Maria lives and works in Charlottesville, VA. While she has been an artist all her life, she delayed making art her profession until she had retired from the Navy and worked for several years for the Veteran’s Administration as a Social Worker on their psychiatric ward. Her previous professions have given her insight that she incorporates into her work.
Maria strongly believes that everything we do, informs everything we do. Her experiences have shown her that everyone has value. Too often she has seen people and their contributions dismissed without being thoroughly explored and appreciated. When she became an artist, she wanted to ensure that she didn’t make this same mistake with her materials. In her art, she up-cycles vintage windows, frames, scrap glass, and found objects. She tries to show people that items that were once discarded as having little value, do have beauty.