Maria Molteni Studio Visit

Members are invited to join us for an art-filled evening in South Boston, MA with artist, Maria Molteni.

Take a tour of Molteni's studio and learn more about the artist behind the work. 

Molteni’s work exists at the intersection of embodied mysticism and tactile problem-solving, giving shape to the unseen. Working across diverse media—from fiber and found-object sculpture to textiles, video, performance, and publications—they choose forms that combine conceptual rigor, formal experimentation, and spiritual depth. Invested in many areas of study—from athletic activism and Italian folk magic to honeybee behavior—they seek to disrupt binary thinking, bridging worlds that are often siloed. They playfully position their practice as Phys Ed experiments for visionary communities like the Shakers or Black Mountain College. 

In 2010 they founded the international queer/feminist collective New Craft Artists in Action. The NCAA works creatively in public space to champion participation over spectatorship and the liberation of recreation over status quo commercial sports culture. Their most well known projects include Net Works, encouraging folks to create hand made basketball nets for their own empty hoops, and Cosmic Courts by which they laid the foundations for a national movement of community-centered basketball court “murals”. As creative director/ lead artist, Molteni views courts as horizontal monuments—altars to the sky—and a vibrant commons that should welcome a wider spectrum of players.

Maria Molteni (they/them, b 1983) is a queer interdisciplinary artist, designer, educator, writer, and mystic who has lived in Boston since 2002. They descend from Tennessee (Cherokee, Shawnee, Yuchi lands) square dancers, stunt motorcyclists, quilters, beekeepers, and opera singers of various European backgrounds. Their practice has grown from formal studies in painting, printmaking, and dance to incorporate research, ritual, and play-based collaboration with both the living and the dead. Their intuitive practice spans movement-based spell work, astrology, tarot, dreamwork, and color magic.

Molteni has exhibited at numerous galleries and museums as well as in basements, meadows, sidewalks, and seascapes across the globe. Formal institutions include The Momentary Contemporary Art Museum (Bentonville, AK), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Project Rowhouses (Houston, TX), Den Frei Contemporary Art Center (Copenhagen, Denmark), Hancock Shaker Village (Hancock, MA), Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Cambridge, MA), nGbK (Berlin, Germany), Fruitlands Museum (Harvard, MA), Museum of Design (Atlanta, GA), Practice Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), Conduit Gallery (Dallas, TX), Flower Head (Los Angeles, CA), Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA), Fitchburg Art Museum (MA), Space Gallery (Portland, ME), A Plus A Gallery (Venice, Italy),  and San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (San Luis Obispo, CA). 

They have completed residencies at Canterbury Shaker Village (Canterbury, NH), Heima (Iceland), Monson Arts (Monson, ME), Elsewhere (Greensboro, NC), Queer Sport Split (Croatia), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), PlatteForum (Denver, CO), and Facebook (Menlo Park, CA), among others. 

This event is open to members of the List Center, please contact supportlist [at] mit.edu (supportlist[at]mit[dot]edu) if you are interested in learning more.