A circular inset photo of a woman wearing a cream sweatshirt with a large smiling sun graphic and bright orange pants, set against a solid blue background with the text 'FORT ViSiTs' in pink and purple.

Fort Visits

For this edition of Fort Visits (for Fort Makers), we sit down with artist Maisie Broome to talk about intuition, transformation, and the magic woven through her multidisciplinary practice. Working across textiles, sculpture, printmaking, and photographic activation, Broome draws inspiration from nature, mythology, interior worlds, and lived experience. In this conversation, she reflects on her mystical upbringing on an isolated island in Maine, her evolving relationship to place and process, the meditative pull of marbling, and how motherhood has reshaped both her time and creative focus. From swans and spirits to off-the-grid fashion experiments and deeply personal new works on paper, this interview offers a thoughtful glimpse into an artist guided by curiosity, play, and emotional truth.

Q What are you most inspired by?

ANature, the human experience, our interior worlds, magic, play, folk art, history, mythology, outer space, and other realms.

QYour work flows between a few different mediums like textiles, painting and sculpture, as well as activation through photography and travel. Does your approach and intention change noticeably between these mediums?

AI think I consistently work in a very intuitive way, but the pacing shifts between methods. Sculpture, sewing, and planning projects can take a more methodical approach, whereas printing textiles, creating works on paper, and photo projects feel more loose and intuitive. I like working in the moment as much as possible, and not feeling fixed. I’m open to things changing and shifting, failing and transforming, and I think I carry that intention across all mediums.

A styled interior scene showing a tall floor mirror, a pink and multicolor patterned curtain, a round upholstered stool, and several distressed picture frames in a studio or workshop setting.

QYou are originally from an isolated island in Maine but have lived in Ridgewood, Queens for a while. Do both places influence your work in any particular tangible or visual way?

AMy work used to be very informed by my location, but I think now it is more informed by my emotions and experiences. I think living in the city has probably subconsciously influenced my work, as I do make a lot of streetwear now. I am still and will always be inspired by the deep relationship with nature I had growing up, and always return to illustrating and evoking that feeling in my work.

A pink heart-shaped dress with a printed pattern hangs on a clothesline in a room. Red and blue gloves are hanging on the right side, with a purple shelf and other household items visible in the background.

QSome of your work depicts magical, mystical, and angelic characters. Are angels, spirits, creatures, and mythical/mystical beings something you have always felt connected to

AYes. I was raised in a very mystical family, with elves hiding behind corners and fairies peeking in windows, as well as ghosts and angels and witchy spirits making appearances. My parents worked in the healing arts when I was growing up. We meditated a lot, went to pagan ritual gatherings, fed the fairies cardamom biscuits every spring, and had bowls of crystals soaking in water on our window sills. I’ve had some intense experiences with spirits too. I think the magical world will always weave its way into the things I make.

Abstract artwork featuring a marbled pattern of light blue, gold, and brown, with stylized green and yellow eyes and red splatter motifs.
A large fabric art print featuring a stylized human figure silhouette in yellow, surrounded by red, white, and black marbled patterns, hanging from wooden clips on a drying rack in an indoor studio space.

QYou mentioned having a particular fondness for swans. How did this come to be?

AI once saw a swan swimming in the sea and followed it from along the beach. It was swimming in huge waves and froth. I had never seen a swan in the sea like that before. I loved how strong and fearless it seemed, different from the passive swans I was used to seeing in calm pools and lakes. After I experienced that, I started collecting swan things, and I found a huge decoy swan at a store in Eastport, Maine that has since become my studio mascot. Swans appear in lots of myths and old stories and have a connection to the otherworld. I also feel connected to snakes, spiders, and donkeys.

An abstract marbled artwork with swirling, layered wave-like patterns in green, gold, cream, pink, blue, and black, filling the frame.
A cluttered sewing room corner with a white swan taxidermy mount on the wall, a colorful sun face tapestry, sewing machines, spools of thread, and industrial ceiling ductwork.

QYou studied sculpture? What’s your favorite material to work with when making three-dimensional work?

