Jonathan Gregory

TITLE:
Ernest Haight, Quilting like an Engineer: “It’s Easier than You Think!”

DESCRIPTION:
Ernest B. Haight of David City, one of the first Nebraska Quilters Hall of Fame honorees, earned an Agricultural Engineering degree from the University of Nebraska in 1924. Ten years later he started making unusual quilts in innovative ways. Jonathan Gregory has studied two hundred of Haight’s quilts made between 1934 and 1986, as well as Haight’s hand drafted patterns, boxes of letters, diaries, and clippings. Gregory will show the innovative—and sometimes humorous—ways Ernest Haight made quilts and talked about his processes like an engineer.

SPEAKER BIO:
Jonathan Gregory earned his BS in Human Resources Management from Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, and his MA in Textile History with a Quilt Studies emphasis at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is Assistant Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at UNL. Jonathan curated the exhibition The Engineer Who Could: Ernest Haight's Half-Century of Quiltmaking (June 7, 2013 – March 2, 2014), is co-author of the exhibition catalog What's In A Name? Inscribed Quilts, and contributed the IQSCM’s first comprehensive catalog volume American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870 - 1940 (University of Nebraska Press, 2009). Occasionally Jonathan pulls a few fat quarters from his monumental fabric stash and starts a quilting project. He has a less than 50% success rate in finishing those projects.

Dr. Janet Price

TITLE:
Grace Snyder: A Life in Extraordinary Stitches

DESCRIPTION:
Honored in her lifetime as one of the 20th century’s most accomplished quiltmakers, Grace Snyder’s legacy encompasses far more than her impressive number of exhibition quilts. While Grace’s public quilts are known for their artistry and workmanship, her private quilts for family are filled with affection and meaning. Grace’s extended family remembers a beloved matriarch who created beautiful quilts but was equally adept at crochet, sewing, embroidery and drawn work. Celebrating Grace’s life and accomplishments requires a closer look at all her skills and accomplishments.