Maggie Avolio’s practice considers the potential for spatial relationships within a flat material and examines the references to familiar forms that she reveals through the process. By carefully folding and manipulating the material she alludes to architectural forms and clothing-like references to the body. She examines how the calculated manipulation of a shape’s geometry can elicit the memory of an object, place, or body. The minimal interventions of the material are derived from a place of playfulness and are embedded with curious associations that seem to bubble up from deep recesses in the mind.
Avolio received an MFA in Studio Art at Stony Brook University (2019) where she was awarded a scholarship and a teaching assistantship. She was the recipient of the Goldberger Fellowship, The Chair’s Award for Exceptional Travel Opportunities, and the Award for Outstanding Achievement as an MFA. Her work has been published in New American Paintings, and in Sculpture Magazine for the International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Award. She has attended residencies in China and at the Vermont Studio Center. She has held solo exhibitions and presentations at VSOP Projects in Greenport, NY and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Treatment Center in Commack, NY among others.