AI really like working with wood and wood scraps, wire and fabric, and clay. I’ve begun exploring ceramics the past few years and am excited to incorporate that into my sculptural work in the future.

Abstract fluid art print featuring swirling marbled patterns in gold, orange, yellow, black, blue, and brown, with a prominent vertical zigzag border of black shapes.
A room with a gray concrete floor and white walls, featuring several colorful, ornate decorative frames leaning against the wall and one mounted on the right wall. A pink-and-green patterned stool sits near the window on the left.

QYou bring a playful activation to your art by wearing it, interacting, and engaging it with nature and travel. What have been some favorite locations you’ve taken your work to for these artful adventures?

AI created a collection completely off the grid when I was caretaking a remote island in Maine in 2013. I used fishing nets and rocks and solar dyes to make the fabrics, an old foot-powered sewing machine to sew the clothes, and beach pebbles to make the buttons. My friend Emma wore the pieces while standing on a rock surrounded by the ocean that only appeared at low tide, and I photographed her from a rowboat.

Abstract artwork featuring a large bright yellow-orange shape with black and pink outlined details on the left, set against a light gray background with a marbled purple, gray, and pink pattern across the lower and right portions.
Three colorful, marbled fabric animal-shaped plush toys arranged on a white shelf against a plain light wall.

QWhat are you working on now?

AI am working on a new body of prints on paper, where faces emerge from amorphous patterns, blobs, and splatters. I’m framing these prints with some handmade wooden frames that are treated with the same marbling technique, so they merge into and out of one another. These new prints are investigating themes of motherhood—the blurred edges of my physical form as a mother with a small baby attached at the hip, breast, hand, soul. They feel more personal and introspective than previous works, and I hope to show them in the near future.

Abstract artwork featuring a marbled pattern of light blue, gold, and tan, with stylized green eyes, black lines, and red splatter motifs.
  • A circular inset photo of a woman wearing a cream sweatshirt with a large smiling sun graphic and bright orange pants, set against a solid blue background with the text 'FORT ViSiTs' in pink and purple.
  • Nine small colorful abstract art pieces with stylized faces and figures arranged in a grid on a white wall.
  • Abstract marbled pattern with flowing organic shapes in turquoise blue, tan, terracotta orange, and small purple accents, filling the full frame.
  • A styled interior scene showing a tall floor mirror, a pink and multicolor patterned curtain, a round upholstered stool, and several distressed picture frames in a studio or workshop setting.
  • Two colorful sun paintings hanging on a white wall above a desk with art supplies. The left painting has a yellow sun with blue and white marbled rays, and the right painting has a pink sun with blue, yellow, and white marbled rays.
  • A pink heart-shaped dress with a printed pattern hangs on a clothesline in a room. Red and blue gloves are hanging on the right side, with a purple shelf and other household items visible in the background.
  • Abstract artwork featuring a marbled pattern of light blue, gold, and brown, with stylized green and yellow eyes and red splatter motifs.
  • A large fabric art print featuring a stylized human figure silhouette in yellow, surrounded by red, white, and black marbled patterns, hanging from wooden clips on a drying rack in an indoor studio space.
  • An abstract marbled artwork with swirling, layered wave-like patterns in green, gold, cream, pink, blue, and black, filling the frame.
  • A cluttered sewing room corner with a white swan taxidermy mount on the wall, a colorful sun face tapestry, sewing machines, spools of thread, and industrial ceiling ductwork.
  • Abstract fluid art print featuring swirling marbled patterns in gold, orange, yellow, black, blue, and brown, with a prominent vertical zigzag border of black shapes.
  • A room with a gray concrete floor and white walls, featuring several colorful, ornate decorative frames leaning against the wall and one mounted on the right wall. A pink-and-green patterned stool sits near the window on the left.
  • Abstract artwork featuring a large bright yellow-orange shape with black and pink outlined details on the left, set against a light gray background with a marbled purple, gray, and pink pattern across the lower and right portions.
  • Three colorful, marbled fabric animal-shaped plush toys arranged on a white shelf against a plain light wall.
  • Abstract artwork featuring a marbled pattern of light blue, gold, and tan, with stylized green eyes, black lines, and red splatter motifs.
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