New Ecologies: May Babcock

Providence based artist May Babcock (b. 1986) is an eco-centric artist that creates paper works and sculptural forms from natural materials she sources from local environments. Her masterfully crafted works are rooted in place and reflect the texture, color, and sometimes shape of the grasses, sediment, and fiber she collects and manipulates. In her most recent body of work, on view at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in November of 2026, she creates a collection of “new ecologies” constructed from natural sites around southern New England.

“I wander rivers and coastlines, observing novel plant communities surviving in distressed lands and waters. Collected fibers and sediment turns into paper pulp, which coats discarded electrical and internet communication wire. I make many small, abstract sculptures of plant forms and water.

With no planning or preparation, and in stream of consciousness, I spontaneously compose these smaller elements into wall sculptures, amalgamations. This act of discovery and connecting reflects the growth of novel relationships—New Ecologies emerging out of collapsing systems.”

Bio:

I’m May Babcock, a papermaking artist using natural materials in New England. I grew up in rural Connecticut surrounded by forests, rivers and ponds, and vegetable and flower gardens. I received scholarships to attend the University of Connecticut for a BFA in painting and printmaking and went to Louisiana State University for my MFA and to learn papermaking.

As a biracial artist of Taiwanese-Chinese descent I never felt like I belonged. Exploring specific sites is a search for belonging, plant fibers, and connection with place.