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Bio

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Born & raised in Portland, OR

Lives & works in Lehi, UT

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Married with a big mama's heart for my kids.

I am a cancer survivor and a birder. ​

I enjoy cycling, traveling, BBC murder mysteries, and the mountains.

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I began making quilts in 2003 using my grandmother's sheets. I still enjoy creating group quilts with friends, but my main focus now is making dynamic art quilts that express my lived experiences and spirituality. In 2018, I switched focus to academia.​

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Most of my work is approachable feminist ethnography. My areas of interest are 21st century quiltmaking through the lenses of women's studies, fan studies, and anthropology. Other areas within those fields are the Modern Quilt Movement, communitas, QuiltCon as pilgrimage, digital community, and self-efficacy. I am currently looking at Generation X American quiltmakers as entrepreneurs, fabric changes post-2000, an extended study of the themes of QuiltCon’s annual show, and the rotary cutter as a symbol of the second American quilt revival.

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Value​​

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The Anthropology of Quilts: Oneness through sharing quilt-related knowledge

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Purpose​​

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My professional purpose is to expand the borders of quilt knowledge by creating and then sharing original, trustworthy, ethnographic research of the 21st century Quilt World, positioned within an unbroken conversation across the textile continuum, to enrich the practice and experience of today’s quiltmakers at all levels.​​​

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Mission​​

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Quilts serve as both historical documents and contemporary artistic expressions of lived experience in the 21st century. I recognize and celebrate quiltmaking as a vital, cultural art form that often mirrors larger society, while containing its own intellectual merit, technical and social complexity, innovation, and historical significance. My mission is to inspire compassionate oneness among creators as humans through the sharing of my art and my thoughtful, experienced, research-based content which combines Jean Ray Laury’s focus on illuminating the feminine domestic through quilts, Patricia Mainardi’s focus on elevating quilt craftswomanship, and Linda Nochlin’s focus on the contributions of women to the art world. Using these three narratives as a framework, I use ethnographic practice to enrich knowledge and experiences of domestic craft, women’s work, and art while encouraging passionate makers to cultivate common ground through my fresh research and ethical thought.

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Curricula Vitae​
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Education

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2025 University of Leicester, anticipated PhD in Museum Studies

2021 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, MA in Material Culture & Textile Studies

2000 Brigham Young University, BA in English

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Accomplishments

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2024 Quilt Alliance Running Stitch Podcast Interview with Janneken Smucker, Season 4, The Rotary Cutter

2024 American Quilt Study Group Seminar Paper Presenter, Ways of Seeing the Rotary Cutter

2023-2024 Names of Christ (2020) accepted at Springville Museum of Art's

37th Annual Spiritual And Religious Art of Utah Exhibit

2023 September Expert Panel Presenter for BYU Museum of Art's Primal Forces:Earth Exhibit

2022-current American Quilt Study Group Board Member & Treasurer

2022 Visitor Experience Intern, Springville Museum of Art

2022 Names of Christ (2020) accepted at The 12th International Art Competition

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2022 Names of Christ (2020) included in Brigham Young University

Maxwell Institute's Book of Mormon Art Catalog

2021 Undaunted (2020) acquired by The Henry Ford Museum

2021 American Quilt Study Group Seminar Paper Presenter, The Modern Quilt Movement

2020 Research practicum for The Henry Ford Museum

2020 Recipient of the Frances J. Cronin Fellowship, UNL & International Quilt Museum

2019 Poster presenter at American Quilt Study Group Seminar, Quiltmakers Under 45

2019 Judge for Springville Museum of Art's Annual Quilt Exhibit

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Publications

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2025 Forthcoming, Her + Products: American Generation X Women Entrepreneurs as Innovators and Cultural Producers in the 21st Century Quilt World, Doctorate Dissertation, University of Leicester.

2024, Ways of Seeing the Rotary Cutter: An Interdisciplinary

Examination of Technology’s Impact on Quiltmaking Praxis, Uncoverings, Vol 45.

2024, It's Not Just A Sharp Blade. Quilting Arts Magazine, Spring Issue 121, pp. 77-79.

2024, It's Not Just A Sharp Blade. QuiltCon Magazine, pp. 60-62.

2023, I'm a Big Fan . . . and Likely You Are, Too: Fandom at QuiltCon. QuiltCon Magazine, pp. 46-49.

2022, A Constructive Place to Disagree? Today's Modern Quilt Movement. Curated Quilts Magazine, Issue 21, pp. 26-33.

2022, The Landscape of the Modern Quilt Movement: 1995-2020. Uncoverings, Vol. 43

2022, These Are My People and Yours. QuiltCon Magazine, pp. 16-19.

2021, These Are My People: An Ethnography of QuiltCon, Master's Thesis, UNL Digital Commons.

2020 Sept 21, Growing The Henry Ford's Quilt Collection: The Modern Quilt Movement. The Henry Ford Museum Blog Post.

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© 2025 by Kristin Barrus

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