Maria Shell’s work is grounded in the tradition and craft of American quiltmaking. She strives to take the classical components of traditional bed quilts and manipulate them to create surprising combinations of pattern, repetition, and color for the viewer. Maria is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation 2011 Winter Award, a Rasmuson Foundation Project Award, and two Rasmuson Fellowships. In 2012, Maria was one of 44 artists from the Northwest invited to participate in the Bellevue Arts Museum’s Biennial High Fiber Diet. She was a featured artist for the 2013 Surface Design Association’s International Conference held in San Antonio, Texas. She has had several solo and small group shows including Cut, Stitch, Press at the Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, Alaska, The Art of the Grid at the Wiseman Gallery in Grants Pass, Oregon, Fiber at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio, Hot Crossed Squares at the Kenai Pennisula College Gallery in Soldotna, Alaska, and Right Lines & Circles at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens. In 2017 -18, she will have a solo exhibition at Hello Stitch in Berkeley, California, and at the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive in Valdez, Alaska. You can read about Maria's process on her blog www.talesofastitcher.com and see images of her work at www.mariashell.com
