Maria Schechter is an interdisciplinary artist whose sustainable, ecologically rooted practice spans over three decades. 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, emphasizing 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. It currently resides on the grounds of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee, where it will naturally decompose back into the earth.

Schechter is the founder of What-is-Art-What-is-Sound, an international arts collective turned non-profit with a presence in 13 countries and 28 cities, representing over 200 artists. She was nominated for a MacArthur Award at age 21 in recognition of this visionary initiative. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with exhibitions at institutions such as the Seattle Art Museum, Triton Museum, Minnetrista Museum & Gardens, Anderson Museum, and Abrams Claghorn Gallery. In November 2025, she will exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields and with the Minnetrista Museum & Gardens for the Open Space: Art About the Land.

Schechter’s contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2024 DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award, the UCLA Artist Achievement Award from the National Arts and Disability Center (NADC), 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, and she was recently interviewed by WFIU/NPR. Schechter holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She initiated graduate studies in Visual Arts Administration at New York University. And earned a master’s degree in International Business from Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany.