maia shelby hay
Maia Shelby Hay (B. 1998, Greenfield, Massachusetts) is a visual and emerging public artist. After graduating in 2020 with a BA in Visual Art and Political Science from Wheaton College, MA, Maia received a Watson Fellowship. She traveled across Canada, Portugal, South Africa, Serbia, and France studying the impacts of public art post-pandemic and its vital role in communities (2023).
Recently completing the MA in Art and Ecology, Burren College of Art Ballyvaughan, Ireland, has given her the time and space to weave these experiences into her practice and experiment with alternative processes and waste.
Her work reimagines material, emphasizing the significance of natural pigments and the stories they tell, creating a dialogue between the viewer and the environment. Her research examines the restrictions and accessibility concerns of socially engaged practices aiming to develop new approaches that harness recycled materials and innovative methods to promote alternative forms of creation.
Her sculptural work, Beyond the Rain, is on permanent installation at the Franklin Sculpture Park in Franklin, MA, and Wheaton College, Norton, MA.
Photographer Keith Nordstrom