About PAQA-South
promoting innovative art quilts, art cloth, and art garments
Our Mission
The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South exists as a means for art quilters to network with fellow fiber and textile artists, sharing similar interests and goals while pursuing professional development. Specific aims are to:
share wisdom, experience and knowledge with our members in their artistic and professional development;
exhibit the work of fiber artists;
provide educational and networking opportunities for our members;
encourage emerging artists in the field.
educate the public about art quilting through exhibits and public programs.
To achieve these aims, PAQA-South holds regular meetings, conferences, workshops and art quilt exhibits.
The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South (PAQA-South) was formed by several art quilters living in the southeastern United States. The first organizational meetings were held in the Raleigh/Cary area of North Carolina during the spring and fall of 2002. Although originally limited to artists living in the Southeast, PAQA-South now boasts members from across the United States.
The organization was patterned after the Professional Art Quilt Alliance (PAQA) in Chicago. PAQA generously allowed PAQA-South to derive its name from theirs and follow similar organizational activities. PAQA and PAQA-South are separate and unaffiliated organizations. PAQA-South became a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in 2009.
In 2019, PAQA-South began to host and support an open meeting of members and non-members called Common Threads to provide an open venue to encourage and educate anyone interested in art quilts and fiber arts. Our monthly meetings are open to all. Attendees can share their latest work and get feedback if they desire it. We have ongoing challenge projects and presentations by members.
Our History
Our Pursuits
The PAQA-South Annual Meeting and Spring Conference are typically held in conjunction with the opening reception of the major show for that year. The conference includes professional workshops and opportunities for attendees to share and discuss their current work.
We have had the opportunity to have prominent Internationally known art quilters teach and lecture at our conferences, such as:
2024 ARTQUI:TSrenewal Conference
Susan Brubaker-Knapp “Thread Sketching”
2023 ARTQUILTSinspiration Conference
Lyric Montgomery Kinard “Print, Paint, Play, & Layered Screen Printing”
2022 ARTQUILTSemerge Conference
Kevin Womack "Surface Design Shuffle"
2019 ARTQUILTSdreams Conference
Jane Dunnewold: “Creative Strength Training”
2018 ARTQUILTSpassions Conference
Lyric Kinard
2016 ARTQUILTSvoices Conference
Kate Pasquini Masopust
Common Threads
Common Threads is a monthly gathering of PAQA-South of members and anyone interested in fiber arts. For those of you new to Common Threads and PAQA-South, we are a friendly, open, supportive group with common interests in all types of fiber arts: quilts, embroidery, knitting, paper collage, fabric dyeing, as well as new media and techniques. We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 2-4 PM at the Cary Quilting Company.
For more information contact president@paqa-south.org or treasurer@paqa-south.org.
Annual Meeting and Spring Conference
Since 2002, PAQA-South has supported and promoted innovation and excellence in the field of art quilting through regularly scheduled exhibitions. Our shows are currently held in the spring, alternating on a yearly basis between an international juried exhibition and a curated members-only show. PAQA-South exhibits are greatly anticipated, well attended, and feature artwork from some of the top names in the field.
