Marilou Schultz
Marilou Schultz
Marilou Schultz is a fourth-generation Diné weaver whose textiles merge centuries-old traditional techniques with formal experimentation, abstraction, and contemporary technology. Working on an upright vertical loom with hand-dyed wool and metallic thread, Schultz creates intricate weavings of microchips, QR codes, and digital circuitry—engaging the logic of digital systems through the language of Diné weaving tradition, natural dye, and formal experimentation. Her work proposes weaving as a foundational technology rooted not in automation but in the intelligence of the hand.
Schultz (b. 1954, Safford, AZ) is the subject of a forthcoming survey exhibition at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College. Her work has been included in recent group exhibitions at the New Museum, New York; San Jose Museum of Art, CA; SITE Santa Fe, NM; MoMA, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ; and documenta 14, among others. Her work is held in the collections of the Heard Museum; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM; the Thoma Foundation; and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Albuquerque, NM. She is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions including a Peter S. Reed Foundation Fellowship Grant and the inaugural Conrad House Award for Innovative Art from the Heard Museum. Schultz received a BA and MA from Arizona State University. She lives and works in Mesa, AZ. She is represented by Jessica Silverman and her debut solo with the gallery will be presented in San Francisco in 2028.
Marilou Schultz
Bold Fire, 2026
Wool with aniline and natural dyes
30 x 40 x 1/2 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 x 1.3 cm
Bold Fire, 2026
Detail view
Marilou Schultz
Geo XX Diné Computer Chip Weaving, 2026
Tapestry woven using fine yarns of aniline-dyed and natural-dyed hand-spun yarns with metallic threads
48 x 38 inches / 121.9 x 96.5 cm
Marilou Schultz
Popular Chip, 2025
100% respun wool, aniline & natural dye
50 x 40 inches / 127 x 101.6 cm
Marilou Schultz
Integrated Circuit Chip & AI Diné Weaving, 2024
Aniline-dyed yarns, indigo, and natural Churro wool
62 x 45 inches / 157.5 x 114.3 cm
Marilou Schultz
Replica of a Chip, 1994
Wool mounted on wood
47 1/4 x 57 1/2 x 7 7/8 inches / 120 x 146 x 20 cm
Marilou Schultz
Untitled, 2008
Wool (with archival material from Fairchild Industries)
98 3/8 x 47 1/4 inches / 250 x 120 cm
Installation view
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, 2025
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Installation view, Once Within a Time: 12th SITE SANTA FE International, SITE Santa Fe, NM. Photo: Brad Trone.
Installation view
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, 2023
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Marilou Schultz
Water, Tó, 2022
Indigo dyed wool
41 x 27 inches / 104.1 x 68.6 cm
Marilou Schultz
Fire, Kǫ, 2021
Natural and aniline dyed yarns
25 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches / 64.8 x 54.6 cm
ADDITIONAL WORKS
Marilou Schultz
Mother Earth, Nahasdzáán, 2021
Natural handspun Churro wool
26 x 44 inches / 66 x 111.8 cm
EXHIBITIONS
PRESS
12 Art-World Tastemakers on the Artist They’re Most Excited About in 2026
Marilou Schultz Weaves Computer Processor Patterns in Traditional Navajo Tapestries
VIDEOS
CCS Bard x Forge Project Talks: Marilou Schultz | April 29, 2025
A Conversation with Marilou Schultz
CV
Born 1954, Safford, AZ
MA, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
BA, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Solo Exhibitions
2026
Replica of the Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY [forthcoming]
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
Labouring Bodies, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland [forthcoming]
Motherboards, San Jose Museum of Art, CA
New Humans: Memories of the Future, The New Museum, New York, NY
2025
Once Within a Time: 12th SITE SANTA FE International, SITE Santa Fe, NM
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2024
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
Key Operators: Weaving and Coding as Languages of Feminist Historiography, Kunstverein München, Germany
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2023
Arriving Forever into the Present World, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
2022
Unweaving the Binary Code: Hannah Ryggen Triennale, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway
2021
Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles, Montclair Art Museum, NJ
2020
All at Once: The Gift of Navajo Weaving, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles, Museum of St. Petersburg, FL
2019
Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2018
Kaleidoskop Worpswede, Kunstwerk, Landschaft, Lebensort, Germany
2017
documenta 14, Kassel, Germany
Selected Publications
2026
Gioni, Massimiliano, Gary Carrion-Murayari, and Madeline Weisburg, eds., with Calvin Wang. New Humans: Memories of the Future. New York: New Museum and Phaidon Press, 2026 [exh.cat.]
2024
Hasnay, Gloria, ed. Key Operators: Weaving and coding as languages of feminist Historiography. Berlin, Germany: Bierke Verlag (2024) [exh. cat.].
2023
Cooke, Lynne, ed. Woven Histories Textiles and Modern Abstraction. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press and the National Gallery of Art (2023) [exh. cat.].
2022
Solveig Lønmo, ed. Hannah Ryggen Triennale Anti-Monument Book. Berlin, Germany: Archive Books and Kunsthall Trondheim (2022) [exh. cat.].
Selected Press
2026
Battaglia, Andy and Watlington, Emily. “Your Summer Guide: 20 Art World Highlights Not to Miss.” ARTnews. May 21, 2026.
“Summer Previews: The Season’s Most Anticipated Shows.” Artforum. May 1, 2026.
Martin-Gachot, Ella. “12 Art-World Tastemakers on the Artist They’re Most Excited About in 2026.” Cultured Magazine. January 3, 2026.
2025
Feur, Zach. “The Diné Weaver Who Turns Microchips Into Art.” Hyperallergic. May 26, 2025.
“Synthesizing Technology and Tradition.” Issues in Science and Technology 42, no. 1 (Fall 2025): 5–18.
2024
Mothes, Kate. “Marilou Schultz Weaves Computer Processor Patterns in Traditional Navajo Tapestries.” Colossal. November 14, 2024.
Awards
2024
Fellowship Grant, Peter S. Reed Foundation, New York, NY
2001
Conrad House Award for Innovative Art, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Collections
American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Albuquerque, NM
Art in Embassies, US State Department
Gochman Family Collection
Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM
Thoma Foundation, Dallas, TX