The Tamaqua Community Arts Center’s May art exhibit will feature the work of Filipino-American artist Maria Stabio, a native of San Fransisco who now resides in Grier City.

Stabio uses an aerosol-based spray system to layer acrylic paint on stencils hand cut from freezer paper or ready made stencils from leaves and cotton swabs. She prefers using transparent primary colors to create secondary colors. Her work is narrative in nature, inspired by visits to her mother’s home country, the Philippines.

She was the 2012 recipient of an artist in residence fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and also was awarded artist residencies from the Hinge Arts Program in Minnesota, the Rensing Center in South Carolina and the Vermont Studio Center in Vermont.

The artist holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Her work has been shown in galleries in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.

She also works part-time at Alexandre Gallery in New York City.

In 2015, she purchased and began renovating the former Grier City Schoolhouse, a historic four-room schoolhouse which she uses as her primary residence.

The exhibit will open with an artist meet and greet from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 8. There will be light refreshments and the public is welcome to attend.

The art center is located at 125 Pine St., Tamaqua.