In December of 2022 Maria McKnight was awarded the Unsung Hero Award for her exceptional service to the Boston community to promote child and family wellbeing.
Maria McKnight is a Boston native, mother, and former corporate worker turned curator of joy. She had a hobby of making art pieces such as fairy gardens in public parks. This passion grew during the peak of Covid due to having more time stuck inside and a child with severe anxiety who found peace and joy working with his mother to create these nuggets of joy and inspiration for the community. During this time, Maria transitioned to focus full-time on her organization 2 Birds No Stones where she organizes and develops public art installations, education stations, community sensory playdates, healing sessions, and more. Maria has set up mini outdoor yoga studios and violin play stations for locals to come and enjoy, learn, and heal. She has developed wellness trees full of free seed packets with information pamphlets on agriculture, recipes, and SNAP application instructions. She has transformed parks to host community-wide sensory playdates to bring together families with children on the autism spectrum. Where we might see a simple tree stump, Maria sees an opportunity to create something new to bring the community together around her beacons of joy. With her focus on community harmony, collective growth, and drawing people to the outdoors, Maria is using her creative passions and leadership skills to improve the Boston community.
Maria McKnight is a Boston native, mother, and former corporate worker turned curator of joy. She had a hobby of making art pieces such as fairy gardens in public parks. This passion grew during the peak of Covid due to having more time stuck inside and a child with severe anxiety who found peace and joy working with his mother to create these nuggets of joy and inspiration for the community. During this time, Maria transitioned to focus full-time on her organization 2 Birds No Stones where she organizes and develops public art installations, education stations, community sensory playdates, healing sessions, and more. Maria has set up mini outdoor yoga studios and violin play stations for locals to come and enjoy, learn, and heal. She has developed wellness trees full of free seed packets with information pamphlets on agriculture, recipes, and SNAP application instructions. She has transformed parks to host community-wide sensory playdates to bring together families with children on the autism spectrum. Where we might see a simple tree stump, Maria sees an opportunity to create something new to bring the community together around her beacons of joy. With her focus on community harmony, collective growth, and drawing people to the outdoors, Maria is using her creative passions and leadership skills to improve the Boston community.
Maria is inspired by her artwork's ability to bring together a community to heal. Nobody in Boston does quite what 2 Birds No Stones is doing. There is a need to inspire children and families to get outside, visit the parks, and explore these pockets of joy that may be hiding in something as unexpecting as a burned tree stump. While not everyone may support, or understand the work at first sight, Maria has a knack for building bridges with these folk. She says “you may not be able to change someone’s mind, but you can change their hearts” and help them feel the joy that she is cultivating. That ability to spark joy in others is Maria’s constant inspiration to continue her work.
When asked about advice for those interested in pursuing community leadership, or those already in the thick of it, Maria says to “just start somewhere. We can do all the planning and preparation we want, but plans will change, you will get stuck, you’ll overthink.” Once you start the work somewhere, you have got the ball rolling and you can change and grow as you learn more. Maria said she did not know where her work was going when she started, she just wanted to make something for others to enjoy, it was that simple.
If you are interested in learning more about Maria McKnight and her work with 2 Birds No Stones, feel free to visit her website 2birdsnostonesplay.com.
If you would like to reach out to Maria directly, you can find her on Instagram @twobirdsboston or email her at 2birdsnostones@gmail.com.
Additionally, through a partnership with Brain Arts Organization, you are welcome to submit an official donation that can help fund Maria’s continuing community-impact art installations.
