Join us at The BEAR for another wonderful installment of our Speaker Series. In the spirit of our current exhibition, The Quilts of Bath County, we are honored to have textile historian Kathleen Curtis Wilson present on the fabric traditions of our region and beyond - especially on the eve of the release of her latest book, The Fabric of Wishful Thinking. Light refreshments will be available.
🎟 Tickets: $10 per person (includes light refreshments) | Seating limited to 50 | Preregistration required
To register, please use the link below to pay by credit card.
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Wilson has been an honorary fellow at Virginia Humanities, Charlottesville, Virginia for thirty years. As a nationally known researcher, writer, editor, and speaker, her work has been recognized in the publication of countless articles in professional publications and four books, including Uplifting the South—Mary Mildred Sullivan’s Legacy for Appalachia and Textile Art from Southern Appalachia: The Quiet Work of Women. She guest curated a multi-venue international exhibition by the same name that completed a two-year tour at the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. A renowned authority on Appalachian crafts, Wilson served as editor of the Craft Section of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Appalachia, (2006), and compliled a history of The Southern Industrial Educational Association, 1905-1926, a digital resource at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia. Wilson’s third book, Irish People, Irish Linen, published by Ohio University Press, is a seminal study of the globalization of linen produced on the island of Ireland for over 400 years. During her five-year tenure as visiting scholar and honorary fellow at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, Wilson interviewed linen makers and owners, and foremost textile authorities to write a book lavishly illustrated. The Irish Linen Project that included programs and publications was short-listed for the prestigious Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Adventurous Max Flax, published in 2017 is a charming childrens’s book. Dancing at the Warm Springs Hotel, published November 2022, is not just the untold story of a famous resort in the Appalachian Mountains, it is a story of nineteenth century politics, social custom, class, gender, and the ways fashion embodies the politics of culture. Rare photography of men and women, black and white, at work and play create an unforgettable realism.
Wilson has given scores of public speeches and lectures at professional conferences and public meetings in the United States and abroad on Appalachian craft history. She is frequently asked to be a keynote speaker. Her work organizing exhibitions and public programs has led her to collaborate with government agencies, universities, museums, and community groups. Her work has raised public awareness of social, cultural, and economic issues.
Wilson was born in Michigan where she studied weaving at the Cranbrook Schools. She established and operated Old Abingdon Weavers 1983-1993. A lifelong lover of textiles, she and her husband lived in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and California before moving permanently to Virginia.