Like the Greek goddess Thetis, artist Cat Tesla found healing and rejuvenation in water. Following surgery for early-stage breast cancer, Tesla told her husband she wanted to go to the water. They ended up in Florida, where she began painting large color field abstractions that became part of her nature-based “Exhale” collection. Examples of that work, along with a second series that originated during the pandemic, are on view through July 31 at Art Center Sarasota in her “Living by the Water” exhibition. Tesla’s paintings are held in corporate and private collections and nearly 1,000 hospitals and medical centers in the U.S. including in the Emory Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, where she received treatment in 2022.
Completing its 100th anniversary year, Art Center Sarasota is located at 707 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
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In “Cat Tesla: Living by the Water,” Tesla shares new works from her “Exhale” and “Feeling Good” series resulting in a meditation on healing, presence, and the quiet power of beauty.
She moved to Florida just weeks after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in 2022. As she navigated both physical healing and a major life transition, the Florida landscape offered more than scenery—it became a sanctuary. Inspired by the experience of living along Florida’s coast, capturing the rhythm of tides, the shimmer of light and the emotional release that comes from immersion in the natural world, her resulting atmospheric, nature-inspired works reflect personal transformation and healing.
Exhale
As Tesla and her husband prepared move to Florida in 2022, Tesla received an early stage breast cancer diagnosis. Returning to Atlanta, she received surgical treatment at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. Fortunately, she required no further treatment.
“When I was able to travel, the first thing that I said to my husband was, ‘I want to go to the water,’” Tesla told SRQ Daily arts writer Dylan Campbell for his July 2026 article “Breathing Life Into Her Art.” “We went to the water, and until that moment I was holding my breath. I had this big exhale and then I was so enamored with the beauty here in Florida, so as soon as I started to paint, I was creating these nature-based abstractions.”
By that time, Tesla already had a connection with Florida. She had traveled to Florida with her husband on numerous occasions to exhibit her work at outdoor art fairs and festivals, including several in Southwest Florida.
A year following her diagnosis, she was approached to create four paintings for the newly constructed building of Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute located in midtown Atlanta, coming full circle from patient to artist.
Thetis, goddess of renewal in water
In Greek mythology, water was a powerful symbol of change, purification, and rebirth. Thetis was invoked for her ability to restore life and vitality and, as a sea nymph, embodied the life-giving and renewing properties of the sea. While she was best known as Achilles’ mother, her divine nature and association with the sea made her a figure of renewal and protection.
Accomplishments and accolades
Tesla’s work has been exhibited internationally including at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta, and the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art north of Atlanta. Her paintings are held in corporate and private collections and nearly 1,000 hospitals and medical centers in the U.S. including in the Emory Winship Cancer Institute, Royal Caribbean, Capital One, and the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab.
Based near Sarasota, Tesla works with collectors, interior designers, and art consultants, and also offers workshops and courses for artists.
For a list of Tesla’s solo, two-person and group shows, visit https://www.artbycat.com/pagecv.
She didn’t start out as abstract artist
Although the St. Louis, Missouri, native said she was born with a passion for art, her other love was science. She displayed remarkable aptitude in both fields. She received several accolades for her artwork during her high school years and was even offered an art scholarship for her first year of college, but she opted for a career in science, earning a bachelor's degree in biology, a master's degree in human genetics, and an associate's degree in graphic design.
Tesla joined the faculty of Emory University’s Department of Human Genetics in 1990. For the ensuing 20 years, she worked as a genetic counselor at Emory. During that span, she also served as marketing director for the Emory Genetics Laboratory, was the director of 20+ genetic counselors, and also conducted seminal research in the area of public education in genetics.
However, art still tugged at Tesla’s heartstrings. She dabbled in painting and then, in 1997, she began exhibiting her artwork. The pleasure and success she experienced led her to leave Emory University to pursue art as a full-time career, but she put her plans on hold in 2002 when her husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
She tried to leave Emory a second time in 2006, but had written a successful research grant that was funded that same year. So she agreed to complete the research project by working one day a week through 2009. Her findings were published in Genetics in Medicine, with one of her paintings appearing on the cover.
Early in Tesla’s genetics career she began her practice of yoga, hiking, and mindful meditation.
“My brain found peace and calm in nature, while mindful meditation allowed me to traverse more easily between the worlds of art and science,” said Tesla. Scientists hypothesize that being in nature allows the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s command center, to dial down and rest, like an overused muscle, Tesla said. In fact, after just a three-day camping trip, you can increase your problem-solving by 50 percent.
It was inevitable that Mother Nature would become Tesla’s muse.
Her “Exhale" series is nature-based abstraction, while her “Feeling Good" series is purely non-objective. Both series derive their color and shapes from nature.
Training and practice
In addition to her degree in graphic design, Tesla also received training in art through multiple art residencies with Steven Aimone, and two international art residencies in France.
In 2019, she began teaching workshops on abstract painting in Santa Fe with fellow artist Julie Schumer and online in 2020, as well as teaching artists how to start and grow an art business.
In addition to oils and acrylics, Tesla uses wax crayon, graphite, oil stick, oil pastel, and tempura sticks as her media. She has upwards of 1,000 brushes, ranging in size from pencil thin to 12 inches wide. She also uses large car wash-type sponges.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
