The Abstract Trail to Healing
In a world where art often serves as both escape and mirror, Cat Tesla brings a powerful presence with her nature-inspired abstract compositions that invite contemplation, healing, and connection. Born in 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla’s early life revealed a compelling duality: she excelled in both science and art, earning awards for her visual work in high school while simultaneously showing academic prowess. Rather than choosing one path definitively, she spent decades walking the line between two seemingly opposite worlds—genetics and painting. Today, her work is widely recognized for its organic abstraction and immersive presence, gracing institutions such as the Emory Winship Cancer Institute, Capital One, and the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. Tesla’s practice is a vivid example of how artistic expression can thrive within, and even emerge from, a scientific mindset.
Tesla’s journey into professional art was gradual yet persistent. After receiving degrees in Biology, Human Genetics, and Graphic Design, she joined the faculty of Emory University’s Department of Human Genetics in 1990. For nearly 20 years, she counseled patients facing deeply personal medical diagnoses, guiding them through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. The emotional weight of this work, compounded by the sheer volume of patients—around 500 annually—led her to seek grounding in nature and creative practices. Yoga, hiking, and mindfulness became more than hobbies; they were essential tools that calmed her overtaxed mind and opened the door for a richer artistic life to emerge. Art gradually evolved from a form of therapy to a full-time vocation.
By 1997, Tesla was exhibiting her artwork while still employed in genetics, and in 2006, she committed to her painting career full-time. Even so, her ties to science were not easily severed. She continued contributing to genetics research until 2009, even publishing work in Genetics in Medicine, which featured one of her own paintings on the cover. The interconnectedness of her two worlds became even more pronounced after a personal health challenge in 2022, when she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Treated at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute—the very institution that would later commission four of her paintings—Tesla experienced a poignant return, this time as both patient and artist, underscoring the profound arc of her creative and scientific identities.
Cat Tesla: A Canvas in Conversation with Nature
Nature is not just a theme in Cat Tesla’s work; it is a language she speaks fluently through color, form, and texture. Her paintings do not depict nature in a literal sense, but instead attempt to translate its emotional and spiritual essence. Tesla’s “Exhale Series,” for example, captures a softened abstraction of organic landscapes, while her “Feeling Good Series” departs entirely from recognizable forms, focusing instead on mood and motion derived from natural inspiration. Her process begins not with a fixed image in mind, but with what she refers to as an “automatic drawing”—a freeform sketch in graphite and wax crayon—through which unconscious energies guide the composition before being refined through layers of acrylics, oils, and mixed media. This process mirrors the unpredictability of the natural world, where spontaneity and order coexist.
Tesla is especially drawn to opposites. In her words, her work embraces “contrasts—light and shadow, vivid hues and muted tones, smooth and rough surfaces, angular and curvilinear shapes.” This deliberate juxtaposition reflects what she observes in both nature and human experience: the interplay between fragility and resilience, chaos and calm. From afar, her compositions often appear bold and graphic, drawing viewers in with confident shapes and color. Upon closer inspection, intricate textures and minute details emerge, revealing the depth and complexity that mirror the subtle intricacies of ecosystems or the layered emotions of memory.
Her materials are equally complex and multilayered. Tesla integrates oil, hand-painted collage, acrylic, graphite, and oil stick into her paintings, allowing surfaces to accumulate history through each application and removal of paint. This technique invites the viewer to feel as if they are excavating something essential beneath the surface—an echo of Tesla’s former scientific work, which also relied on uncovering hidden truths within human DNA. Each canvas becomes a dialogue, not only between the artist and the medium, but also between the viewer and their own inner landscapes, awakened by the familiar-yet-abstract forms reminiscent of forests, skies, rivers, or even breath itself.
Meditation, Memory, and the Making of Meaning
Tesla’s mornings begin in stillness. Meditation anchors her to a mindset of presence before she enters her studio and begins the intuitive, physically engaging process of painting. It’s a rhythm that’s deeply personal yet universally resonant. Through each brushstroke, she attempts to create a sense of serenity and connection, whether by invoking the memory of a beloved place or by providing a visual refuge for those encountering her work in hospitals, clinics, or private homes. Her commitment to creating art that enhances lives is not aspirational—it’s foundational. The emotional tone of her pieces is as important as their visual impact, particularly in medical environments where calmness and hope are often in short supply.
Tesla credits her peaceful artistic state to her time in nature and her practice of mindful awareness. In her view, the natural world serves as both source and sanctuary. She cites scientific research suggesting that time in nature enhances problem-solving and reduces mental fatigue, a fact that aligns with her own experience balancing the intensity of genetics with the introspection of painting. Through abstraction, she communicates not the look of nature, but the sensation of it: the cool stillness of morning light, the gentle pull of a breeze, the rich silence of a wooded trail. Her work becomes a vessel for conveying what cannot easily be spoken, inviting viewers to slow down, breathe, and feel.
The themes of healing and inner light are deeply embedded in Tesla’s philosophy. She speaks of the “divine flame” within, a spiritual spark that motivates creativity and purpose. Citing teachings from multiple spiritual traditions, she believes that artistic expression is both a gift and a responsibility. Her paintings are not simply visual statements but acts of service, meant to connect people to something greater than themselves. Whether she’s working on a large-scale commission for a medical center or a smaller canvas for a private collector, her intent remains the same: to evoke stillness, wonder, and remembrance through a visual language rooted in nature and shaped by personal resilience.
Cat Tesla: From Diagnosis to Devotion
Tesla’s artistic evolution reached a turning point with her personal health journey. In 2022, while planning a move to Florida with her husband Simo, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. The news, while unsettling, became a catalyst for renewed creative intensity. Returning to Atlanta for treatment at the very place she once worked, she received surgical care at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. Her experience as a patient brought new meaning to her artistic mission, reinforcing her belief that art is not merely decorative, but essential—particularly in spaces dedicated to healing. A year later, Emory approached her to create four original paintings for their newly constructed midtown building, completing an extraordinary full-circle moment from clinician to patient to contributing artist.
Simo, her husband and long-time creative partner, plays a quiet yet significant role in their shared artistic life. A classically trained accordionist who has performed with the Atlanta Balalaika Orchestra and other European ensembles, he also explores visual art through surrealistic painting and photography. Together, they travel across the country to attend art shows and meet collectors, deepening their artistic connections and expanding the reach of Cat’s work. Their shared commitment to creativity reinforces the foundation of Tesla’s artistic practice—collaborative, curious, and unafraid of transformation.
Now living just south of Sarasota, Florida, Tesla continues to produce work that straddles the emotional and aesthetic, the personal and universal. Whether painting ethereal landscapes or exploring non-objective forms, she remains steadfast in her commitment to expressing what words often cannot. Her art, born from decades of dual expertise in science and creativity, now serves as both sanctuary and signal—a beacon of hope, beauty, and authenticity in a complex world.
