Malaika Ross (she/her) is a Caribbean American visual artist who creates two-dimensional art about soil and the botanical world. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and earned her B.A. with a focus in soil microbiology. Her Div III thesis was titled “The Impact of Solar Arrays on Soil Microbial Activity”. In 2019, inspired by the shapes of soil microbes, she shifted her focus from soil research to drawing soil microorganisms and later adopted an expressive approach to botanical painting of introduced and native flora in Western Massachusetts. 

She studied Painting and Drawing at the Rhode Island School of Design, San Francisco Art Institute and the Marchutz School of Fine Arts. She completed extensive coursework in sustainable farming, ecological restoration and Hawaiian ethnobotany at the University of Hawai’i, Hilo. Her current project is titled Novel Bodies, Novel Landscapes which center black female figures in a novel landscape.

Curriculum Vita

GRANTS

  • 2024, The Puffin Foundation.

  • 2023, Valley Creates Project Evolution grant. A program of the Community Foundation of Western MA and MASS MoCA.

  • 2023, Mass Cultural Council grant for creative individuals.

  • 2022, Valley Creates Capacity-Building grant. A program of the Community Foundation of Western MA and MASS MoCA.

EXHIBITIONS

  • 2024, Greenfield Public Library, Greenfield, MA. The Visibility Project.

  • 2024, A.P.E. Split Level Gallery, 33 Hawley St, Northampton, MA. Shadow and Light: An Expression of the Cancer Experience group show (curator and exhibiting artist).

  • 2024, UMass Amherst Design Building Gallery, Amherst, MA. Y3K On Distant Keys group show.

  • 2023, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA. Reflecting Ecologies: Artists in Nature.

  • 2023, Geissler Gallery, Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Greenfield, MA. A Different Way to Experience Winter.

  • 2023, Peacock Room, Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity, Florence, MA. Contemporary Botanical Paintings, Winter.

  • 2022, ECA Gallery, Easthampton, MA. The Microbes That Saved My Life: A survey of drawings and paintings of soil microbes.

  • 2022, The Gallery at Hope & Feathers, Amherst, MA. Summer to Fall, a collection of 12 botanical paintings.

  • 2022, ECA/MAP Workspace at Eastworks Open Studio / Solo Exhibition, Easthampton, MA

  • 2021, You + Me Gallery, Group Exhibition: Urgent Unity, Unprecedented Healing: Reflections from COVID, Greenfield, MA

  • 2021, Creative People Leading Climate Action, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (The Augusta Savage Gallery, the Arts Extension Service, and partners in Creative Women Leading Climate Action Virtual Symposium co-hosted Creative People Leading Climate Action, a juried digital visual art and multi-disciplinary exhibition.)

TEACHING

  • 2024, Art workshop for cancer survivors and caregivers, Greenfield Public Library, Greenfield, MA.

  • 2024, Shadow and Light workshop facilitator, Resilient Community Arts, Easthampton, MA.

  • 2022, Co-facilitator, Smith College New Student Orientation, Northampton, MA

  • 2022, Workshop Instructor, Watercolor Your Way, Easthampton, MA

  • 2022, Workshop Instructor, Drawing and Painting, Make-It Springfield, Springfield, MA

  • 2022, Guest Artist Speaker, Summer Camp, Easthampton, MA

  • 2022, Guest Artist Speaker, Art Teens, Shelburne Falls, MA

 RESIDENCIES

  • 2022 Easthampton City Arts, MAP Space Artist Residency, Easthampton, MA

Contact

If you have questions about my artwork or would like to send me a general art related message you reach me via email at malaikaross.studio@gmail.com I’ll be in touch within 48 hours.