Maia graduated from Tufts University in 2008 with a degree in Biology and Community Health.  After two years in the field of kidney research in Boston, Massachusetts, she quit her job and moved to Gatlinburg, TN to participate in the work-study program at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.  She continued her education at Pocosin Arts in Columbia, NC and opened a gallery there.  She was a studio artist and instructor in Chicago, completed her Masters in Fine Art at SUNY New Paltz and was selected as an artist in residence at Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts for the 2016/2017 session.

Her work has been shown internationally at Schmuck in Munich Germany and Galerie Marzee in Nijmegen, Netherlands and most recently at the Baltimore Jewelry Center, Velvet da Vinci, Taboo Studio, and the McColl Center for Art and Innovation.

Artist Statement

My process is dictated by the limits that I place on myself: the source of inspiration, my process of design and creating, my use of materials, colors and mechanisms.  My work is also drawn from the need to create volume out of flatness.  By using almost exclusively steel sheet, I aim to manipulate the material to have a dimension it did not previously have.  The forms are inspired by botanical elements, abstracted and simplified to their most basic shape. I design much of my work on a 3-D rendering computer program called Rhinoceros, and then I either send my work to be laser-cut, or I cut it myself. I use silicone cord, steel tubing, and wire to create the finished piece of work.  I restrict my color choices to the black, white, and the terracotta color of the industrial silicone. I am interested in scale, volume, movement and repetition and how the computer can help me explore these ideas.

The resulting work is an exploration of the intersection between the botanical and the industrial. Having the work be wearable is a primary goal, but I also want to push that idea and play on the balance between overwhelming and attracting the viewer.  I do not want the wearer to look at the jewelry and immediately see a specific plant or flower, but to get the feeling that one gets when seeing or being surrounded by botanicals.