school girl and like learning so I went to college to learn more about art.

I sometimes think that it would have been fun to study bacteria, such as, cyanobacteria. Also, I enjoy making a film that is doing the hard work of the actual filming. Perhaps either one of those careers would have been rewarding. However, I am a consummate artist and that is just the way it turned out.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It turns out that I have been more of a school girl than I originally thought. In 1998 I was busily running my art studio in downtown Denver near the Auraria campus. I had numerous commissions for portraiture and had started the life size statues. At about that time I had about 15 art students who wanted to learn the type of realistic artwork I have always made.

Also, I am a scuba diver and had decided I liked the creatures of the coral reef so much that I wanted to learn about what they were doing so I could make drawings and sculptures of them. I would go to a high-end custom aquarium shop to observe and draw the fish and invertebrates. One day the owner of the shop asked me to help him design these large finite aquatic systems using aesthetics. So I learned how to make what I called ‘underwater art’. It was completely new to me but quite fun. One day the owner asked me to design a 200 gallon vertical see-through aquarium for a special event he was having for his best clients. I started in the winter and the ecosystem was ready for the show by September.

For the first time I had decided to design the entire space and subdivide the inner space of water columns using the artistic rule of thirds. This occurrence had a profound positive effect on the fish, invertebrates, zooxanthellae algae and other elements of the system. I realized there was something very important about what had happened so I went to see the Dean of Arts & Sciences at the University of Colorado downtown campus to let him know. He sent me to talk with Dr. Zenas Hartvigson, who was the chair of the mathematics department at the time. I thought, great, now I can get back to my art work and studio after explaining the story to Dr. Hartvigson. He had other ideas though and told me he wanted me to go back to college. He stated that since I have an ability to see in 3-dimensions I needed to help explain to scientists more about the way humans perceive.

This now becomes a very long section of the story so I’ll just leave that for later. At this time, about 20 years later, part of our creativity can now be understood as the affective symmetry gauging (ASG) process of our visualization systems. To help explain that information new mathematics, research methodology and digital technology have been developed for art, science and education.

I now have two companies The Gallery San Isabel and VEC EDU at my building located in Pueblo, CO. Last August VEC EDU was chosen as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Merit Award and grant recipient. It is the first time any company in Pueblo, CO has won this prestigious national award. There is a lot of work to be done to show how the new education curricular designs of the ASG combine aesthetics with abstract reasoning in 3-dimensions.

This journey has been quite challenging, full of risk taking, determination and one lesson learned after another. I asked the universe back in the 80’s, why isn’t art taken seriously in schools for kids? There have been so many twists and turns, unknowns and certainties, synchronicities and guidance that it would probably make a movie, hummm….. The thing is we always need to find new ways to communicate internally and externally to improve ourselves and our world.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Originally, I’m from Denver, CO and I moved to southern Colorado in 2014. So if my best friend was visiting it would be at Pueblo, CO. The area is still rural and there are many outdoor activities. The Pueblo Reservoir is only 15 minutes away and there are many hiking and biking venues to go to see.

There are two big attractions here in September, the Colorado State Fair and the Pueblo Chili Festival. Both events are well worth attending. My adult children come to visit and their number one choice of something to do is to head to the wonderful Mexican restaurants.

Most people in the north part of the state do not know about the history, geography or businesses you can learn about. With 258 total days of the year with sun, there is a great deal of opportunity to explore.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As a child and while growing up I was very close to my maternal Grandmother. She was very wise. My favorite memories were staying at her house in the spring. We would have breakfast on the back patio and I could smell the beautiful lilacs in the garden. We always had our favorite dill pickle sandwiches with buttered toast.

I remember reading the book “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith when I was young. There are many many books though that have been influential.

I am very grateful to three artist mentors John Plessinger, for his teaching of the art of drawing, Tsuyako Kaneko, for her teaching of art composition and Bob Hamby, for his teaching of the making of large realistic figure sculptures.

As for the science and mathematics research discoveries, there have been too many amazing and accomplished people to mention here. It has really taken everyone’s help to create, research and document the new science about the creative process.

Website: www.gallerysanisabel.com; www.visuospatialeducationcenter.com

Other: Theresa.Ferg@gallerysanisabel.com Theresa.Ferg@visuospatialeducationcenter.com