Maria Park is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art. The experience of growing up in a family of computer scientists in the rapidly changing Silicon Valley deeply influenced her research to focus on the ways that technology shapes our perception and participation in the world. As a painter, her practice includes site-specific installations, interdisciplinary collaborations, and public art commissions, which examines human agency within a media-reliant society. Recent work centers around the language of diagrams and the interplay between protocol, legibility, and duration.

Born in Munich, Maria lived in Seoul prior to the family’s return to the Bay Area. After studying at Parsons The New School for Design, Wimbledon College of Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, she received her B.F.A. in interdisciplinary art and her M.F.A. in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her works have been included in museum and gallery exhibitions internationally with recognition through awards, grants, and publications.

Ithaca has been the place where Maria has lived the longest, and its monochromatic winters have led her to believe you can never have too many indoor plants! When not in the studio, she loves spending time by the coasts and exploring new places with her children with late partner and collaborator Branden Hookway, Lucy (17) and Joseph (15), who are also excited to join the West Campus community.