Maria Shell’s work is grounded in the tradition and craft of American quilt making. She strives to take the classical components of a traditional bedquilt and manipulate them with the hope of creating 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 (2009, 2013, 2017). She has had several solo and small group shows including fiber at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio, Right Lines & Circles at the Ormond Beach Memorial Art Museum and Gardens in Ormond Beach, Florida, Line + Shape at the Hello Stitch Studio in Berkeley, California, and The Pieced Canvas at the Visions Art Museum in San Diego, California. Her most recent solo exhibitions are Off the Grid which was on view at the Shelburne Art Museum in Shelburne, Vermont from May—October 2022 and On the Grid—Structure as Visual Aesthetic at the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiberarts Museum in La Conner, Washington. Her book Improv Patchwork—Dynamic Quilts Made with Line & Shape was published in 2017.
Workshop: Pattern in the Wild
Skill Level—Advanced Beginner
In this workshop, students will explore simple and complex pieced pattern. We will investigate the use of pattern across cultures, while also educating ourselves on how to create our own individualized pieced pattern work, and incorporate that work into authentic quilt compositions. It is recommended that students are familar with the book Improv Patchwork—Dynamic Quilts Made with Line & Shape by Maria Shell or have taken a previous workshop with Maria Shell.