Maria Shell is a contemporary quilter who views her practice as platform for dialogue and community exchange. Her rich, geometric compositions are assembled using techniques that are easy to teach and yield quick results for workshop participants. She uses quilting to share ideas in the context of community-based collaborations. Like Wesley Mancini Artist-in-Residence Jessica Whitbread, Shell mines feminine traditions to develop richly textured contexts for open community conversations and narrative preservation through her collaborative quilts.
During her residency, Shell will work with neighbors in the communities surrounding the Brightwalk Arts and Ecology Campus. Her workshops will invite participants to incorporate their personal fabrics into a mural-sized quilt that tells their collective story of how rapid re-development in their community affects their lives. Each panel in the quilt will represent a single voice. Together, an entire community unfolds in a diverse and vibrant tableau.
Maria Shell’s residency is supported through an artist exchange program with the Rasmuson Foundation of Alaska. This multi-year exchange places McColl Center alumni at the Anchorage Museum and an Alaskan-based artist at the Center to conduct research with community members around wide ranging topics that impact our respective communities.