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Barbara Ann Caron SP '72 Manages
the Dynamic, New International Quilt Center
Stitching the World Together
As Assistant Director, Barbara Ann Caron oversees the visitor services and operations of the new 2008, 37,000 square foot, $12 Million International Quilt Center and Museum, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Center preserves, studies, exhibits, and promotes quilts and quiltmaking. The Center houses the largest publically-held quilt collection in the world, covering many cultures, countries, and time periods. The Center also sponsors an engaging, educational web site that even features a quilt a month. For this month's pick, click here.
 Since the new Center opened in March 2008, it has welcomed over 15,000 visitors, traveling from every state and at least 18 different countries. Here you can see quilting from around the Americas in different time periods and locations as well as from places far reaching around the world. A summer 2008 exhibit (shown above) --"Quilts in Common" -- featured works from nine different countries: Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, the United Kingdom (Wales) and the United States; and from four centuries: the Eighteenth through the Twenty-First. A variety of techniques were represented, from hand- and machine-piecing and applique to embroidery, painting, stuffed work and cording.
This is one of the quilts displayed on the International Quilt Center web site.
As part of the University of Nebraska, the Center offers a graduate program in textile history (with an emphasis on quilts), biennial symposiums, public programs, and online research for patterns, techniques, and artists, and stories that accompany the quilts. The Center's website encourages you to design a quilt, explaining how to choose a pattern, fabrics, border, layout, and quilting technique. Explore for yourself the many different aspects at www.quiltstudy.org.
 Led by a Passion for Quilting
Caron, who graduated from St. Kate's in American history and library science, has been a quilter since 1976. "My passion for quilting has impacted my life in significant ways ever since. First, quiltmaking has been an amazing creative outlet. You start with pieces of fabric and you design and create something that is so much more than the raw materials from which it is constructed." She taught quiltmaking while serving as a public library administrator in Minnesota and West Virginia.
Her dedication to quilting obviously did not stop there. Her appreciation for the art and craft spurred her to return to graduate school at the University of Minnesota to earn a Masters Degree in Design Foundations (she had already earned an MLS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MPA from West Virginia University). "My master's project was an exhibition of my own work titled 'Quilts: Tradition in Transition.'" She followed up with a PhD in Design History and went on to teach design foundation and interior design at the college level and quilt design and techniques to enthusiasts around the nation.
In 1995 and 1997, she wrote two quilting books that were published by the American Quilters Society. In 1997, she left a teaching position at the University of North Iowa to accept a position as an exhibit developer at the Minnesota Historical Society, where she remained until 2004. She never strayed too far from her love for libraries and the significant work they do, providing citizens with access to information, technology, and popular books and media. While she migrated to Northern Kentucky to manage a public library there, she kept an eye on the quilting world, and started focusing her attention on the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
 In 2007, she applied for and was offered the position of Assistant Director. From November on, she helped lead the Center in its transition to its new space. "I am most concerned about the quality of the visitor experience -- from what they are able to see and do when they come to how well we address the comfort issues such as parking and amentities. It is also satisfying to collect and analyze financial and visitor services data with a focus on operational efficiency and effectiveness."
Though this is one of Caron's dream jobs, the position does have its down sides. "It really involves very little contact with quilts unless I happen to walk through the galleries or cover a visitor services shift when we are short of staff or volunteers." This may change once the new Center settles into a "normal" state, completing its first year, after which Barbara hopes to have some opportunities to work on actual and virtual exhibit projects. Teaching is also something she does not want to turn away from forever.
The St. Kate's Connection
As a scholarship student at St. Catherine's, Barbara never took her hard-won education for granted. "Working hard and doing my best was a way of life for me and transferred from my academic life to my professional life." Her liberal arts degree and double major positioned her well for a flexible career path filled with many rewarding opportunities. "When I graduated from St. Kates in 1972, I never could have imagined all of the directions my life would take. One of the best things about the past thirty-five years is the variety of careers and positions: public librarian [in five different communities in three different states], educator [three colleges/universities and many seminars and workshops], exhibit developer, and now quilt museum administrator." In 2002, Caron even returned to St. Kate's to teach! "I had the opportunity to teach Library and Information Center Management for the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at St. Kate's. What a pleasure it was to teach there!"
 "When I wonder about what will come next, I remind myself that I could never have imagined the course my life has taken so far, so I really should not worry too much about the future. If I live another 35 years . . . I want to be able to look back and say 'This was my life. It was an adventure. I made a difference. I did the things I wanted to do, and I have no regrets.'"
This is a sample of the applique chintz quilts that will be seen in an upcoming exhibit. The red, white, and blue quilt above -- "The Great Quilt" -- is a historic national bicentennial quilt recently donated to the Center.
To visit the International Quilt Center and Museum, go to the intersection of Holdrege Avenue and 33rd Street North (1523 North 33rd Street) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. You won't be disappointed!Related Links:
Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Program at St. Catherine
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