Shea Maze is an emerging sculptor, painter, and chef based in Minneapolis, MN. Shea was born in 1997, as the newest member to family of creative minds. His Mother’s knack for precision, harmonious color palettes, and abstractive flow guided by subconscious intention blended seamlessly with his Grandmother’s high level of craftsmanship, resourcefulness, and adoration of the natural world. His Fathers “Do It Myself” mentality instilled the confidence to never shy away from a concept, no matter how daunting the process might seem. These roots laid the foundation for the Artist he is today.
Surprisingly, Shea’s path wasn’t always so clear. Growing up in an environment where creatives were plentiful, but their resources few, Shea didn’t believe that art could ever be a viable career path. Luckily as an adult, a brief but formative period in the restaurant industry would help reignite his creativity. In the kitchen, Shea found a passion for balancing the qualities of different ingredients in order to create a memorable experience for the consumer. While he still throws down in the kitchen regularly, his ideology regarding cuisine has been adapted to feed into his visual artistic process. Allegorically, Shea believes, “some of the best meals are made when you think there’s nothin’ good to eat.”
In his work, Shea embraces the bizarreness of speculative fiction and employs metaphorical representation in order to process emotion and better understand the human psyche. These concepts manifest largely through sculpture, painting, and drawing. He is taught by his community and is in constant collaboration with his environment by using what’s available, whether sourcing from the natural world or a trash heap. Shea believes that we can simultaneously stand against throw away culture and make art more accessible to our communities by not viewing “up-cycling” as niche, but our responsibility, whenever applicable.
