Did you set Shell like shown below before you loaded the extensions?
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using DotSpatial.Controls;
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
[Export("Shell", typeof(ContainerControl))]
private static ContainerControl Shell;
private AppManager appManager;
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
appManager = new AppManager();
Shell = this;
appManager.LoadExtensions();
}
}