Bio
Born & raised in Portland, OR
Lives & works in Lehi, UT
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.
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.
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 fandom in the Quilt World, 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, and the rotary cutter as a symbol of the second American quilt revival.
Value
The Anthropology of Quilts: 21st century quilt-related knowledge for intelligent creators who want more.
Purpose
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.
Mission
Quilts serve as both historical documents and contemporary artistic expressions of lived experience in the 21st century.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 meaning-making among intelligent creators through the sharing of my art and my thoughtful, experienced, research-based content. These themes combine 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.
Curricula Vitae
Education
2026 University of Leicester, PhD in Museum Studies
2021 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, MA in Material Culture & Textile Studies
2000 Brigham Young University, BA in English
Accomplishments
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
Publications
2026, Her + Products: American Generation X Women Entrepreneurs as Innovators, Change Makers, & Cultural Producers in the 21st Century Quilt World, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Leicester.
2025, Pieced Together, the Art & Meaning of Carol Ford's Quilts, Springville Museum of Art Exhibition Catalog.
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.
