Maria Schechter forages, finds, and co-creates with the natural world using bio materials, mycelium composites, and plant based palettes. Maria is an American artist based in Bloomington, Indiana. She  previously lived in New York City, Los Angeles, Bangkok, and Heidelberg, Germany. She was born in Pasadena, California to a working class immigrant family in 1976. Maria is a first-generation college graduate, who was nominated for a MacArthur Award at the age of 21 for her development of What-is-Art-What-is-Sound, an international arts collective turned non-profit founded in 13 countries and 28 cities. Maria is inspired by Hildegard of Bingen and the natural world. Using foraged botanical palettes informed by the High Middle Ages, she utilizes mycelium and clay as her primary mediums. She develops workshops and creates community-based projects and public artworks that bring the community closer to the natural world. She grows her color garden and works with botanical materials such as flowers, fruits, mushrooms, and roots to develop organic painting palettes.  Her recent work showcased with the Minnetrista Museum and Gardens in Muncie, Indiana in 2023 and 2024. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Art from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She initiated graduate work with New York University and completed a master degree from Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany. She has been published in Eluxe Magazine, The Ecological Citizen, Nature Evolve Magazine, and many others since 1997. She has exhibited with the University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim, Germany, Michigan State University, the Seattle Art Museum, the Triton Museum and will exhibit work with the Anderson Museum of Art in Anderson, Indiana in 2025 with the Open Space: Art About the Land. Maria was awarded international residencies with the Ayatana Biophilium Artists' Research Program; “Symbiosis”, “Mycophilia: Mushroom School for Artist,” and “Earth Pigments/Wild Craft.” Maria lives and works in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband and four fur babies.