Mary Ruth Smith: An Overview of My Work Using a Threaded Needle
Mon, Jul 26
|Zoom Presentation
Learn how her fiber artwork has been influenced by quilting methods and structures. Program is free for current MCQ members. Not a member yet? Click "Join MCQ" button above.


Time & Location
Jul 26, 2021, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Zoom Presentation
Guests
About the Event
Mary Ruth Smith received two degrees in home economics and then taught art at an elementary school in Tennessee. This experience became the impetus that steered her to pursue art in both her personal and professional life.
Then she taught related art courses in Home Economics at the University of Houston. For the first time in her career she became a teacher who practiced making art and exhibiting it. After 16 years she felt the need to move into an art department. Hence, she left her tenured position and enrolled at the University of Georgia to obtain an M.F.A. in fabric design. With a scarcity in fiber positions at the university level, she attained a Ph.D. in art education at Florida State University. She then spent 27 years at Baylor University in Waco until retirement in May 2020. While there she taught in an art education program and developed a concentration in fabric design.
Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States as well as in England, Costa Rica, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Ukraine, Bucharest, Italy, Venezuela, South Korea, France, Hungary and Uruguay. Mary Ruth has lectured throughout the world, her work has been included in many fiber arts books, and she has served as a juror for several exhibitions.