Maria Schechter, an artist for 30 years, co-creates with the natural world using mycelium composites and plant-based palettes. Her grants include the UCLA Artist Achievement Award and the Center for Cultural Innovation Grant, Los Angeles, CA. She has exhibited with the Anderson Museum, Minnetrista Museum and Gardens, Triton Museum, and the Seattle Art Museum. She has been published in Eluxe Magazine, The Ecological Citizen, and Nature Evolve Magazine. Maria earned her bachelor of fine art from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA, and a masters degree from Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany. Maria lives in Bloomington, Indiana.
“The DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award facilitates the next step in my career as an artist by providing me with a studio,” said Maria Schechter. “This dedicated space allows me to develop sustainable works spotlighting our fragile ecosystems and the need for continued stewardship of the natural world.”
Meredith Setser is a printmaker and textile artist who currently teaches at the Herron School of Art + Design. Her work tends to run the gamut from 2D prints on paper to sculpture and installation forms, and often uses printmaking processes such as screen printing and etching, as well as textile practices like feltmaking, embroidery, and lacemaking. She has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions at Proyecto ’ACE in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Open Studio Centre in Toronto, Canada; and CICA Museum in Gimpo, South Korea. Meredith has received several grants and fellowships, including an Efroymson Contemporary Fellowship in 2011; a Third Space Artist Project Grant in 2019; the Indy Art Council’s Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship; and an IU Indianapolis New Frontiers Grant in 2014.
Tom Torluemke is an Indiana-based, contemporary artist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, his practice spans 40+ years and includes works in painting, drawing, sculpture, and installations in various mediums. Tom is known for his powerful, no-holds-barred approach to subject matter relating to socio-political, ethical, and humanistic themes. With over 150 solo and group exhibitions and 30 public art commissions throughout the Midwest, his work testifies to the relevance and scope of his ideas and his ability to present them in a meaningful context within their communities. In April 2025, a monograph, Tom Torluemke: Live! On Paper, 1987 – 2024, will be released worldwide, published by SKIRA editore, Milan, and with principal essay and editing by Dan Cameron.