Mud Gallery was the culmination of a year-long capstone project by Alanna Matteson, Zoe Kasperzyk and Danielle Dolbow, students in the UW Landscape Architecture master's program. Their capstone centered on restoration of the Deschutes Estuary and public perceptions of mud and tideflats that hindered public support for the estuary's return. 

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Maia was invited as a collaborating artist to produce a series of ceramic works representing and reflecting the beauty and rich life of South Puget Sound mudflat ecosystems. 

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The result was a series of stoneware pieces that incorporated physical impressions of tidal life (cockles and other clam shells, barnacles, limpets and more) and that were slipped with mud and clays from local inlets.​​​​​

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A set of these ceramic pieces were featured in an ikebana display of estuarial plants and grasses that also formed part of the Mud Gallery project. The remaining pieces were made available free to the public as part of an outdoor interactive installation of Mud Gallery that took place during Olympia Arts Month of April 2021.  

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Read more about the project: American Society of Landscape Architects.​​​​