EARLY LIFE

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950s and 60s, Maria grew up with Midwestern grit, while simultaneously immersing herself in Beat poetry. And the 60’s counterculture. 

Always artistic, in her teen years one of her earliest  pieces was a 6 foot tall painted multifaceted  woman, quite an imposing figure, carrying a strong feminist message. The project culminated up in flames as it was ceremoniously set ablaze carrying the message of the piece to the four corners of the earth.

For a couple summers, Maria had an excavated lunar landscape as her private art studio. She worked as a “Scale Girl” at a sand and gravel pit, working on art projects when not weighing and ticketing the occasional tractor trailer.

EDUCATION

Her formal artistic laboratory began at Philadelphia College of Art in the early 1970s. There, Maria’s sculptures were less objects and more experiences — walk-through environments built of rebar and stretched plastic sheathing, often filled with cool, swirling dry ice smoke. Visitors didn’t just observe her work; they entered it. She graduated in 1975 with a degree in Environmental Design, 

Curiosity about the built environment eventually led her west to Southern California Institute of Architecture, (SCI-Arc) where she earned her degree in 1981. Architecture sharpened her understanding of structure, space, and the poetry of form — tools she would continue to use whether designing buildings or sculpting figures. 

WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK

Later, Maria settled in Woodstock, where she married, raised two boys (along with the requisite horses, dogs, and assorted cats). Licensed in New York, she launched her architectural career which spanned commercial and residential projects and practiced for 40 years. 

 Maria was simultaneously Immersed in Woodstock’s vibrant artistic community. she found her way back — again and again — to sculpture.

Maria continued deepening her figurative clay practice at the Woodstock School of Art, studying under Tricia Kline and refining her expressive, character-driven sculptural voice.

She moved to Mexico, where she first studied at The Barraco Studio and later  with Carmen Jiménez, expanding her technical skills and artistic vocabulary while embracing new cultural influences. She also spends time in Denver, Colorado, where she is exploring welding and metal work at Delia Stewart Metal Arts.

INSPIRATION

Over the years, Maria has created numerous bronze and resin sculptures, often beginning the same way: as an insistent early-morning whisper that refuses to be ignored.

Her work often feels archetypal —, mythical women and men, fish men, Mermaids, quiet storytellers — figures who seem to have stepped out of dreams and into form.

She is also exploring metal as a medium and is beginning an abstract series of mixed media sculptures. 

TODAY

Never one to stand still creatively, Maria is now investigating how digital scanning can expand the scale and reach of her sculptural language. For an artist devoted to “Slow Art,” it is less a departure than a new tool — another way to give shape to the ideas that rise in those dawn hours or by being present to the moment. 

She continues to make art, compelled as ever. For Maria DeFranco, sculpture is not a career choice so much as a lifelong conversation — one that keeps unfolding, one project at a time.

EXHIBITIONS

2007 Group show Catskill Art Gallery 

2017 Emerge Gallery, Saugerties ,NY. Featured piece in show. Book Man

 2018 Inquiring Minds Gallery Saugerties, NY, Solo Show

Maria’s work is in numerous private collections.