Maria Schechter is an interdisciplinary craft arts practitioner, born in Pasadena, California. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, and pursued graduate studies at New York University toward a master’s degree in Visual Art Administration. She later completed a Master in International Business at Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2018, Schechter’s career was interrupted by a serious car accident caused by an impaired driver, resulting in a spinal cord injury that left her unable to work for several years. During her recovery, she reconnected with her practice through alternative healing, studying medicinal mushrooms such as turkey tail to address inflammation following multiple surgeries to her arms and hands as well as her spine. This exploration led to an in-depth study of natural materials and its integration into her art-making process. Today, Maria is entering her seventh year of a fully sustainable artistic practice using only sustainable materials.

 

Maria's sustainable, ecologically rooted practice is primarily focused on natural dyes and the use of natural materials. Living and working in Bloomington, Indiana, Schechter’s work is deeply informed by her lived experience as an artist with a mobile disability and a commitment to environmental stewardship. Schechter’s creative process involves ethical foraging and the use of natural materials—fruits, flowers, mushrooms, seeds, and botanicals—to produce her own plant-based pigments. She is also known for her innovative use of mycelium as a sculptural medium, working with unseeded substrates that do not fruit mushrooms to emphasis impermanence and regeneration. Her seminal mycelium project, Gatekeepers—a five-foot arch grown over three years—serves as a living homage to cycles of growth and decay. ​Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with exhibitions at institutions such as the Anderson Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Bret Waller Gallery, Minnetrista Museum & Garden, Seattle Art Museum and the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, California.

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Schechter’s contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2025 CERF+ Get Ready Grant, 2024 DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award, the UCLA Artist Achievement Award from the National Arts and Disability Center (NADC), Goethe-Institut New York - Cultural Liaison grant, Art and Accessibility Grant UCLA, and the Center for Cultural Innovation Covid-19 Grant. Her writing and work have been featured in Eluxe Magazine, The Ecological Citizen, Nature Evolve Magazine, and Axios.