QBL 2027 FACULTY

Ellen M. Blalock - Baltimore, MD

Ellen M. Blalock, narrative artist and documentarian, teaches from a collective history of the African diaspora of storytelling and fiber arts. She’s been an artist all her life but started quilting about 25 years ago. She utilizes quilt-making to weave storytelling with activism, centering on marginalized voices, female identity, and the African diaspora. While her practice spans photography, video and drawing, fiber remains her core. “Every stitch honors the ancestral legacy of the women in my family. I am reclaiming what was once lost or stolen.”

Originally from Philadelphia, PA., Blalock is currently a resident artist at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD. She has had several residencies, exhibitions in several solo and group shows. She has degrees from Temple University (B.F.A.) and Syracuse University (M.F.A.), and she’s taught art history and studio arts at Syracuse University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia College & State University, and SUNY Oswego.

5-day class: July 26-30, 2027, 8:30 am to 4 pm, JOY Quilts: Appliqué Collages and Narratives

Luke Haynes - Asheville, NC

Luke Haynes is a textile artist and quilter whose 20-year career has expanded the possibilities of what quilts can be. Known for working with unusual, recycled, and reclaimed materials, he approaches quilting as fine art, architecture, public art, and usable object.

His work is held in the permanent collections of institutions including the Brooklyn Museum, American Folk Art Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, International Quilt Museum, and the National Quilt Museum. Recent projects and collaborations include work with Coach, the NFL, and Architectural Digest.

5-day class: July 19 to 23, 2027, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Affirmation Quilts with Luke Haynes and Nicole Leth

Paula Kovarik - Memphis, TN

Paula Kovarik is a full-time artist and fiber art teacher based in Memphis, TN. She holds a degree in design and art history from Southern Illinois University and spent over 30 years as a professional designer before transitioning to a full-time art practice. Kovarik creates intricate, story-rich fiber artworks that fuse intuitive stitching with conceptual depth.

Her award-winning work has been recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and FiberArt Now—Excellence in Fibers. She has been profiled in Smithsonian American Craft and FiberArt Now magazines. Kovarik’s quilts are featured in major publications, including Art Quilts Unfolding – 50 Years of Innovation and Art Quilts International: Abstract & Geometric. Her work is part of several permanent collections, including the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, NE, the Memphis International Airport, and various private collections.

5-day class: July 26 to 30, 2027, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Aha! Moments: Five Days of Tapping into Your Inner Muse

Susan Lapham - Vienna, VA

Susan J. Lapham is a textile artist and teacher based in Virginia. She creates large-scale abstract quilts that emerge through a process of experimentation, editing, and response. A recovering statistician, she is fascinated by the relationship between structure and spontaneity, constraints and freedom. Her work has been exhibited widely in quilt and fine art venues, received numerous awards, and is included in private and museum collections. Through workshops, lectures, and mentoring, she helps artists develop confidence in their own voice and strengthen their compositional decision-making skills.

5-day class: July 26 to 30, 2026, 8:30 am to 4 pm, The Improv Paradow: How the Rules You Make Set You Free

Youngmin Lee - Pleasanton, CA

Youngmin Lee is a textile artist who uses traditional Korean bojagi techniques to create contemporary work. Through hand stitching, natural dyes, and improvisational composition, her work explores transparency, memory, and the meditative process of making. She is the author of Bojagi: The Art of Korean Textiles (2024) and founder of the Korea Textile Tour. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the permanent collections of the Asian Art Museum and Mingei International Museum.

5-day class: July 19 to 23, 2027, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Bojagi: A Wonder of Transparency

Nicole Leth - Cincinnati, OH

Nicole Leth is a professionally trained textile artist and writer working across quilts, public art, and language. Her practice uses playful imagery and intimate, affirming text to explore connection, tenderness, and the experience of being seen.

Since 2010, her work has been experienced by more than 150 million people and has appeared on over 600 billboards worldwide, as well as murals, airplanes, boats, postcards, and quilts. Her work lives across fine art institutions, public spaces, and the homes of humans, and she received an OBIE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

5-day class: July 19 to 23, 2027, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Affirmation Quilts with Luke Haynes and Nicole Leth

Carolina Oneto - Mexico City, Mexico

Carolina Oneto is a modern quilting artist and educator based in Mexico City. Born in Valparaíso, Chile, she trained as an industrial civil engineer before turning to textiles, and she studied formal color theory with Eduardo Vilches in the Josef Albers tradition. That combination of structure and color shapes her work and her teaching. Carolina teaches workshops, retreats, and guild programs internationally, guided by a simple belief: we are all creative. Her classes help students trust themselves, find their own voice, and make work that is truly theirs.

5-day class: July 26 to 30, 2026, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Imaginary Places: Exploring Color Theory and Complex Teaching Techniques

Pat Pauly - Rochester, NY

Known for her improvisational piecing and printing techniques, Pat Pauly is a quilter and fiber artist. Her use of bold color and unusual juxtapositions of her printed and painted fabric land her award-winning art in exhibitions around the world. A sought-after lecturer and teacher, from Juneau, Alaska to San Diego, California, Birmingham, England and Melbourne, Australia her talks on contemporary art quilts as a counterpart to historic quilts, carry the same qualities as her work - energized, spontaneous, and definitive.

Pat curates and designs exhibitions of contemporary and historic textiles, at times seen side by side. The juxtaposition of the motif and design of historic quilts has direct decedents in contemporary work, and it is that history of quilt making she maintains is the bond of all fiber work on view today. She maintains a studio in Rochester, New York.

5-day themed independent studio: July 19-23, 2026; 8:30 am to 4 pm, Mad About Motif

Jane Sassaman - Harvard, IL

Jane began quilting in 1980. Since then her graphic quilts have been shown in many national and international exhibits. Her quilt Willow was named as one of the One Hundred Best American Quilts of the 20th Century. Jane is also the author of The Quilted Garden, Patchwork Sassaman Style and Color My Garden. Jane’s love for historic decorative arts can be seen in all facets of her work, but it is especially evident in the exuberant fabric she is currently designing for FreeSpirit.

5-day class: July 19 to 23, 2026, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Abstract Appliqué: Inspired by Mother Nature

David Taylor - Fort Collins, CO

David Taylor's obsession with fabric began at an early age, salvaging tiny scraps from his mother's sewing area trash bin. He started creating on her sewing machine by age 10. After college, he began a 30-plus-year career in graphic design. His first quilt design was in 1999, collaborating on a fundraiser project for Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO, with friend Madeleine Vail. Madeleine encouraged him to keep after it.

In 2009 he left his job at an advertising agency, started teaching appliqué and quilting, and never looked back. His teaching adventures have taken him around the globe and his quilted artworks hang in numerous private collections. David Taylor is a two-time recipient of the Master Award for Contemporary Quilting from the International Quilt Association, the Brother Wall Machine Workmanship Award from the American Quilters Society Paducah Quilt Week, and a two-time Best of Show winner at the IQA's Spring Festival in Chicago.

5-day class: July 26 to 30, 2026, 8:30 am to 4 pm, Animal Artistry through Appliqué